Paska | Ukrainian Easter Bread With Apricots and Marzipan
Is it a fruit-studded French Brioche? Is it an Italian Panettone? Nobody can resist this beautifully fluffy, buttery Paska! Paska is a traditional Ukrainian Easter Bread, versions of which are enjoyed all across Eastern Europe. We've made an egg, milk and butter enriched dough, studded it with sultanas, dried apricots and marzipan to make it even more special and baked it in a round cake tin just as Ukrainians do!
Ingredients
- 400 g strong white flour
- 7 g fast-action yeast
- 40 g sugar
- 175 ml milk
- 2 eggs medium
- 100 g butter softened + extra for greasing
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom
- 110 g sultanas
- 75 g dried apricots chopped
- 40 g marzipan cut into small cubed
For Egg Wash:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- In a bowl of your stand mixer, mix together strong flour, yeast, sugar and a pinch of salt. Make a well in the middle and add eggs and milk. Start running your mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment on low speed until the ingredients are combined. Increase the speed to medium and keep kneading until the dough starts to look cohesive - about 5 minutes.
- Cut your room-temperature butter into thin slivers. With the mixer running, add one sliver of butter at a time and carry on until the butter is fully incorporated and the dough looks glossy. This will take about 10 minutes. Your dough will be sticky, but it should gather around the dough hook.
- Grease a large bowl with some butter or brush it with oil and pop a ball of dough into it. Cover with a tea towel or cling film and leave to proof in a warm spot until it doubles in size, approx 2 hours.
- In the meantime, grease an 18cm (7in) springform cake tin with butter and then line the bottom with baking parchment. Cut a long strip of baking parchment and line the sides, so the baking parchment sticks upwards from the tin by at least 10 cm. Use good quality, strong and sturdy baking parchment. You may use a larger tin for a wider, but less tall bake, if you wish. I would't suggest using a tin larger than 23cm (9in) in diameter. Alternatively, you can make Ukrainian Paska in Panettone moulds.
- In a small bowl, mix the sultana, dried apricots and marzipan cubes.
- Once doubled, cut about ¼ of the dough off and set aside. Stretch the remaining dough into a rectangle and scatter half of the sultana, dried apricot and marzipan mix. Roll it up and knead gently, then stretch it out again and scatter the rest of the fruit and marzipan. Roll the dough up again and knead it into a ball. Place it into a prepared cake tin and using your hands press it down to cover the whole base in even thickness.
- Take the reserved ¼ of the dough and divide it into two. Roll each piece into 54cm (21in) string (or the length of the circumference of your tin). Interweave the two strings like a rope, then place it in a circle alongside the inner edge of the cake tin on top of the dough already in it.
- Place the tin in a bag (to stop it drying out), make sure it is loosely covered, and leave it in a warm spot for 1½ hours until it doubles in size.
- Preheat the oven to 180° C Fan. In a small bowl, mix egg yolk and a tablespoon of milk. Gently brush your Easter Bread with the egg wash and place in the preheated oven for 40-45 min. Check the bread after 35 minutes to make sure it is not browning too quickly. Once baked, the internal temperature of the Ukrainian Easter Bread should be around 88°C.
- Leave the bread to cool for a couple of hours before slicing! It is best eaten on the same day. The next day you may enjoy it with some butter or clotted cream!
Nutrition
Calories: 269kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 6gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 80mgPotassium: 216mgFiber: 2gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 489IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 39mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!