 CNN photojournalist John Bodnar is a second-generation Slavic-American whose grandparents emigrated from Eastern Slovakia, and his mother’s Carpatho-Rusyn ethnicity is the prominent influence for his cultural and family traditions. Previously, he wrote about haluski. Spring in Western Pennsylvania was all about the sounds of the birds, the smells of renewed life, and sights of the buds and green surrounding us. All of this seemed to happen suddenly, and with these changes we knew that Easter was soon upon us. The traditions of my mother’s Byzantine Catholic and my father’s Roman Catholic church were prevalent in our lives, and the sound and smells of these traditions were as stunning as spring. After the Lenten fasts, prohibition of meat on Fridays and religious customs like the Friday Stations of the Cross, the Easter feast was always eagerly anticipated. The feast’s traditions, modified some over the years, were initiated by the blessing on the food baskets. The baskets of food were taken to the church and blessed by the priest. Only the foods that were blessed were eaten on Easter Sunday. Traditional foods like ham, kielbasa, cheese, eggs, butter and bread were in the basket for the blessing. Though they weren't eaten, the baskets were adorned with artful Pysanka eggs. I’d like to introduce you to the Easter bread that we called Paska. It is a two dough bread that incorporates cheese and raisins, and the arduous process that can take up to SIX hours to prepare. There in no wonder that this bread was made only once a year. I can’t imaging how my grandmother, who had 10 children, could find time for anything, let alone spending so much time for baking bread, plus the rest of the meal preparation. It will always be one of my favorite foods. I will occasionally make a small loaf, but it is never as good as Mom’s. When I visit her, frozen Paska is always “forced” upon me and I take it home with me. Outside the Easter tradition, it is amazing when toasted and covered with butter. Oh yes, did I mention Paska with a hot cup of coffee? Paska Ingredients Cheese Dough 6 cups flour White Dough 6 cups flour Directions Cheese Dough Start the cheese dough first, since it will take longer to raise. Grate the cheddar cheese Put dry yeast into a small bowl with 1/2 cup of warm water to activate. Then add cheese to three cups of flour with the eggs in a large bowl and mix together. Once mixed, add the remaining 3 cups of flour and the activated yeast and finish mixing the ingredients, then add raisins. Leave mixture in the bowl and let raise for an hour. White Dough Mix and raise the same as the cheese dough. After the dough raises, take dough and make six equal sized dough balls, three white and three cheese. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin into 12”-14” ovals. Place the flattened cheese dough on top of the flattened white dough, then roll the two into a 2” wide braidable roll. Repeat, and finish with six rolls.
Braid the three rolls, then let the braided dough raise again for an hour. Brush with butter or egg glaze, and bake for 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees until it is golden brown. More on Easter foods and traditions |
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Ahhh... 1) when do you incorporate the sugar into the mixture?
1) 6 doughs (3 cheese; 3 white braided): 1 bread with more cheese than the other and vs.
8 cups of flour to liquid (including cheese) for the cheese dough. 8 1/2 cups of flour to liquid for white dough. Otherwise, cut back on liquid amount. Author fail dreadfully in the directions section on incorporation of milk and sugar.
To the Jewish fundamentalist rantmeister, go stick your head in the oven.
To everyone else, happy Easter. I have always admired the Easter paska.
By the way, Jewish Chalah is not Jewish. It's the Jews who borrowed the recipe from their neighbors.
I think it's great that you keep up your religious and family traditions. Not many people do anymore. I think more families should "go old school" and bring back family time and getting together on sundays and holidays.
These holidays are about coming together with family and friends and celebrating the love you have for each other.- that's what it's all about – no matter what religion you are- or aren't.
PS- That bread looks delicious
Love that your Mom is wearing a hairnet. I remember being required to wear a hairnet in Home Ec in High School.
Πάσχα = Paskha is Greek for Easter. Pascua, in Spanish
Which was borrowed from Hebrew פסח (Pesakh) = Passover.
Which means to pass-over, when the angels passed over from harming the first-borns in the households whose entrances were marked with the blood of the sacrificial lamb in Egypt, when Moses was attempting to lead israel out of Egypt.
Your Looney Tunes God is going to send you directly to the make believe Hell when he finds out you all died from eating chocolate, break, milk, butter, and everything else that is OBVIOUSLY KILLING PEOPLE FASTER THAN AIDS! Some people will never learn.
Gimme a T! Gimme an R! Gimme an O-L-L! What's that spell? TROLL, TROLL, TROLLLLLLL!!!!!
