Classic Ukrainian Paska

This Easter bread recipe is "classic" in the sense of being similar to recipes available in many sources with minimal differences in quantities. Some give more sugar, others less butter or milk. So it is possible to adjust it to your taste. Since the flour can "take in" more or less moisture, follow your experience with the flour you use. This recipe features Butler's Gold wheat flour, type 00, by Barton Spring Mill.
bartonspringsmill.com/pages/b...
/for 3 Paskas to be baked in 15 oz paper molds/
TOTAL 1241 g - 180 g for decorations = 1061 g / 3 portions = 353.6 g
It is relatively less elaborate and heavy with eggs, dairy, and butter than some traditional Paska recipes.
The source for the original recipe in Ukrainian by Marianna Dushar:
panistefa.com/paska-velykodny...
Adjusted to local ingredients featuring Butler's Gold flour by Barton Springs Mill by Lyukum Cooking Lab:
whi.sk/ez3AK

[@Navygrl58]

I’ve been looking for Easter breads with the holiday coming up soon and this is probably the best recipe I’ve seen so far, but I just have a couple of questions. With the mixer going I could barely hear you talk and there are no captions to follow you, I was wondering if you said the butter had to be cold or room temperature, and we don’t follow metric here in the States so I was wondering how many egg yolks I’m supposed to use? It looks like there’s five in the bowl but I just need to be sure, the rest of the metric measurements I could figure out. Also if we don’t have access to paper molds can this be done in a regular circular cake pan? Thank you again for a wonderful recipe!

[@lyukumtravels5734]

Thank you for your questions. When I teach baking/pastry arts classes, I insist on using a kitchen scale at home kitchen for successful results. To prove why you need it, I ask my students to measure 1 cup of flour and weigh it using the scales. Every "cup" differs in grams - from 135g to 170g. The same story is with eggs. They have to be labeled "Large." And if you weigh different eggs in the same cartoon, you'll see eggs as small as 56g to as large as 64g, shell on. Some recipes are forgiving, some not. If you have more than one ingredient way off the original amount, the result will not be what the recipe promises. That being said, an average large egg yolk is 18-20g, so you need about 5 egg yolks. If in doubt, use 6. More egg yolks in this recipe are better than less. About the temperature of the butter. When kneading an enriched dough (the one with eggs, fat, sugar, etc.), we must watch the dough's temperature. It should not get too warm, which might happen if the room temperature is too high or if the speed of the mixer is higher than setting 1 or 2. So, we benefit if the temperature of the butter is cold, right from the fridge. At the same time, we need to incorporate it into the dough fast enough, so we have to slice it thinly. Adding small pieces of cold butter is the best option.

[@Navygrl58]

@@lyukumtravels5734 Thank you so much for your quick and detailed reply it helps a lot! And yes I do have a kitchen scale which I usually use when I’m baking I just never used it for eggs before but will in the future. The last question I had was can I use a cake pan since I have no paper molds?

[@LyukumCookingLab]

@@Navygrl58 Sorry, forgot about that one. Yes, you can. I used to bake Easter bread in SS cylindrical containers. Once, I tried paper molds (available on Amazon) and never returned to metal pans. Metal pans should be lined with parchment paper, the bottom and the sides. The best way for the sides is to grease them, place the parchment paper, and grease the paper. This way, the paper will stick to the pan, and the dough will comfortably slide against the sides when rising during the proof and then during the baking.

[@Navygrl58]

@@LyukumCookingLab 👍🏼☺️

[@michelleweiss2269]

Just curious as to what mixer are you using...I can't make out the name in the video.

[@KEETCHA2]

The dough set aside for the decoration, Do i let it also rise the one hour and second 1.5 hours. Do i set the decorations on the paska during the second rise or just before i put it in the oven? in the past my decorations details kind of "rose" away.

[@LyukumCookingLab]

Decorations are tricky. We set aside 180 g of dough. We need to add 35 g of flour to that amount by kneading in order to make this dough less moist, heavier. We do let it ferment just like the rest of the dough during the stage of bulk fermentation, but at room temperature. As a result, this dough will behave differently. We start shaping the decorations right after the paska bread is shaped and placed into the paper molds. Again, we proof paskas at 85-90F, but the shaped decorations will stay at room temperature. Finally, the decor should be made of small elements. When making the braids, start with the strands that are no larger in diameter than 1/5 of an inch. When cutting any shapes out of a sheet of dough, roll it thin. It took me a few batches to understand how to approach decorating paskas to make it work. Thank you for your questions. I wish I could fit more details into my videos and still keep them not overloaded with information. Maybe I should make a video dedicated to just decorating the bread…

[@KEETCHA2]

thank you@@LyukumCookingLab