Painting and Pascha

Well, my adventures have returned, after several months of illness and inactivity. Yesterday, I tried my hand at baking the traditional Ukrainian Easter bread, known as pascha (and it turned out not so badly, if I do say so myself). Then, today, I painted the living room floor with the help of my friend, Myriam, and that was an adventure.

First, in moving out the furniture before painting, we discovered the source of the persistent winter moths that have been plaguing the flat since before my return...they were feasting on a my lovely Arabian wool carpet - which is now well-ventilated and not fit for use. They also made their home in several other carpets and blankets which had been stored under the divan (couch). Sigh...but at least now they know they are no longer welcome and their rich feasting ground has been moved out of my flat! :-)

Second, after a late start due to the unexpected discovery of the moths' home, I ran out of paint only a few minutes into the process...and forgot to paint the baseboards and cut in the corner before I had painted myself out of reach. I ran to the store to get more paint, and they weren't "working" today, however, one worker was still there and he got me what I needed anyway. It turned out the need for more paint was not a bad thing, since I ended up with a much nicer color (lighter and brigher), now that they can custom mix colors. Oh, and apparently I was looking very seriously sporty today b/c the guy asked if I was from Speedway, our local race track! Haha!!!

Third, after coming back with the fresh paint and painting away, I forgot to turn off the MP3 player which is now painted out of reach for the next 24 hours. So, I will have music until the thing runs out of juice... Thankfully, it's not too loud!

Fourth, after finishing everything and not making too big of a mess, I then proceeded to drip paint on the couch (and don't have the paint remover to clean it before it dries), on the hallway floor (which doesn't matter since it will be painted soon anyway and has carpets covering it 24x7. Then, just when I thought I'd made enough of a mess, I tripped on the divan which is blocking the doorway to the kitchen and knocked off the phone (which was precariously perched on it) into the fresh paint - making a mess on the both the floor and the phone (also permanent since I have no paint remover). Oh well, Ive decided to paint the phone receiver something cool, and that will take care of that!

Now, back to baking pascha... First, I forgot to cream the eggs and butter together BEFORE adding it to the yeast proof, even though it was written in my instructions (duh!), so I strained the mix, sort of creamed the solid stuff and mixed it together again. Then, after the appropriate 3 rises, I nearly burned the outside of the loaves, despite having just the lower heating element on, probably b/c I have a convection oven and the 220'C was a bit too hot for it. Then, I ended up underbaking the next two loaves (most likely - I haven't tried them yet) to compensate for the overdone outside. But, in the end, I tried one of the loaves and it was just right - so my worries were for naught.

** Pascha Recipe **
Note: this bread is a very high-rising sweet bread which is traditionally baked on the Thursday before Easter. The higher your loaf rises, the better!

Ingredients:
- 100 g wet yeast or about 1.5 packets of active, dry yeast (if 11g packets)
- 300 g sugar (about 1.5 cups)
- 500 mL milk
- 1-2 kg flour (more than 1 kg, less than 2 - if in North America, use more flour since ours is "drier")
- 10 egg yolks, room temperature
- 150 g butter, softened
- 2 T oil
- 1 t salt
- 200 g raisins
- 1 egg white
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 T vinegar
- multi-colored sprinkles

Instructions:
1. Mix together: yeast, 1 T sugar, 250 mL warm milk, and 2 T flour. Set aside in warm place to proof the yeast.

2. In a separate bowl, cream together: egg yolks, sugar, 1 t. salt, and the remaining milk (250 mL).

3. Add softened butter and oil to the creamed mixture and beat until well-mixed.

4. Add the creamed mixture to proofed yeast and slowly add flour, a little at a time, until a soft dough forms. The dough should be a bit sticky and not stiff. It is more like a roll dough or sweet bread than a regular bread. Do not add too much flour, or the resulting bread will be very dry and inedible.

5. Knead dough for 10-20 minutes with well-greased hands. The dough will be slightly sticky and eventually form a smooth, springy dough (but still sticky).

6. Cover and set dough aside to rest for 2 hours in a warm place, or until more than doubled in size.

7. Knead the dough again for 10 minutes and knead in the raisins. Then, allow dough to rest again for 1-2 hours in a warm place, or until more than doubled in size.

8. Grease well cylindrical pans (or a bundt pan or fluted baking pan). It is good to put a greased piece of parchment paper in the bottom of each pan to keep the pascha from sticking upon removal. Then, put the dough in each pan, to 1/3 of the height of the pan, no higher (the bread will more than triple in height). To ensure that the loaves rise straight, put a piece of uncooked spaghetti in the center of each loaf to stabilize the dough (after baking, remove the spaghetti).

9. Allow the dough to rest again for about 30 minutes in the pans and pre-heat the oven to 220'C.

10. Bake in oven for 10-20 minutes at 220'C, preferably with only the bottom element if possible, then bake for another 20 minutes at 180'C, or until done (when bread becomes lightweight and hollow sounding when tapped). Allow to cool 10 minute before removing from pans.

11. Glaze with icing sugar or the glaze below and sprinkle with multi-colored sprinkles. Serve cool.


Glaze:
1. Combine 1-2 egg whites, 1 cup sugar, and 2 T vinegar in a bowl and mix vigorously (at high speed if you have an electric beater) for about 5-10 minutes, or until soft to medium peaks form.

2. Glaze the top of the loaves and then sprinkle with multi-colored sprinkles.

Happy baking!! :-)