Paska

A paska is a typical russian easter dessert. It's a cake made out of yeast dough with raisins in it. It can be in all kinds of different sizes. They are glaced with royal icing and decorated with sugar sprinkles.

When I was still a child my aunt and grandma always made them to easter. The easter holidays are some of my beloved childhood memories.
Back then we used empty cans, for example from canned peaches and the like. It's actually quite practical and cheap. And it makes the end results more interesting, cause the finished paskas have different sizes.
Another way is to use coffee cups. But I am not taking responsibility if you use your favorite mug and something goes wrong.
I took a more fashionable way and used a muffin pan.

After many, many years without, my mom and I tried our hand at them.
The end result was tasty but sadly not all that pretty.
During the hole preparation we had to call my aunt three or four times to ask for help. I think my aunt can make them in her sleep. But that's just the problem. Some things are just self-evident for her, she doesn't even realise that she has to say them. But my mom and I, we are total noobs. We need it step by step.
That they turned out too small wasn't actually our mistake. My aunt has her cups and cans she used for years and knows exactly how much dough to put in them. But wasn't so sure how much to put in a different dish. Well 1/3 was not enough.

You should have a lot of time when you make these. The work you put in the dough isn't actually all that much, even if it needs some brawn. But the waiting between the different steps is quite long and annoying.

My mom has two oven. Which is great when you have to bake a few things at ones.
The dough should be baked directly after the last step. We made a lot of dough and needed both of them.
We used a muffin pan, a cup, a cake pan and a silicon loaf pan. The silicon pan isn't all that suitable for paska. The sides and the bottom don't get brown enough. When they get the right color the top is already too dark.

So this is my second try. And I think I have figured out all the flaws.
They didn't turn out perfect, but all in all it were just small mistakes. I think I'm ready for easter.

As opposed to my mother I only have one oven, but I figured out a way  to bake the hole dough at once.
I used a muffin pan, a 19 cm cake pan and two cups. After they were finished I realised that the muffin and cake pan would have been enough. And I think it would even be just right for two muffin pans. Maybe I try that next time.

The dough needs to raise at about 38°C/100°F. The lowest setting on my oven is 50°C/120°F. I solved the problem by adjusting the oven to 50°C/120°F and then leaving the oven door half open the hole time. I checked every so often with a cooking thermometer, that the temperature is about right.

At the end I forgot to make the royal icing while the paska was baking. So I could ice them as soon as they come out of the oven. When I started they were only lukewarm and now the icing breakes of the paska if I cut it or bite into it. It doesn't cling to the dough.

They actually taste better the next day. And they are good for several days. After about 4 day they get rather dry, but you can just cut them into bite-size pieces and eat them with tea.

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Paska

Dough

50 g margarine
500 ml milk
16 g dry yeast
180 g sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
200 g raisins
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp oil
700-1000 g flour

1. Carefully melt the margarine in the microwave and put it aside for later.
2. Warm the milk to lukewarm.
3. Lightly mix the milk, the yeast and 2 tbsp of sugar together. Leave the mixture for about 10 minutes.
4. Mix the eggs and the rest of the sugar in a big bowl together. For about 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the milk-mixture, the salt, the raisins, the cinnamon, the oil and about a cup of the flour to the egg-sugar-mixture. Blend everything together with a wooden spoon.
6. Keep adding the flour cup by cup until you can no longer blend it with the spoon.
7. Generously dust a working surface with flour. Put the dough on the surface.
8. Add more flour to the dough and knead it by hand. Keep doing that until the dough is no longer sticky. But be careful not to add to much flour so it doesn't become to firm.
9. Put the dough into a fresh bowl. The bowl should be rather big, at least 2-3 times bigger then the dough.
10. Pre-heat the oven to 38°C/100°F (If the lowest setting on your oven is 50°C/120°F, read how to do that in the comments at the top).
11. Add the margarine and knead it in by hand. Knead the dough until the margarine is completely incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky.
12. Form the dough to a ball and leave it in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a microwave cover and put a clean kitchen towel over it. You could use a plastic wrap instead of the microwave cover, but the microwave cover doesn't interfere with the raising dough.
13. Put the bowl into the oven, on a baking sheet or a baking rack on the lowest position, and let the dough raise until it is 2 - 2 1/2 its original size. It takes about 60-80 minutes.
14. Take the bowl out of the oven. Push the dough in with your fist and let the air out.
15. Cover the bowl again and put it back in the oven. Let the dough raise again. The second time is quicker, about 50-60 minutes.
16. Grease the pans with margarine, butter or cooking spray.
17. Fill the pans to 3/4 with dough. Grease your hands a little, so the dough won't stick to them. Tear out portions of the dough, try to get the right amount at one go. Pull the dough to a ball. Make the top as smooth as possible, cause it will stay like this. Especially with the cake pan you should make sure to really form a ball or the end result will be too flat.
18. Put a baking sheet at the bottom position of the oven and a baking rack in the middle. Put the muffin pan on the rack, place it wholly on the left or right side. Put the cake pan on the sheet, place it on the opposite side to the muffin pan. This way both pans will get heat from the top and the bottom.
19. Let the dough raise again, but this time uncovered. It will take 30-40 minutes.
20. Close the oven door and set it to 180°C/360°F.
21. Bake for 10 minutes, possibly turn the muffin pan if the dough doesn't bake evenly. Swap the places of the two pans. This way the muffins will get more heat from the bottom and the cake will get a nice dark gold-brown color at the top.
22. Bake the muffins for 3 more minutes and the cake for 5 minutes.

The finished paskas should be dark gold-brown on top and light gold-brown on the sides.

Royal Icing 

2 egg whites
250 g icing sugar
5 g citric acid

1. Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff.
2. Add half of the sugar and beat it in.
3. Add the rest of the sugar and the citric acid and beat it in.

To Assemble

Sprinkles of your choice

1. The icing should be finished when the pans come out of the oven.
2. Take the cakes out of the pans and put them on a cooling rack. Keep going, don't let them cool down!!
3. Dip the top of the cakes into the icing, let the superfluous icing drip of. Use a spoon to spread the icing on the bigger cake.
4. Take a break every few cakes to decorate them with the sprinkles. If you wait to long the icing will be to dry and the sprinkles won't stick.
5. Let the cakes cool down, at best over night.

Bon appétit!!