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richard-in-cincy

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Years ago a friend had a loaf of what he called Easter Bread, sent by his mom, baked by one of her friends. Could never track down a recipe. It was a loaf, very yellow, rich, and buttery. Sort of like a yeast raised pound cake.

There were no braids, no easter eggs embedded into it, no fruits, no nuts, no rings, no icings. It was just an amazingly rich loaf of bread. Any ideas of what it was or have a recipe?

 
Richard, here's one I posted at Gail's: Ukranian Grandma's Pashka Bread (Easter Bread)

Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 17:34:51 GMT
From: Marilyn in FL (@141.240.32.144 ())

1 large cake yeast (Note: this is the fresh stuff, found in northern states. A small cake of yeast is equivalent to one package of dry yeast, so I guess you can swap 3 packages of dry yeast. I never have, though.)
1/4 C warm water
3 C whole milk
1 C butter
1 1/2 C sugar
12 C flour
3 tsp salt
4 eggs
soft raisins
1 beaten egg for brushing on top of dough

Dissolve yeast in water with 1 tsp sugar.
Scald milk and butter together.
Blend yeast, milk, eggs, sugar and 6C of flour. Mix well.
Start adding remaining flour and stir in raisins, if you're so inclined. Continue adding flour until you have a stiff dough that is not excessively sticky. Save a bit of flour to coat counter surface for kneading step.

Knead for 10 minutes by hand. Note: I've only done this step by hand so I can't defend the merits of bread machine automation. Place dough in a buttered bowl and cover...let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rise TWO more times (this provides a very nice crumb).

Punch down and divide into 6 pieces. Let rest for 10 minutes, then shape into small round loaves, or roll into long logs and braid 3 each into a circle...this would be the stage to inbed hardboiled colored easter eggs into the braid. If I'm feeling particularily ethnic, I'll add an Orthodox cross formed from dough to the top of a round ball.

Brush surface with a beaten egg and let rise for
1/2 hour. Bake 350 for 35 minutes...Watch carefully...the egg wash will want to burn.

Notes:
Any raisins sticking out of the dough will burn. There is nothing you can do about it unless you want to create miniature raisin deflector shields.
Block out your time. This bread is not something you can start an hour before you want to eat it.

For true authenticity, it helps if you shrink to 5 foot tall, wear an apron that has survived multiple wars and speak in a language no one in the house understands. Smile a lot with whatever remaining teeth you have. People will love you and the bread anyway.

 
Rec: Bread machine Easter Bread

This is from Recipelink.
My notes are at the bottom

Russian Easter Bread
rec.food.baking/Gallagher (1999)

This is a recipe I devised for use with my ABM. I don't usually bake the bread in the ABM, but I do mix the dough and let it do the first rise there. If you do the whole thing in the machine, use the Sweet Bread, light setting. If you bake it in the oven, do it for about 25 minutes at 350. Cover top with foil for last 10 minutes if it browns too quickly.

2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup light cream or half and half
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
1/2 cup raisins and glazed cherries, mixed

Heat milk, half and half and butter till butter melts. Add to remaining ingredients in the order your machine requires. Add the raisins/cherries when your machine stops for adding "extras".

I put mine in a round, tall baking pan to make the traditional "top hat" shape to bake, but it also works as a round loaf when baked on a cookie sheet. Will make two small loaves, or one large one. This is a high riser in the bread machine.

My Note: I omit raisins/fruit and add 1T grated lemon rind.

 
'm smiling. I have all my teeth so I guess I don't qualify. But I sure can see the picture. Thanks

 
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