Traditional Paska Recipe: The Ukrainian Easter Bread Blessed Before It’s Eaten

Active time: ~40 minutes | Total time: ~5½ hours (including rising and cooling) | Serves: 16 (2 loaves) | Difficulty: Moderate

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Quick Overview

1. Make a sponge of yeast, warm milk, a little sugar and flour
2. Beat in eggs, yolks, sugar, butter and citrus zest, then the flour
3. Let the dough rise, knead in the raisins and divide it between two tall pans
4. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until a skewer comes out dry
5. Cool completely, then glaze
6. Take the loaf to be blessed before the first slice is cut

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What Paska Is

Paska is the Easter bread of Ukraine: a tall, golden yeast loaf rich with eggs, butter and sugar, carried to church on Easter morning in a basket of food to be blessed before anyone eats it.^1,2,3,4 It is one of the country’s ritual breads.²

Its shape depends on the region. In eastern Ukraine paska is tall and cylindrical, the form this recipe follows; in western Ukraine it is lower and decorated with ornaments made of the dough itself.² Many published recipes today finish the tall loaf with a white glaze.^3,4

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History and the Blessing of the Basket

In Ukrainian, Easter is Velykden, “The Great Day.” Z. Kuzelia and P. Odarchenko, in the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, describe it as a feast that combines Christian and older elements, with many of its rites tied to farming and to the remembrance of the dead.¹ Ukraine’s Orthodox and Eastern-rite Catholic churches keep the old calendar for Easter, so it often falls on a different Sunday from Western Easter.¹ The 2023 move of fixed-date holidays to a new calendar did not change that.⁵

By custom, paska is baked by women, on Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday; on Good Friday, which falls between them, cooking is strongly forbidden.⁶ The house was meant to stay calm while the dough rose, and recipes published today still ask for a quiet house on baking day.^7,3 A loaf that failed to rise or broke as it came out of the oven was read as a sign of a death in the family that year, and no one tasted the bread before it was blessed, not even the cook.⁷

The blessing happens at the Easter service. Pasky go to church together with painted eggs, butter, cheese, sausage and smoked meat, and little bundles of poppy seeds, millet, salt, pepper and horseradish. At home, in eastern Ukraine, the oldest member of the family unwraps the blessed food, slices a piece from each item and shares it out. In the Hutsul region of the west, the family first walks around the house three times and scatters pieces of Easter bread and salt in the manger for the animals, and only then sits down to break the fast.¹

The dough ornaments on western loaves have their own meanings: birds, especially larks, as heralds of spring, an ear of wheat for a good harvest, a leaf for spring returning, and a cross, which in pre-Christian times stood for the four directions or the four seasons. Recipes varied even then: a 19th-century encyclopedic dictionary counted up to 40 of them, and one Ukrainian cookbook author included a paska made with rye flour, although the best wheat flour was the usual choice.⁷

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Traditional Paska Recipe

This recipe was compiled by Heritage Healthy Kitchen from a comparison of published recipes; the sources are listed at the end of this article. Figures that are Heritage Healthy Kitchen’s own estimates rather than taken from a published source are marked as such.

Published recipes use 650g to 1.3kg of flour per batch, with 220–500ml of milk (or whey), 100–200g of butter, and anything from one egg and one yolk to six eggs, or three eggs and four yolks.^3,8,4,9 Sugar runs from 150g with a little honey to 300g, and some recipes sweeten with honey alone.^4,3,9,8 Loaves of about 700g bake at 180°C for 40–45 minutes.^8,4 The amounts below, for 700g of flour and two loaves, sit inside those ranges. The 16 slices and the storage times are Heritage Healthy Kitchen’s estimates.

Ingredients (makes 2 loaves, serves 16)

For the sponge

• 250ml (1 cup) whole milk, warmed to 30–35°C (85–95°F)
• 7g (2¼ teaspoons) instant or active dry yeast, or 25g fresh yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 tablespoons flour, taken from the amounts below

For the dough

• 3 large eggs plus 3 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 10g (2½ teaspoons) vanilla sugar, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 150g (⅔ cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil, plus a little for the bowl and your hands
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
• 700g (about 5½ cups) all-purpose flour
• 120g (¾ cup) raisins, soaked in warm water for 10–15 minutes and patted dry
• 1 egg yolk, beaten, for brushing

For the glaze

• 150g (1¼ cups) powdered sugar
• 2–3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Colored sprinkles, optional