Wow.. so hateful. For all that atheists say that they are tolerant all it takes is someone's bread recipe to get your venom and bile up.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, trolls are such sad people, well we will enjoy our lives without you, bye bye
Looks "amazing"? Also looks like about the most unhealthy food I've seen today....YUK
Wow! You are not exactly my idea of a tolerant soul. Why are you so angry? Could it be hunger? I want you to be happy, Sweetie. I don't think getting angry at a thousand year old tradition is going to put you on the road to vegan enlightenment. But what do I know? You should ask your therapist.
Then you've been staring at your carrots for too long, Bugs.
thanks for adding the raisins, raisins are dried grapes as you know and 90% of the worlds raisins are grown here in the great fertiile San Joaquin vally of California, very few places in the world have the climate necessary to grow fantastic raisins. The raisin capital of the world is near Fresno called sanger, selma and Kingsburg. We will be going to a Gay bar for a pot luck,E aster Bonnet parade and egg hunt.My Portugese friend makes a baked bread dough basket with eggs inside, Boiled and coloured
Great, now they are stealing our Challah and calling It their Easter bread.
Nothing changes.
It's bread, calm down.
Make me
you're not the boss of me
My grandparents were born & raised in Johnstown PA as well. I grew up Russian Orthodox as many people there did..and Paska is an Easter staple. Although my grandmothers was always the best...had no cheese in it or raisins but boy was it yummy & sweet. She used to toast it with butter for breakfast. They went to church at St. John the Baptist. Many memories in that town & that church.
May all be kind to each other.
May all be kind to each other.
May all be kind to each other.
May all be kind to each other.
May all be kind to each other.
May all be kind to each other.
May all be kind to each other.
May all be kind to each other.
(Say it softly out loud).
May all be kind to each other.
It is a sign of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome. Calm down, Toots.
I was raised in a similar environment. Dad was Anglo, but it was my Mom's Slovakian and Russian Orthodox culture that ruled the house. The church calendar guided the rhythms of our life throughout the year, as it did all my relatives' and most of my parent's friends, and we adhered to all the food traditions. I'm sure there are many regional variations, but I never recall anyone putting cheese in their paska. It was just a rich, sweet, braided yeast bread with raisins and a braided Orthodox-style cross on top that we, too, looked forward to every year. My parents have been gone for a long time now and I no longer attend church regularly, but the Lenten season and Easter was so important when I was growing up that I just don't feel right if I don't make a small Easter basket to be blessed containing paska, ham, kielbasa, hrutka (a dense egg custard), butter, salt and my collection of pysanky, those gorgeous intricately decorated eggs, all covered in my grandmother's cloth with "Christos Voskrese" and an image of the risen Christ hand-embroiderd on it.
I thought perhaps Paska meant peace or Easter but I performed a quick Google translation and it turns out it's a belt. If you look at the braiding it does look like a belt or cincture that a monk would have worn. So belt makes perfect sense. I always like to know the history of my food. I found out a few years ago that the pretzel we think of today was probably the work of the nuns at Cluny who would pray by folding their arms in the shape of the modern soft pretzel. Thus the shape. It looks delicious.
Thank you for the recipe! I have a Polish background but my recipes from relatives are limited. Never seen this bread with cheddar but I've seen it braided without. I think that I"ll give this one a shot.
Btw, I had to laugh about leftover bread being 'forced' upon you as you left. Food was ALWAYS forced upon me as I left my mother's house, let alone that of other relatives. I didn't realize how entrenched that was in my background until some friends left a birthday party that I had for my first child and I caught myself literally shoving tupperware into their arms as they left. I laughed at myself...and did it anyway.
It's gotta be genetic. Food is love, eh? LOL
Nice story, loving hearing of old traditionas, in particular, with bread...but not flinching at only 6 hours! My shortest fermented bread takes longer than 6 hours! My longest bread takes close 30! But, for the home baker, could see how that could be a daunting amount of time...
That looks so good!! Your traditions and family sound lovely! I wish I could cook. :(
I am on a big low-carb kick and I have to say I am feeling better. But this little gem might be worth being rolled over by that particular wagon for. Enjoy and happy Easter!
KB
I hear ya – and I've got gluten and dairy issues so I'd have to get real creative to try and make something like this.
This recipe calls for 1.5 POUNDS of CHEDDAR – this must be some heavenly bread (no pun intended).
My wife makes an Easter pecan braid bread that is to die for. It has a glaze that is outta this world. Just the best.
Would your wife share her recipes – bread + glaze?
I second that request!
Paska = YUM! Send me some!
