Easter Paska aka Easter Bread

My grandmother is Ukrainian and every year for Easter she would make Easter Paska or Babka. The Babka has orange juice and raisins in it, so I decided to just make the Easter Paska. Before I start or get messages from Ukrainian people, I myself was not raised Ukrainian. My grandmother is 93 years old and she has passed down many of these recipes to us. Obviously they aren't as good as hers, but that's tough to do with any grandmother. I hope I do this justice and make her proud. As with many handed down recipes, there isn't much in the way of instruction. Mine turned out amazing and I hope yours does as well.

Velykodna Paska - Easter Paska

3 tbsp yeast

5 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs beaten

1 tbsp salt

3/4 cup oil (use 1/4 for kneading)

12 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla (optional)

1 tsp saffron (optional)

Soak yeast in 1/2 cup of water and 1 tbsp sugar for about 10 minutes. Combine eggs, sugar, salt, oil and beat well. Add the yeast mixture and stir well. Add the water and flour and knead about 10-15 minutes using the remainder of the oil to make a soft dough (a little stiffer than for bread). Cover and let rest in a warm place until double in size. Punch down every 20 minutes, about 4 times. Grease well 4 or 5 8” round pans (3” high).

Side note. I went on Amazon and bought some Easter bread molds for the bread and they worked wonderfully. I'll link them below.

Use 2/3 of the dough for the base and 1/3 for the top ornaments. I googled different ways to decorate. I mostly twisted two pieces and placed around the edge. Shape round loaves into the pans for base and flatten the tops. Allow to rise for 1/2 hour.

Shape and arrange the ornaments on top of round loaves as desired. Cover loaves with a cloth and set in warm place to rise until double in size. Approximately 1 hour. Brush tops with beaten egg diluted with 1 tbsp water. Bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes, and then turn down to 350 and continue baking 35-40 minutes.

This bread is so delicious Easter morning with buyer and jam or during during with butter.