Paska – Recipe of Paska (with dried yeast)

The paska recipe with dried yeast. The paska is not too sweet and perfect to combine with sausage, beet & horseradish starter (burachky), eggs and cheese. Having returned from the Holy MassWell you can have blessed food for breakfast. Whats inside the basket? Paska and other Easter dainties!

Heat gently the milk with the butter to approximately 40 degrees. When the butter melts, remove from heat and stir in the sugar until sugar crystals have dissolved. Mix together sieved flour (500 g or about 4 cups), dried yeast and salt, pour in the milk mixture, then add 5 yolks and lemon zest. Gradually knead to make a smooth slightl sticky dough.

Cover the dough then leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. The knead the dough once again to deflate, set aside a small amount of it (about 1 tbsp). Divide what’s left of the dough between baking moulds, lined with parchment paper (I’ve got 3 moulds 12, 14 and 16 cm in diameter).

Leave to prove again in a warm place for about 30 mins or until the dough have doubled in size (giving the baked paska a soft and spongy texture). Then slash a shallow cross incision on each paska to prevent the dough cracking and brush the tops with a yolk.

Knead the remaining dough with the rest of flour then rll out to £1 coin thickness and cut out shapes to decorate your paskas, for example incised stripes for the cross, grape leaves and berries (depending on your imagination). Arrange the decorations on the top. When you’re happy with your work, heat oven to 180C and bake for 45-50 min.

When the paskas are cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the mouldings then unwrap. The paskas will keep for up to 2 weeks in a fridge and look really impressive.

More recipes: Herring under fur coat – Shuba salad, Homemade mayonnaise, Ukrainian borshch, Mushroom omelette