Instructions

1. Make the sponge. Stir the yeast into the warm milk with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and 2 tablespoons of the flour. The milk should be no warmer than 35°C (95°F), or the yeast will die.^3,4 Cover and leave in a warm, draft-free spot for 20–30 minutes, until it has doubled and is covered in bubbles.^3,4,9
2. Beat the eggs. Beat the eggs and yolks with the rest of the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the salt until pale and thick.^4,9
3. Mix the dough. Stir the egg mixture into the sponge, then the melted butter, the oil and the zest.^4,3,8 Add the flour gradually and knead for about 10 minutes, by hand or with a dough hook, until smooth.^3,9 The dough should stay soft and a little sticky; oil your hands rather than adding more flour.^4,8
4. Let it rise. Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover it and leave it somewhere warm for 1–1½ hours, until doubled.^3,8,4,9
5. Add the raisins. Knock the dough back and knead in the raisins, keeping them inside the dough rather than on the surface, where they would burn.³
6. Fill the pans. Line the bottoms of two tall round pans, about 15cm (6in) across and 13cm (5in) high, or paper paska molds with parchment and grease the sides.^4,3 Divide the dough between them; it should fill each one about a third of the way up.^4,9 Cover and leave until the dough reaches nearly to the rims, 40–60 minutes.^8,4 Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
7. Bake. Brush the tops with the beaten yolk and bake on a low oven rack for 40–45 minutes, until deep golden and a skewer pushed into the center comes out dry.^8,4,3
8. Cool. Let the loaves cool a little in their pans, then turn them out and leave them to cool completely.^8,4
9. Glaze. Whisk the powdered sugar with enough lemon juice to make a thick, spreadable glaze. Spread it over the tops, letting it run down the sides, and scatter over the sprinkles, if using.³

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Kitchen Tips

Don’t add flour to a sticky dough. A rich paska dough is meant to stay slightly tacky, and extra flour turns a soft, tender loaf into a dense bread; oil your hands instead.⁴

Dry the raisins well and roll them in a little flour before kneading them in, so they spread through the loaf instead of sinking, and keep them off the surface, where they burn.^3,9

Bake on the lowest rack of the oven and keep the door shut as much as you can, since sudden drops in temperature can make the loaves sink. If the tops are well browned while the middle is clearly still raw, cover them loosely with foil, and trust the skewer rather than the color.^4,3

For a western-style loaf, set aside a quarter of the dough before adding the raisins, roll it into thin strands, braid them and lay the braids on top of the loaves before brushing with yolk. Loaves decorated this way are baked without glaze.⁸

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Looking for a Lighter Version?

Our Healthy Paska recipe keeps the same tall loaf and the same method, but bakes it with part whole-wheat flour, less sugar in the dough and the glaze, and part of the butter replaced with oil.

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Nutritional Information

Per serving, 1 of 16 slices, with glaze:

• Calories: approximately 350–430 kcal
• Protein: 6.5–8g
• Total fat: 11–13.5g, of which saturated 5.5–6.5g
• Carbohydrates: 57–69g
• Fiber: 1.5–2g
• Sodium: 55–70mg

Without the glaze, a slice comes to about 320–390 kcal.

Nutritional values are estimates based on standard ingredient databases (USDA FoodData Central). They vary with the size of the eggs, the slice and how much glaze goes on.

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Storage and Reheating

Keep the glazed loaves at room temperature, wrapped or in an airtight container, for 3–4 days. To keep them longer, wrap unglazed loaves tightly and freeze for up to 2 months, then thaw at room temperature and glaze before serving. Slices that have gone a little dry are good lightly toasted. These times are Heritage Healthy Kitchen’s estimates.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why can’t paska be eaten before it’s blessed?
By tradition the bread was blessed first: no one tasted it beforehand, not even the cook.⁷ The blessed paska and the other food from the basket are what the family breaks the fast with on Easter morning.¹

Why does paska look different in western and eastern Ukraine?
In eastern Ukraine paska is tall and cylindrical. In western Ukraine it is lower and decorated with dough ornaments.²

What do the shapes on top of some pasky mean?
Birds, especially larks, herald spring, an ear of wheat stands for a good harvest and a leaf for spring returning. The cross, in pre-Christian times, stood for the four directions or the four seasons.⁷

What else goes in the Easter basket?
Painted eggs, butter, cheese, sausage and smoked meat, and little bundles of poppy seeds, millet, salt, pepper and horseradish, all blessed together with the paska at the Easter service.¹

When is paska baked?
On Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday. Cooking of any kind is strongly forbidden on Good Friday, which falls between the two.^6,3

Why did my paska come out dense?
Usually because extra flour went into a dough that was meant to stay slightly sticky.⁴ Too-hot milk is the other common cause: above 35°C (95°F) it kills the yeast, and the dough barely rises.³

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Further Reading & Sources

The recipe is a compilation based on the published recipes listed here; these links are provided for readers who want to explore further.