Such a bunch of bigoted crap over a story about a loaf of bread. Maybe we should nuke each other to dust. Clearly we carry grudges, misconceptions and are too easily sold lots of lies.
Pathetic. So much for Peace, Light and Renewal.
U must be hungry with no eastern dinner.....so bitter!
Tell us how you REALLY feel Beatriss! Peace be with you anyway ... you need it.
Ignore it and take the article in the spirit that it was intended. Some people just focus on the darkness in life, I think that it works better to look in the other direction.
Hey, you are supposed to be over at the Washington Post!
I too grew up in western Pennsylvania and my mother made paska every Easter. She also took a basket of Easter food to our Roman Catholic church on the Saturday before Easter to be blessed by the priest. This was a tradition where I grew up. The basket was filled with ham, kielbasa, paska, colored eggs, horseradish and butter. It was covered with an eleborate embroidered cloth made by my grandmother who immigrated from Slovakia. My mother has since passed away but I try to at least make some of the food she had but I have never attempted paska. I also recommend the cookbook
Thank you for sharing your beautiful memories with us Mary Lou. Veselú Veľkú noc!
Growing up Methodist, we had brown 'n serve rolls for Easter. It was fun pulling the 3 sections apart and putting margarine between them.
Everyone wants to be a Jew. Christianity is obviously perverted Judaism. This looks like Challah – traditional Jewish bread eaten every Sabbath. Except for the fact that Challah is prohibited for Passover because it contains yeast. So, yet again, Christianity is trying to copy Jewish customs without any understanding of what they are doing. Paska – the name of this bread – by the way, is a Slavic term for both Passover and Easter. This word sounds almost identical in most Slavic languages.
Along with Challah being eaten by Eastern European Christians for Easter, they obviously take part in a communion where they eat the flesh of their god (because they consider him to be a sacrificial lamb) as well as drink their blood (because they think this is how "blood offering" is done in Judaism). Little do they know that eating human flesh is strictly prohibited in Judaism, and there's a very strict prohibition on digesting blood (human or animal).
This all just goes to show what a messed up religion Christianity is. So, enjoy Easter – the holiday of the confused who want to imitate Judaism but instead engage in pagan traditions.
Christianity was invented by Jews to make gentiles their slaves
I would rather raise my kids as pagan-new age tree worhippers than christians
You, of course, know where new-age, pagan tree-worshippers go, after they die, right? If trees are your god, then you go where they go, when they die... into the fire. But that fire is never quenched and you're quite aware of things while in it... forever.
I love trees.
Luposian, settle down! You read that before you posted it, yes? This life is enough to get through. I prefer to believe that God actually has my best interests in mind
Yes, they made Christians their slaves alright and were then slaughtered by the Christians for 2000 years in every corner of the world, and especially in every European country, which all culminated in Hitler almost having done all Jews in. This doesn't sound like a very successful plot to make Christians into the slaves of the Jews. Just my opinion.
This story is about bread.
David, to many posters every story is an excuse to rehash their favorite argument. Why talk about bread, they reason, when instead we can complain about ______ (fill in the blank as you like – often it is one of the following: Christianity, Islam, Obama, Bush, conservatives, liberals, illegal aliens, rich people, poor people, or large corporations).
Why can't at least a few posters be obsessed ith chocolate? If they can't stay on topic, at least the rants would be tasty.
Remember – Jesus was Jewish. The Last Supper was a Passover meal. So it makes perfect sense that the celebration of the Messiah rising from the dead and opening the doors to heaven would have a lot of Jewish overtones.
They forgot to mention another great Christian tradition practiced on Easter. The parishioners capture an unfortunate Jew who foolishly left his house on Easter and drag the Jew to the local church, where the priest slaps the Jew around in front of the flock of parishioners as a punishment for killing their god – Jesus. Once the Jew is publicly slapped around by the priest he is let go through the crowd of semi-drunken Christians who kick and punch him as he exists the church. Then, the service is finished, and everyone goes outside and gets really drunk while eating Paska. And then the real fun begins – pogroms. What a beautiful religion and awesome holiday!
Grey, You should think about some therapy.
Actually, it was quite common in Medieval and Renaissance Europe for townsfolk to go on anti-semitic rampages during Holy Week, destroying Jewish property and attacking any Jews they could find. Every town would put on a Passion Play, which would whip the crowd into an angry frenzy that led to violent riots and pogroms.
I doubt it would help. Too angry to ever see objectively.
Further, why would Grey and DB muck up a wonderful story about bread with their rantings about things that happened long ago and are essentially dead issues?
amen to that!
