Paska: The Ukrainian Easter Bread, and How to Bake It
The UAFest kitchen team
October 2026 · 8 min read
Paska and the Easter basket, ready to be blessed
Paska is the Ukrainian Easter bread: a rich, golden yeast loaf made with eggs, butter, milk and sugar, baked in the last days of Lent, carried to church in the Easter basket and blessed before it is eaten on Easter morning.
Ukrainian Easter is counted by the old calendar, so it usually falls later than the Western one. In 2027 it is on Sunday, 2 May; Western Easter is on 28 March.
Paska, kulich and paskha
Three similar names cause most of the confusion. Paska is the Ukrainian bread. Kulich is the Russian Easter bread, tall and cylindrical, usually iced white. Paskha, in Russian, is a moulded dessert of sweetened curd cheese.
Ukrainian paska itself comes in two shapes. In much of Ukraine today it is tall and topped with a white glaze and sprinkles. In Western Ukraine and in most of Ukrainian Canada it is a round, high loaf decorated with dough: a cross, a braid around the rim, rosettes, birds or leaves, all brushed with egg until they shine.
The Easter basket
On Holy Saturday or early on Easter Sunday the family takes a basket to church to be blessed. It is lined with an embroidered cloth, a rushnyk or a basket cover stitched for the purpose, and it carries the food of the Easter breakfast:
- Paska, in the middle.
- Pysanky and krashanky — the decorated eggs and the plain dyed ones.
- Kovbasa and ham, the meat that comes back after Lent.
- Butter, often shaped into a lamb or a cross, and a little fresh cheese.
- Salt, horseradish and a beeswax candle.
Baking it well
Paska is a rich dough, and rich doughs are slow. The sugar, yolks and butter hold the yeast back, so the first rise can take two hours or more; a warm kitchen and patience do more than extra yeast. Knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl, even if it stays slightly sticky.
The dough decorations go on after the loaf is shaped, attached with a little water or egg wash. If they brown before the bread is done, cover the top loosely with foil; a skewer pushed into the centre should come out clean.
Recipe
Paska (Ukrainian Easter Bread)
A rich, golden yeast bread with eggs, butter and lemon, decorated with a braided dough cross.
- Prep
- 45 minutes
- Cook
- 45 minutes
- Total
- 4 hours 30 minutes
- Makes
- One 20 cm round loaf, about 12 slices
Ingredients
Sponge
- 250 ml warm milk
- 8 g (1 packet) active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 100 g all-purpose flour
Dough
- 1 whole egg and 4 egg yolks
- 150 g sugar
- 120 g butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ½ tsp salt
- 500–550 g all-purpose flour
Glaze
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk
Method
- 1Start the spongeStir the yeast and sugar into the warm milk, then beat in the 100 g flour. Cover and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes, until bubbly.
- 2Mix the doughBeat the egg and yolks with the sugar until pale. Add to the sponge with the butter, vanilla, zest and salt, then work in the flour a little at a time until a soft dough forms.
- 3Knead and riseKnead for 10–12 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Keep back a fist-sized piece for decoration. Cover the rest and leave in a warm place until doubled, 1½ to 2 hours.
- 4Shape and decorateShape the dough into a ball and set it in a buttered 20 cm round tin or springform with high sides. Roll the reserved dough into thin ropes, braid two for the rim and lay two more as a cross on top, fixing them with a little egg wash.
- 5Second riseCover loosely and leave until risen by half again, 45 minutes to an hour.
- 6BakeBrush with the glaze and bake at 180 °C for 40–50 minutes, covering with foil once the top is deep gold, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then on a rack, on its side if it is tall.
Notes from the kitchen
- Every ingredient should be at room temperature; cold eggs and butter slow the dough for hours.
- Golden raisins soaked in warm water can be kneaded in at the end of the first knead.
- Wrapped in a cloth and then in a bag, paska stays soft for four or five days and makes very good toast after that.
Pysanka workshops, embroidery and Ukrainian baking — UAFest comes back to Carleton Place in September 2027.
UAFest 2026 took place on Sunday, September 13 · Riverside Park, Carleton Place
What people ask
Sunday, 2 May 2027. Ukrainian churches still calculate Easter by the Julian calendar, so it usually falls later than Western Easter, which in 2027 is on 28 March.
Paska is the Ukrainian Easter bread, often round and decorated with dough braids and a cross. Kulich is the Russian Easter bread, tall and cylindrical with white icing. Paskha, confusingly, is a Russian curd-cheese dessert.
Paska, pysanky and dyed eggs, kovbasa or ham, butter, fresh cheese, salt, horseradish and a candle, all under an embroidered cloth. The basket is blessed in church on Holy Saturday or Easter morning.
Usually the dough was too cold or not given enough time. Rich dough rises slowly; let it double fully before shaping, and keep every ingredient at room temperature.
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