1. Z. Kuzelia, P. Odarchenko. Easter. Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Velykden, “The Great Day”; Easter combines pagan and Christian elements, with rites tied to agriculture and the remembrance of the dead; the Orthodox and Eastern-rite Catholic churches keep the Julian calendar and so celebrate Easter on a different Sunday; no work on Good Friday; pasky blessed at the Easter liturgy together with eggs, butter, lard, cheese, sausage, smoked meat, and napkins of poppy seeds, millet, salt, pepper and horseradish; in eastern Ukraine the oldest member of the family slices and shares out the blessed food; in the Hutsul region the family first walks around the house three times and scatters Easter bread and salt in the manger, then sits down to break the fast.
2. S. Stechishin. Traditional foods. Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Paska among the ritual breads; the Easter bread brought to church to be blessed is of low cylindrical shape and decorated with dough ornaments in western Ukraine, and tall and cylindrical in eastern Ukraine.
3. Yevhen Klopotenko. (12 April 2021). Velykodnia vypichka. Klasychnyi retsept drizhdzhovoi pasky [Easter baking: a classic yeast paska]. klopotenko.com. Paska is usually baked on Maundy Thursday in a calm, quiet house; the milk for the yeast no warmer than 35°C or the yeast dies; dried fruit dried well and kept off the surface so it does not burn. Published recipe: 750–800g flour, 220ml milk, 25g fresh yeast, 1 egg and 1 yolk, 2 tablespoons sour cream, 225g sugar, 10g vanilla sugar, 1 orange, 100g butter, 2 tablespoons sunflower oil, 100g raisins; glaze of 200g powdered sugar and orange juice; 180°C, 20–35 minutes depending on the pans.
4. Yevhen Klopotenko. (6 April 2026). Zdobna paska [Rich paska]. klopotenko.com. Published recipe: sponge of 25g yeast, 50g sugar, 250ml warm milk and 2 tablespoons flour (30 minutes); 3 eggs and 4 yolks beaten with 50g sugar, 10g vanilla sugar and 50g honey; 200g melted (not hot) butter, 2 tablespoons oil, 650g flour; 1 hour 20 minutes first rise; pans filled a third full; 1 hour in the pans; two loaves in pans 15cm across and 13cm high, filled a third full; brushed with yolk; 180°C, 40–45 minutes on the lowest oven rack, without opening the door needlessly; tops covered with foil if they brown while the middle is still raw. The dough should stay slightly sticky; adding flour gives a dense loaf.
5. The Kyiv Independent news desk. (24 May 2023). Orthodox Church of Ukraine to switch to Revised Julian calendar, celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25. The Kyiv Independent. Fixed-date holidays move to the new calendar; the change does not apply to Easter, whose date fluctuates.
6. Lisa Chaikovska. (27 March 2024). Key Facts to Know About Ukrainian Easter. UkraineWorld. Paska is baked by women, on Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday; cooking on Good Friday is strongly forbidden.
7. Svitlana Yakovenko. (22 April 2021). Ukrainian Easter bread, paska – its secrets. Sova Books. Paska was not eaten before the blessing, and not even the cooks tasted it; calm in the house while the dough rose; a loaf that failed to rise or broke was taken to mean a death in the household that year; birds (especially larks) as heralds of spring, the ear of wheat for a rich harvest, the leaf for spring; the cross, in pre-Christian times, for the four cardinal directions or seasons; the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary mentions up to 40 paska recipes; Zynovia Klynovetska’s cookbook gives 16, including one made with rye flour.
8. Yevhen Klopotenko. (24 March 2025). Lvivska paska [Lviv paska], adapted from Vira Manko and Olha Verbenets, Velykodnii koshyk. klopotenko.com. Published recipe: 1kg flour, 500ml whey sweetened with 200ml honey, 24g dry yeast, 6 yolks, 150g butter, 1 tablespoon oil, 150g raisins, lemon and orange zest; a quarter of the dough kept back for braids on top, no glaze; two loaves of about 720g; 50 minutes first rise, 40 minutes in the pans; brushed with yolk; 180°C, 40–45 minutes.
9. Daryna Tsviakh. (30 April 2024). Try pasky vid lvivskykh hospodyn. Retsepty dnia [Three paskas from Lviv home bakers]. ZAXID.NET. Three home recipes. One: 1–1.3kg flour, 500ml milk, 11g dry or 50g fresh yeast, 6 eggs, 250–300g sugar, 200g butter, 300g raisins; pans filled a third full. Another: 4 cups flour, 250ml milk, 1 cup sugar, 4 eggs, 100g butter, 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest; raisins rolled in flour so they do not sink; 170°C, about 40 minutes. A third: 1.3kg flour, 500ml milk, 200g butter, 180g sour cream, 4 yolks, 500g sugar; 180°C, 35–40 minutes. Egg-white glaze: 1 white, 120–150g powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

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Disclaimer

The information in this article is provided for educational and informational purposes only. Heritage Healthy Kitchen makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of any content on this site. Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on the specific ingredients, brands, and measurements used. This content is not intended as dietary, medical, or professional nutritional advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider regarding any dietary needs or health conditions. Heritage Healthy Kitchen is not responsible for any outcomes resulting from the use of recipes or information published on this site.

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