Paska, made with love… this is the recipe my Mama used, I think its actually a babka recipe from the green book.  I put a whole day aside for this – what you see documented started at 8am and was finally finished at 9pm.  There is some time for other things over the day (like doing some pysanky,) but don’t count on getting this recipe done in half a day and don’t expect to pay a lot of attention to anything else!!  This paska is a baby – it wants you all!  I will say that this is a double recipe.  Mama used to do triple! which I’ve never been game to do.

On the left are 24 egg yolks and 4 whole eggs.  On the right, we begin with sweat – a vanilla bean grated, and the rind of two lemons.

1 cup of lukewarm water with a 1 tablespoon of sugar dissolved.  This recipe uses 6 packets of dry yeast sprinkled over the top until all is spongy.  Use a wide, shallow bowl so all the yeast can easily get wet and eat sugar .  Golden rule of paska – be nice to your yeast.  I had to re-do mine today because i noticed it dropping, probably from simply moving the bowl from one spot to the other on the stove top – tears!

2 cups of milk are being brought to boil and 2/3 cup of plain flour sifted into a large bowl.  This will later have the yeast stirred in.  I want to move my yeast around as little as possible, so as early as I can in the recipe I get it into the large bowl that will eventually contain all the dough.  So the mix of milk and flour – put it in your largest bowl.

Mixing the boiling milk with the flour.  A bit like tempering eggs, this needs to be done SLOWLY.  Making sure this has no lumps means taking the time to add hot milk a tiny bit at a time.

No lumps!  Note that you want this to be lukewarm before adding the yeast.  If its hot, the yeast will cook and not rise any more!  I find that by the time I finish doing this nice and slowly it is just fine, but in case you get through it faster let it cool to lukewarm before the next step – adding the yeast to this paste.

When the yeast has finished getting spongy in its warm sugary water, it is poured into the milk/flour paste and stirred VERY GENTLY.  While this is rising (you want it to rise to what it looks like in this photo), it is time to take a little break, in today’s case – breakfast.

I think a French person was involved in this recipe.  Here is a lot of butter, 500g in fact. It gets melted.

Nearly ready to start mixing wet with dry.  On the left are 2 cups of sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt.  The eggs (24 egg yolks and 4 whole eggs) get beaten and then the salt and sugar are added slowly while beating continues.

Eggs/sugar/salt are poured into the melted butter (which is cooled) and stirred through.  Then the vanilla bean and lemon rind is added.  May I just say that the smell of vanilla, lemon rind and yeast is the smell of Velykden’ for me.

Now another step in which to be very gentle with the yeast.  The butter/egg mixture in the jug needs to be mixed with the yeasty, spongy, milky thing.  I pour the butter/eggs along the side of the bowl so they pour into the bottom.  I then stir VERY GENTLY again.  It wont look a lot different and because the yeasty bubbles will always want to be on top but you can see a bit of yellow in it – that is good enough for me.  I wouldn’t advise rigorous stirring!

This is a good spot to have a drink of water and a pee break because the next step takes a bit of time.  12 cups of plain flour are mixed with the wet ingredients.  How are 12 cups of flour going to fit into that bowl?  They flatten the mixture so it all gets in there somehow.  I add 2 cups at a time, sifted, and stir each time.  Above is half-way, with still a v moist dough.

12 cups are in.

Stir a bit and then knead by hand.  It remains a very moist and sticky dough.  Knead for approx 10 minutes.

Still very sticky.  At this stage, resist the temptation to eat heaps of it raw – it already tastes DELICIOUS.

Then the dough is divided into bowls and given time to rise (the recipe says to double in size).  I put the oven on low heat and get the temperature up in the kitchen.  As it is, this recipe takes AGES, so a bit of heat to move things along is welcome.

Snug like bugs for the 1st rise (creep away, have a shower, eat, do something else for a bit).

When I see the dough starting to push up the tea towels, it is time to knead.  Nothing fancy happens next.  The dough is covered up again and allowed time to do its 2nd rise.

After the 2nd rise, we are ready for tins.

Tins are either from Milo or otherwise International Roast.  Beetroot slice tins also good…

Buttered on the inside and then lined with bread crumbs.  Beware sharp tops and cuts to knuckles whilst buttering.  There was blood.

Dough is kneaded in the bowl and then rolled into balls that will fill approx 1/3 of the tin.

Cover them with their blankets and let them do their 3rd rise.  They are ready when they’re nearly at the top.

Brush with egg/milk mixture for shininess and then into the oven.  Baking instructions: 10 mins at 190 degrees, then cover them with a sheet of foil and bake for another 30 mins at 160 degrees, and then for another 15 mins at 130 degrees with the foil still on top.  Take ’em out and let them cool until the tins are cool enough to handle by hand.  Now it REALLY smells like Velykden’!

If there was enough butter/breadcrumbs on the insides of the tins, they can be loosened by pressing the tin a bit from the outside and then tipped out.  If they’re a bit sticky, might need to run a breadknife around the inside of the tin.

Wash tins and repeat for any remaining dough – usually end up doing two bakes.  And here they are!

Always icing so you can squidge it in with soft butter – best flavour combination EVER.  Just sugar and water on the stove to soften then pour on thick.  Some coloured ones for the little people coming for Velykden’ this year.

~oOo~