Paska, Ukrainian Easter Bread

By á-1230

Paska or Ukrainian Easter Bread is filled with the fresh flavors of both the zest and juice of one sweet orange to make slightly sweet, super moist loaf of traditional Easter bread for your holiday table. Serve this bread warm slathered with butter or creamy cream cheese; add a drizzled of orange blossom honey for an extra pop of flavor.

Ingredients

• 3 (0.25-ounce) packages Fleishman's Red Stripe pack dry yeast
• 12 cups of flour sifted
• 2 cups scalded milk,
• 1 cup melted butter
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 dozen eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Preparation

Step 1

Bring eggs to room temperature. Separate eggs and place yolks in a large mixing bowl, reserving egg whites in another bowl.

Mix 2 cup of scalded milk with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Mix well. Let cool until milk is warm. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and let stand for approximately 10 minutes. This mixture should start bubbling.

Beat egg yolks in large mixing bowl with electric hand held mixer. Add 2 cups of sugar gradually and continue beating until light and frothy.

Beat egg whites until very stiff.

Mix together yolk mixture and yeast mixture. Then add the butter, oil, orange zest and juice and salt. Beat until smooth.

Using hand mixer on low setting, alternate with the egg whites and flour, until it is starting to thicken, then start kneading with your hands for approximately 15 minutes in total.

When dough starts to pull away from the side of the bowl, rub palms of hands with oil and rub over dough so it doesn't dry out.
Cover with damp kitchen towel and let rise until the dough doubles in size.

In the meantime, grease 6 tins with crisco and sprinkle inside with bread crumbs.
Fill each tin about 1/2 full. Place on cookie sheets and let rise again until they spill just over the top.
Cover again with damp cloth.

Brush with beaten egg and milk just before baking.

Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 300°F. For small paskas, it can take as little as 30 to 45 minutes. Larger ones may take one hour.

To tell if paska is done, turn out of pan and tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it is done. If it sounds flat put it back into the oven. Serve warm.