Breadmaker Paska (Ukrainian Easter Bread)

Want the truth? This recipe is the impetus behind starting this blog. That is how excited I am about this bread. It feels more important (well, more time-sensitive anyway) than a post introducing myself and this site. It is almost Easter and what is Easter without fantastic egg bread with loads of butter? For me it is better than Easter candy (and I have a serious chocolate obsession). And, if you are like me, getting the recipe now means you can bake two or three batches before Easter! (Is it weird that I plan to leave loaves of bread on various doorsteps?)

This area had a lot of Ukrainian immigrants (once upon a time) and they and their families are still kicking around here. In the small town I used to live in the Korean people that bought the town grocery store taught themselves Ukrainian so that the old-timers would be (oh, how to put this delicately...) more trusting of them. We even learned Ukrainian in school (and that was back in the days where second languages in the school system were contentious issues).

Well, the point of this ramble is that all the local bakeries (big grocery chains and all) make paska at this time of year. And store-bought paska is nothing like homemade. Store-bought tends to be dry, sweet and tinted whereas homemade is moist and luscious. (Disclaimer: I am too cheap to buy the eight dollar loaves of bread from the fancy bakeries. They may be as good as homemade, but we will never know.) My mom’s paska recipe has about a dozen egg yolks in it. It is heavenly, but I do not have time to make it from scratch. This came out about as close as it could without the work. I raved and raved as I pulled the beautiful dough out of the breadmaker and Eugene listened with the interest that I show when watching him playing his latest favourite videogame (“Look Hun, first blood!” “Good job Gene, you must be proud.” "Look at this dough! This bread is going to be great!" "Good job Hun.").

Paska (breadmaker version)
In a bowl mix:
1 cup water*
1 egg
3 yolks (save the whites)
Add it to the bread pan with:
2 heaping tablespoons of the darkest sugar you have (demerara is my sugar of choice)
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 2/3 cups all purpose flour*
1 teaspoon of yeast
3/4 cups raisins (optional, add after the initial dough-mixing phase)

Set the machine to dough and let it run.

*If you know your breadmachine well, keep an eye on the dough. You might have to add another tablespoon or two of either flour or water depending on the size of your eggs and the humidity in your area. If the dough sounds like an unbalanced washing machine you need more water, if it looks a tad gloopy (the dough should look like cinnamon bun dough—smooth as a baby’s bum) add a bit more flour.

Give the dough from the pan a few good squeezes to get the bigger bubbles out before you put it in or on your bakeware of choice. This bread is traditionally braided and baked on a sheet but we grew up with it baked in greased coffee cans. I bake mine in greased round cake pans or smaller pyrex-type containers. This sized batch should make one loaf of bread and one smallish boule.

Set the dough in a warm place and let it rise until doubled (half an hour or forty-five minutes). If you are feeling fussy, brush the bread with an egg yolk and a bit of water before you bake it. (The extra white can be used to make the cookies below.) *NOTE: If you are using omega3 eggs, do not do the egg coating unless you want a stinky house.

Bake at 350F for 10-35 minutes (depending on the size of your bread loaves).


This is the best use of egg whites I have found (they are one of my Christmas standards):

Pecan Meringues
Whip 4 egg whites until stiff (you may want to add a pinch of cream of tartar).
Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla.
Stir in 1 ½ cups of the darkest sugar you have.
Stir in 4 cups of pecans.

Put in the oven at 250F, bake for one hour and then turn the oven off and leave it for as long as you can. Store them in a sealed container. This makes a couple of dozen.

Testing, testing...

Hello,

While this blog could be started with something more profound, it is probably most fitting with my personality to start it with a test.

Testing. Testing. Is this thing on?

Bunnyslippers