Recipe: Ukrainian Easter (paska) bread

Recipe courtesy of Ahna Skop from her new cookbook “Lab Culture: A Recipe For Innovation in Science” and shared with permission.

“Lab Culture: A Recipe For Innovation in Science” was independently published by UW-Madison geneticist Ahna Skop with the help of several UW-Madison students. The cookbook is a compilation of recipes and stories from over 120 researchers around the world.

Skop contributed her family’s recipe for Ukrainian Easter bread (paska). In an interview with WPR’s “Wisconsin Today,” Skop said Easter is a big holiday in Ukraine. “It’s bigger to Ukrainians than Christmas, in my opinion.”

“My dad spent a lot of time in Scandinavia, so we added herring on the top of it. It was something that reminded to him of his mother, and now it reminds me a lot of my father. My mother, who wasn’t Ukrainian, would make this bread for my father. It’s a very tactile memory in my brain.”

Reagents (ingredients):

• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1 package of yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast)
• 3 cups of whole milk (scalded — not hot)
• 5 cups of bread flour
• 6 eggs beaten
• 1/3 cup sugar + 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 Tablespoon salt

Notes: This recipe will make 2 large round and decorated bread loaves. This bread can be frozen and thawed out the night before Easter.

Protocol (instructions):

1. To a mixing bowl, add water, 1 package yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast), and 1 teaspoon sugar. Mix in bowl to dissolve yeast and sugar.
2. Add scalded milk to yeast mixture
3. Add flour, one cup at a time, to above mixture in your KitchenAid with the bread attachment. Beat/knead until smooth. It will be a little sticky.
4. Let rise for 1 hour. I put it in on the top of the oven (or any warm place).
5. After your dough has risen for 1 hour, add the following mixture (be sure to mix prior to adding to the bread). 6 eggs beaten, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 tablespoon salt. Add this to the first rising of the dough and knead to smooth and satiny. You will need to add flour periodically as you knead.
6. Cover the dough until the dough has doubled in size (3-4 hours).
7. After the second rising, punch dough down and let rise for 1 hour.
8. Divide dough into 3 parts. 2 parts can be put in two separate greased round pans (my mom uses an angel food cake pan) or you can use a large 7-quart cast iron pot or any other oven-save pot.
9. The last part of dough is what you use to decorate the top. My mom makes a braid on the top and then puts little balls of dough around this. It makes for a nice decoration after it’s baked. Be creative here as there isn’t really any wrong way to make it.
10. Beat 1 egg with some water and make an egg wash and brush all on top of bread before baking.
11. After you are done with the braids and decoration. Set the pans in a warm place covered until the bread has doubled in size (1-2 hours).
12. Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes then lower the oven to 350 F for 40 minutes more