How to Make Ukrainian Easter Bread (Paska)

Ukrainian Paska

Every spring, we prepare Paska, the traditional Ukrainian sweet Easter Bread, and bring it to the church for blessing. Although there are so many recipes for Paska, they all share the same essential ingredients – lots of eggs or egg yolks, butter, and flour. Also, the good Easter bread should be sweet and a bit moist. Perhaps, this quality makes the homemade Paska so different from the commercial one, which is usually dry and doesn’t contain many raisins. To make a good Paska, you should learn how to prepare a starter, knead the dough, and what other ingredients or flavors to add to make it your special Easter Bread.

For this year’s Easter, we wanted to prepare something new and chose the recipe of the Easter Bread with rum. When rum is added to the Paska dough, it adds beautiful nutty notes, elegance, and deliciousness to the taste of the bread. In addition, rum moistens the dough. You can soak raisins or other dried fruit overnight in the rum or add them to the dough without soaking. We have also decorated our Paska with eggs made from almond flour. To prepare these little eggs, we used the same recipe as for our Almond Easter Eggs, but this time we cut the proportions and added egg whites.

At the bottom, you will find a short description of the second recipe for the Paska with sour cream.

Ukrainian Easter Bread with Rum

Ukrainian Paska

Ukrainian Easter Bread with Rum

This recipe is an interesting twist on the traditional recipe for Ukrainian Easter Bread as it contains rum. Rum adds moisture and flavor to the dough. Also, we decorate our Paska with small eggs made of almond flour.
Prep Time 2 hrs
Cook Time 35 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine Ukrainian
Servings 6 people

Equipment

  • 1 springform
  • 3 bowls
  • 1 whisk
  • 1 small pot

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for the starter:

  • 200 g white flour
  • 12 g dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 150 g lukewarm water

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 400 g white flour
  • 5 g yeast
  • 100 g white sugar
  • 7 egg yolks
  • 150 g unsalted butter, melted
  • 9 g vanilla sugar
  • 50 ml rum
  • ¼ tspn turmeric
  • 1 tspn lemon juice
  • ¼ tspn salt
  • 150 g raisins
  • 150 g dried apricots
  • 1 tbsp vegetable/olive oil

Ingredients for glazing:

  • 50 g white chocolate chips
  • 100 g butterscotch or peanut butter chips
  • Cake and dessert décor

Ingredients for small Easter eggs:

  • 125 g almond flour
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp egg whites

Instructions
 

  • To prepare a starter, pour lukewarm water into a bowl, add yeast and sugar, and mix well. The yeast will dissolve in 1-2 minutes. Gradually add flour and mix again. Cover the bowl with a towel and put the starter in a warm place for an hour. During this time, the starter will rise.
    Starter for Paska with Rum Matusyas kitchen
  • In a bowl, whisk 7 egg yolks with sugar for 5 minutes.
    whisk yolks Paska with Rum
  • Combine flour with salt, yeast, vanilla sugar, and turmeric in a larger bowl. Mix well.
    Combine flour wtih dry ingredients
  • Add the starter and melted butter to the flour. Mix well with a hand for 10 minutes. (Brush your hands with vegetable oil - the dough won’t stick).
    add starter to the flour mix
  • Put the dough in a warm place to rise for an hour.
  • Meanwhile, mix rum and the raisins, and chop finely dried apricots.
    soak raisins and chop apricots
  • While waiting for the dough to rise, prepare the almond Easter eggs. Combine almond flour with maple syrup and egg whites and mix.
    prepare almond dough
  • Knead the almond dough gently with your hands. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes.
  • Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Take a piece of the almond dough, roll a small egg with your hands, and place it on the paper. Continue until all the dough is used.
    make small almond eggs
  • In an hour, transfer your dough for the Paska to the kitchen counter or cutting board, and knead it again for 10 minutes. The dough should not flop between your fingers. Straighten it out and sprinkle the dough with raisins soaked in rum and with dried apricots. Wrap the fruit up with the dough and make a ball. Put it aside for 15 minutes.
    add raisins and apricots to the dough
  • As the dough is ready, cut it into two parts – to make a small, taller Paska, and a big Paska. (It depends on what kinds of baking forms you have. (Cut the dough into several pieces if you have only small forms. If you want to make one big Easter Bread, don’t cut the dough). We used an 18 cm springform and a tin can. (Line the can with baking paper too, it will be easier to remove the small Paska from it).
    dough for Paska wtih Rum
  • Brush the springform with vegetable oil. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
  • Make nice balls from the dough and put them in the forms. Make sure the top is smooth and without wrinkles.
    put the dough into forms
  • Bake for 35 minutes.
  • Bake the almond eggs on a separate shelf in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
  • Once the Paskas and the almond eggs are ready, remove them from the oven and put them aside to cool.
    two paskas wtih rum
  • Prepare the glaze: in a small pot, melt white chocolate chips (for the smaller Paska) and peanut butter chips for the larger one.
  • Brush your Paskas with this glaze, and sprinkle with the edible cake décor.  We have topped our Paskas with pieces of dried apricots.
  • While the chocolates are still warm, you can quickly “glue” your almond eggs to the surface.
  • The final step is to brush the almond eggs with the sugar glaze (in 1:1 proportion) and sprinkle them with the cake décor.
    Ukrainian Paska with Rum Matusyas Kitchen
  • Refrigerate your Paskas overnight and serve. This bread tastes better after it rests in the refrigerator for a day or two. Keep the leftovers in the fridge too.
    Serve Paska with Rum
Keyword Ukraine, Ukrainian Easter, Ukrainian Easter Bread, Ukrainian Paska, Ukrainian recipes, Ukrainian traditions

