Paska
 
 
Author:
Ingredients
Milk Mixture
  • 1 cup milk, warmed
  • ½ cup flour
Yeast Mixture
  • 2 Tbsp yeast, rapid or Quick Rise
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • ½ cup water
Dough
  • 10 egg yolks
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • ¾ cup butter
  • rind of 1 orange
  • rind of lemon, scant bit
  • 5 cups flour
Icing
  • ½ cup butter, room temperature
  • 2 egg whites (egg whites keep the icing fluffy)
  • ½ - 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbsp cream
  • 4-6 cups icing sugar
Instructions
Milk Mixture
  1. Beat warmed milk add ½ cup flour. Make smooth paste and let stand several minutes.
Yeast Mixture
  1. Mix and let rise: yeast, sugar and water.
Dough
  1. In a KitchenAid or Bosch mixer, beat eggs yolks and whole eggs til light and fluffy.
  2. Add salt.
  3. Slowly beat in sugar and vanilla. Beat well.
  4. Melt and cool butter. Add butter to egg mixture.
  5. Add orange rind and lemon rind.
  6. Add yeast mixture and milk mixture.
  7. Add 5 plus cups of flour and knead. ***BEFORE this step, switch to dough hook attachment.
  8. As you add the flour, the dough will eventually pull away from the sides of the bowl and become one ball of dough…the texture will be very sticky, this will take several minutes.
  9. Once the dough is the right consistency (pulled away from the sides of the bowl, yet still very sticky), knead it in your machine for approx 10 min (each mixer varies slightly).
  10. Empty into a large bowl sprayed with Pam or Canola Oil. Move dough around, spray it with Pam again so it’s covered with oil. Cover bowl with towel and plastic wrap (a dry cleaning bag will generate some heat to aid in the rising.) Let rise for at least 1 hour.
  11. Punch down and let rise for at least another hour.
  12. Punch down again and form into loaf “balls” on a pan and let rise for an additional hour on greased cookie sheets.To do this, divide dough into approx 4″ balls..you’ll be surprised how big they will end up being. Make sure to cover once again.
  13. Bake at 300 degrees until rising well (about 10 minutes) and then at 275 degrees until done (about 20 min more).
To Make Icing:
  1. Beat butter in mixer until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and beat until completely incorporated, smooth and fluffy. Be sure to keep icing in the refrigerator
Prep
And, with any Mennonite recipe, there are many “unwritten” instructions! Here are the extras, that make ALL the difference according to our mom, who learned from generations before:
~Leave the eggs out the night before (GASP!).. you want to use ingredients on the side of being warm for the bread to rise better.
~Do not use brown coated loaf pans…well, that is, unless you love for your beautifully risen bread to sink after baking!
~If possible, make paska on a sunny day…the dough will rise better. Backup plan? Run your dishwasher so the countertop above it warms…then put the bowl with the rising dough on the warm surface! Or turn your oven on for awhile, then turn it off and put the dough in there to rise.
~Don’t ever double the batch
~Use fresh jumbo farm eggs
~Use whole milk.
Recipe by Sugar Plum Sisters at https://sugarplumsisters.com/2018/03/easter-brunch-a-giveaway/