Easter is one of the greatest holidays in Ukraine. It cannot be imagined without special Easter bread. Baking Easter bread has a deep Christian tradition. In keeping with the customary practice in Ukraine, housewives still bake several kinds of Easter bread, sometimes with different names.

In ancient times, paska was prepared three times: on Maundy Thursday the “yellow” ones were made, on Good Friday the “white” ones, and on Saturday the “black” ones. Each of these kinds had its own method of preparation and baking. The “yellow” ones were distinguished by the addition of many egg yolks, up to 100 and more; the “white” contained more dairy products, sour cream and curd cheese; and the “black” were made with buckwheat flour. Besides eggs, butter, sour cream, honey and sugar, various spices were added to the dough: vanilla, cinnamon, saffron. The paskas, placed in moulds, are put in a warm place for a while to rise. When arranging the paskas in moulds, they are at the same time decorated with patterns and various strips of dough in the form of crosses, circles and semicircles. Sometimes the dough is not rolled into a round loaf but several paskas are formed in a mould from the dough, and decorated on top with a small cross or a pattern.

Paskas are put into the oven extremely carefully so as not to shake them, because they may “sink”. Before this, a blessing is asked. Sometimes the process is accompanied by wishes: “Holy paska, be majestic and beautiful as the sun! As quickly as you rise, so may everything grow in the field and the garden, so that all (the family members are listed) are alive and healthy.” The oven for paskas is heated with special firewood. According to ancient custom, the housewife set aside one log each day of Great Lent, except Holy Week. The baked paskas are laid out on the table. The most beautiful of them is chosen for blessing.

Over the time of its existence, the paska recipe has changed and been improved depending on the region, nationality and social status of the population. At all times Easter bread was treated with reverence. Every housewife guards her recipe as a family tradition and passes it down to her children.

We offer for your attention recipes for paskas of the 19th century.

“Ukrainian Paska”

Ingredients: 10 glasses of flour, 2 glasses of cream, 50 eggs, 1/3 of dry yeast, 1 glass of sugar, ½ zolotnyk** each of ground cinnamon and cardamom, 1 nutmeg. Scald 4 glasses of flour in 2 glasses of boiled cream and mix well. Beat 50 yolks until white and dissolve 1/8 pound* of dry yeast in a small amount of milk, pour everything into the cooled sponge, add salt and 4 glasses of flour and knead well for half an hour, add 1 glass of fine sugar, ½ zolotnyk** each of ground cinnamon and cardamom, 1 nutmeg, and knead until bubbles appear. Put into moulds, let rise well and bake.

“Custard Paska”

Ingredients: 7 pounds* of flour, 5 bottles*** of milk, 1/8 pound* of dry yeast, 60 eggs, 2 glasses of “Chukhonian” butter (obtained by churning sour cream or sour whole milk), 2 glasses of fine sugar, 1 glass of sultanas. Scald 2 pounds* of flour with 5 bottles of boiled milk. When it cools, add 1/8 pound* of dry yeast diluted in a small amount of milk and 60 beaten yolks, and put in a warm place to rise. When the dough has risen well, add salt, 5 pounds* of flour, 2 glasses of melted butter, 2 glasses of fine sugar, fragrant oil, 2 glasses of fine sugar, any fragrant oil or vanilla tincture, 1 glass of sultanas or “currants” (small black seedless grapes) and 25 beaten whites, knead, transfer to paper moulds half full and, when the dough has risen, bake in a well-heated oven.

“Almond Babka”

Ingredients: 25 eggs, ½ pound* of sugar, ½ pound* of potato flour, 2 lemons, ¾ pound* of sweet and 5 kernels of bitter almonds. 25 yolks, 1 ½ pounds* of fine sugar and ½ pound* of potato flour (dried potatoes ground into flour), mix well, add the juice of 2 lemons, ¾ pound* of sweet and a few kernels of crushed bitter almonds, mix well, pour in 25 beaten whites, stir quickly and carefully, pour into a saucepan lid lined with buttered paper and bake.

“Chocolate Paska”

Ingredients: 60 eggs, 1 glass of chocolate, 1 glass of sugar, 1/8 pound* of dry yeast, 3 glasses of flour. Mix 60 yolks with 1 glass of grated chocolate and beat for half an hour, add 3 glasses of flour, 1 glass of fine sugar and 1/8 pound* of dry yeast mixed in a small amount of milk, beat for half an hour, put into moulds, let rise and bake.

*1 pound – 0.45 kg;

**1 zolotnyk – 4.2 g;

***1 bottle – 0.6 l

Valentyna Shakula,

Junior Researcher at the Pereiaslav National Historical and Ethnographic Reserve