Easter bread, otherwise known as Paska bread, is a sweet, citrusy bread topped with buttercream icing.
Every year around Easter, there has always been Easter bread in the house, somehow. Whether it was bought, made by us, or given to us by friends/family. So by now, my kids are programmed to ask for Easter bread by the middle of March. So for the last few years, my wife has been making smaller, artisan bread type loaves of Easter bread, which I think tastes better than the rectangular loaves that my foster mother used to make while I was growing up.
Growing up, the only time that my sisters and I would fight over the end piece of the bread loaf was when it was Easter bread. Because that was the piece with the most icing. And I remember getting the end piece, and buttering the non-iced side and folding it like a sandwich, and it being so delicious! But if I wasn’t eating an end piece, and there was no extra icing, I didn’t care for the bread. I always felt like the bread to icing ratio was off.And to remedy this, we decided to start making the smaller artisan type loaves so we could get more icing per bite. But then I got to thinking, wouldn’t it be even smarter to make buns, to get even more icing per bite?! (As I type this, I can almost hear my foster mother disagreeing with me).
Every time I make a loaf of Paska, it seems to disappear pretty quickly. But with this recipe, we got 12 buns which was a good amount seeing as with Covid around, we weren’t having any family over or gatherings and this was a perfect amount for our family. It seemed like they lasted a bit longer, and there were no fights over the end piece or who got the bigger buns as they were all basically an end piece and pretty uniform in size.
I would still like to make the rectangular loaf recipe that my mom used to make, if for nothing but nostalgic reasons, but I’m really liking this form of Easter bread.
I can never think of any other desserts to make at Easter, except for paska. Please tell me in the comments below what is your favorite Easter dessert.
I hope that you all have a fantastic and healthy Easter.
Cheers!
Easter Paska Buns (Easter Bread)
Ingredients
- 3/4 C Milk
- 1/4 C Butter
- 1/2 a Lemon
- 1/2 an Orange
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 C Sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Quick Rise Yeast
- 3 1/2 C Flour
Instructions
- Put the milk and butter in a microwavable bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir to completely melt the butter.
- While the milk is cooling off, grate the lemon and orange peel, and squeeze the juice out of both the lemon and orange.
- Combine the milk, butter, grated peel, and juice in a large bowl.
- Beat eggs well in a separate bowl and add to milk/butter mixture.
- Add sugar and salt and mix well.
- Add yeast and mix again.
- Slowly add the flour, 1 cup at a time until it is mixed thoroughly, and not sticky. If you are finding the dough really sticky, add a bit more flour.
- Knead for 6-8 minutes until the dough is soft.
- Cover your bowl with a light towel or saran wrap and let it rise until it has doubled in size (about 45 minutes).
- Make small dough balls (about the size of golf balls), and place on greased pans. Cover again, and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until buns are golden brown.
- Take out of the oven and let the buns cool off for about 2 hours before you ice them.
- Icing recipe can be found here
- Ice them and add sprinkles.
Notes
Icing:
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
3 cups icing sugar
2-4 tablespoons cream (or milk)
1 tsp vanilla
Add all ingredients to a bowl, and mix until fluffy.
Carrot cake! 🥕🥕🥕
Made these today and they were AMAZING!!!!
[…] Check out the full recipe here. […]
Can’t wait to try to these! I’ve been meaning to make paska for years but the thought of making so many loaves is intimidating for whatever reason. I think it’s because I don’t plan a paska making day and want a quick, spur of the moment recipe. My husband and I make a MennOjib couple so I was pumped to find Menno Neechie Kitchen. 😁