Yesterday, I had the luxury of a whole day without interruption to bake. So I tried two new ( for me) recipes for Easter bread.
Usually on the Christmas and Easter feasts, I make Stollen, but this time I tried Pääsiäisleipä, a Finnish bread, and Paska, Ukrainian Easter bread.
They turned out well. Here's what they look like. I didn't take these photos - forgot, and at this point, the loaves are in the freezer and will appear on Easter morning, and the samples I set out for the hungry hordes are largely demolished.
Pääsiäisleipä ( no idea how to pronounce this one)
very similar to Stollen, but just sliced almonds and golden raisins .
Paska:
very similar to Challah, but the dough is even softer and finer with the recipe I used.
Here's a poem I wrote a long time ago about making bread. It seemed appropriate to post now, during the Paschal Triduum:
Recipe
Yeast rises
like praise
clings to the cloth,
leaves its thready face there.
Dough rolls smooth
springs back
seamless in hand
as thought.
The oven opens and closes
its arms.
Smell seeps
from room to room.
Bread, as finished
as a child.
Every slice of the knife
it sings its fearful litany:
I live in the jaws of hunger.
I break as I give
I rise as I die.
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