Paska - An Easter Bread from Ukraine

Paska bread is commonly made during Easter in countries of Eastern Europe. Paska is made with flour, milk, butter, egg, and sugar. The name Paska(Ukrainian) comes from Pesakh or Passover from Hebrew.

This bread is very soft and mildly sweet. The cardamom powder turns the bread very aromatic and flavorful. We enjoyed eating it for breakfast and as a tea-time snack.

Ingredients:

1. All-purpose flour - 2 cups + few tbsp more
2. Milk - 1/2 cup
3. Unsalted butter (softened)- 8 tbsp + 1 tsp (for brushing on baked bread)
4. Sugar - 1/4 cup
5. Egg - 1
6. Instant Yeast - 1 tsp
7. Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Raisins - 1 cup
9. Salt - 1 tsp
10. Oil for greasing the baking dish

Method:

1. Microwave the milk for few seconds to make it lukewarm. Care should be taken not to overheat the milk. 
2. Add yeast and sugar to the milk and set aside for 5 minutes to activate the yeast.
3. Take softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Add an egg and mix well. 
4. Add the activated yeast mixture to it and whisk well till everything is well combined.
5. In another bowl, mix in the dry ingredients - flour, cardamom powder, salt and raisins.
6.  Add the dry ingredients to the yeast-butter mixture and fold it gently. 
7. Knead the dough for 10 minutes. 
8. Grease a round baking pan(6 inches) with little oil and transfer the dough into it. Allow it to rise for 3 hours.
9. Bake it at 350° F(180°C) in a preheated oven for 45 minutes. 
10. Cool the cake for 15 minutes and remove it from the baking pan. Apply a teaspoon of butter on baked bread to keep it moist. 

"Shhhhh Cooking  Secretly" is a monthly challenge in the Facebook group. At the beginning of the month, a theme is chosen by one of the participants and all the participants are grouped in pairs. The participants will exchange 2 secret ingredients with their partners who are supposed to prepare a dish that matches the theme of that month. 

This month's theme was "Easter bread" and it was chosen by Renu who blogs at Cook with Renu. Do check her blog for a wide variety of healthy and guilt-free dishes. Even Renu made Paska bread, and then she decorated them with white chocolate and sprinkles. Do check her blog for the recipe.

 My partner for March 2021 was Pavani Gunikuntla. She gave me cardamom and yeast as my secret ingredients and I made Ukrainian Bread. I gave her egg and yeast. She made a sweet braided Easter bread. Do check out her blog- Pavanis Kitchen for the recipe.

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paska_(bread)

http://www.aashpazi.com/paska