Paska Polish Easter Bread

Yesterday I made some Paska, Polish Easter bread.  I am not a huge fan of brioche type breads but this one is very good.
 Here is the recipe:



Directions

  1. Stir together 2 cups flour and the salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
  2. Stir yeast into water; add 2 tsp sugar and stir until dissolved. Let mixture stand for 10 minutes until doubled in volume.
  3. Meanwhile, beat eggs with electric mixer. Gradually beat in 3/4 cup sugar.
  4. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in milk. Add egg mixture; beat well. Add butter, and lemon and orange rinds and juices, and yeast; beat until combined. Add 1 cup flour at a time, until dough is soft and holds its shape. Knead until no longer sticky.
  5. Place dough in a large buttered bowl. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Punch down and let rise again until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
  6. Divide dough in half; form each half into a loaf shape and place into a lightly greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour. I formed mine as shown below.
  7. Bake in a preheated 325 degrees F  oven until golden brown, about 45 minutes.
  8. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes, then remove loaves from pans and finish cooling on a wire rack.
  9. Ice just before serving. For each loaf, stir together 2 cups icing sugar with 1 tsp lemon juice and enough milk (approximately 4 tbsp) to make a smooth icing that can be spooned over loaf. Decorate with sprinkles.

I used extra dough and made braids and placed them on top of each loaf to form a cross which is traditional.

The braids get tucked in under the main loaf.  Cover with plastic and let them rise.

Here they are after they have risen.

This is what happens when a pagan works with crosses.

Both of them split while they baked.  Damn!

So I covered them with icing and sprinkles and called it a day.

Comments

Loli said…
Look delicious... But I have to admit that celebration of Easter as well as baking paska is a pagan tradition )
Anonymous said…
well they look great to me, they are beauties!!!!!!!I love the sprinkles on the white frosting, so pretty, its a really rich dough, yum! I always make Eater bread too, tradition for us, I love the smell of it baking, my mum made hot cross buns for the whole family, the smell was amazing that bake day,
Split or not, this Easter bread looks just fabulous!
brokenteepee said…
As long as it tastes good that is all that matters
Anonymous said…
I've never made this kind of bread myself but eaten it a lot. I have to admit that it is rather delicious for breakfast (without the frosting, that I've never had on any I've eaten) but frosting is rare over here even on pastry and cakes. Perhaps I should try to bake this one day?

Have a great day!
Christer.
Guillaume said…
Easter is coming fairly late this year, nice to see you are preparing it already. This reminds me of the British hot cross buns, an Easter tradition here.
TARYTERRE said…
Bread looks good. But I'm crazy about the icing.
Herbalgirl said…
That bread is gorgeous. At the moment I'm on a low-carb diet so I can't eat bread at all.Still, I can get a virtual fix from your blog.
Nellie said…
This sounds delicious!
How could you have prevented the bread from breaking apart? I thought it looked great anyway..but anything is better with frosting..even pork chops! Just kidding!! :)
I did ribs..but got lazy and just did the slow cooker with some great BBQ sauce and lots of sliced oniions on top. They were great!..as soon as I get well again I will try something a little more complicated...and fire up the BBQ. :)