Ukrainian Easter Bread with Sour Cream

Sour Cream Paska Matusyas Kitchen

This is a simple but tasty Easter Bread that everyone can make at home. We added chocolate powder to the dough to create a unique décor too. Hopefully, our imitated poppy seed boxes and braids look good. You don’t need to take these extra steps, only if you want to add a couple of interesting touches.

Sour Cream Paska Matusyas Kitchen

Ukrainian Easter Bread with Sour Cream

This is a simple recipe for the Ukrainian Easter Bread with sour cream. You can top it with sugar glaze or a more fancy decor as we did.
Prep Time 2 hrs
Cook Time 35 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine Ukrainian
Servings 6 people

Equipment

  • 1 springform
  • 4 backing cups
  • 1 Chef's knife

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for the starter:

  • 25 g dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 500 g lukewarm 3.2% milk

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 1 kg white flour
  • 3 tbsp sour cream
  • 100 g sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 30 ml unsalted butter, melted
  • 9 g vanilla sugar
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 100 g raisins
  • 100 g dried apricots
  • 1 tbsp vegetable/olive oil

Ingredients for decor:

  • 3 tbsp chocolate powder
  • 100 ml water
  • 200 g flour
  • 5 ml olive oil
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp sugar

Instructions
 

  • To prepare a starter, combine lukewarm milk with yeast and sugar, and mix well. Cover the bowl with a towel and put the starter in a warm place for 20 minutes. During this time the starter will rise.
    starter for paska with sour cream
  • In a bowl, whisk eggs and sugar for 5 minutes.
  • Add sour cream and melted butter and whisk again.
  • In a larger bowl, combine flour with salt, vanilla sugar, and lemon zest. Mix well.
  • Add the starter, eggs, sour cream, and butter to the flour mixture. Also, add olive oil and knead for about 15 minutes.
    knead the dough with sour cream
  • Cover the dough with a towel or food plastic paper and put it in a warm place to rise for an hour.
  • Meanwhile, chop finely dried apricots, rinse, and dry raisins.
  • While you are waiting for the Paska dough to rise, prepare the dough for decor. Combine 200 g of white flour with water, oil, salt, sugar, and chocolate powder. This bread will be too dry and won’t be tasty. However, the dough is easy to shape.
    chocolate dough for decor
  • Knead the dough for décor well and roll it into a thin pancake on a cutting board, dusted with flour.
  • With a chef’s knife, cut the chocolate dough into long strips. Use the remainder to make flowers for poppy seedboxes. Make chocolate braids. Put all your creations aside.
    make chocolate decor braids
  • Once the dough for Paska is ready, knead it again, add raisins and chopped dried apricots. The dough should not flop between your fingers.
  • Cut the dough into 2 parts. One part to make a big Paska, and a smaller one to make poppy seed boxes. (If you want to make one big Easter Bread, don’t cut the dough).
    cut the dough into 2 pieces
  • Add chocolate powder to the second part of the dough, mix well. Roll the chocolate dough and cut into four pieces.
  • Brush the springform with vegetable oil. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
  • Make nice balls from the dough and put them in the forms. Make sure the tops is smooth and without wrinkles. Brush them with egg yolk.
    put the dough into baking forms
  • Top with the chocolate décor (braids and flowers).
  • Bake for 35 minutes.
  • Once the Paskas are ready, remove them from the oven and put them aside to cool.
  • Refrigerate your Paskas overnight. This bread tastes better after it rests in the refrigerator for a day or two. Keep the leftovers in the refrigerator too.
Keyword Ukraine, Ukrainian Easter, Ukrainian Easter Bread, Ukrainian Paska, Ukrainian recipes, Ukrainian traditions

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