What we do in the present is all we can control. Spitting venom back and forth does nothing. Thousands are dying of curable diseases everyday and millions of dollars are being wasted on wars around the globe at this moment. What our ancestors did (whoever they may be), we cannot undo. We must work for justice for every human where ever are right now. It is an all-or-nothing contract: everyone or no one. Now enjoy your bread – daily or otherwise.
And you're dumb enough to think Catholicism is true Christianity. Hahahaha! I've met some Catholics who, upon asking them if they were Christian, will say, "No, I'm Catholic." Even THEY make a distinction!
You lie.
DB, You should think about some therapy.
Sounds like you have very little grasp of the history of cultures. Christian traditions DO come largely from Judaism, its parent religion, but that does not mean Christians are copying Jews any more than Jews are copying previous cultures' traditions. After all, matzah is not really Jewish in origin, nor are many other 'traditional' Jewish foods.
Some of the comments are outrageous! Why do are some Jews so concerned about what customs we Christians have and that we may copy from them. Christians, for the most part, are not concerned with Jewish customs – we believe live and let live. There is one God and however a person chooses to worship is their privledge whether they are Jewish, Christian, Buddist, Muslims – we live in America and we all must have tolerance of others religions. It continues to be such a disappointment to me that people think as they do – most especially the 1st responder in this blog.
So it is Easter today – and for all of those celebrating enjoy your holiday and your families. Celebrate God's love and new beginings that Spring promises all of us.
BTW – I'm Jewish
Amen!!!
Well said! Peace be with you and yours ...
Make sure that you make the distinction of "some"...
I'm Polish, formerly Catholic. Married to Polish/Russian Jewish man. He would be appalled to read some of the crap in these threads.
To the Jewish fundamentalist rantmeister, go stick your head in the oven.
To everyone else, happy Easter. I have always admired the Easter paska.
By the way, Jewish Chalah is not Jewish. It's the Jews who borrowed the recipe from their neighbors.
LOL. Every culture borrows from its neighbors while being totally convinced that they invented it.
You call it a Jewish bread. The author calls it Slovak. My ancestors call it Ukrainian. Poles insist it's theirs. No one can definitively prove who baked it first.
Let's stop arguing with each other over ownership and enjoy a wonderful bread.
It's got raisins in it... I won't touch it! :-D
We each understand a power greater than our selves. That draws us together.
Spirituality unites, religion divides.
I far more appreciate something that unites us as human beings.
Recipe sound tempting. I may well try to make if I have 6 hours free. ;-)
The world is in the mess it is in today because of people like you spewing your hatred. Try this motto on for size: live and let live.
I came here for the discussion of a tasty bread recipe. To me, Easter basically means I get Cadbury Creme Eggs. I'm not sure how that makes me evil in your eyes, Grey.
Have you tried a Cadbury Creme Egg? I imagine it's harder to be an angry, hate-filled bigot while you're eating a Cadbury Creme Egg. Those things are tasty!
I don't do Peeps though. Those are gross, and the purple ones taste funny.
If you want to truly get angry about this story, you need to get angry for the right reasons. Religions borrow from each other to make converting people easier. It's a way to take over and wipe out the old religion. Kudos to those ardent in their Jewish faith for sticking with it. But, the truth is that religions have adopted customs, traditions, colors, imagery, sacred dates, and yes, even bread, to lure people in.
Oh bullfeathers, how about the fact that a community of many religions and ethnicities live near each other and they swap recipes?
Good food is good food. Women have known that since we were make stuff over the wood fires in caves. @@
No you are mistaken, you have it exactly backwards. Ashkenazi Jews came to eastern Europe from the Rheinland and once they moved there, they adopted the local culture and cuisine. You will find that Jews from other locations such as the Sephardi Jews also adopted and adapted the local food and cuisine to the Law. I am of Ruskyl and Beolrus descent and I grew up in a town that was maybe a third Jewish. My Jewish friends and I could eat at each other's homes and find our own "soulfood" when visiting! By the way, peace to you, pray that you will be less racist.
Really? People can get p155ed off over a bread recipe? Relax. Eat. You'll feel better.
Thank you for the awesome cookbook recommendation, I'm ordering two right now! I love collecting community cookbooks, plus there are many similarities between Slovak cooking and the Polish cooking I grew up on; my grandmother immigrated from Poland in the early 1900s and made many wonderful breads, dumplings, and yeast coffeecakes that I've been trying to recreate.
"the arduous process that can take up to SIX hours to prepare."
Most of this time is spent waiting for the dough to rise – which doesn't require any effort or even attention.
I think you meant "tedious", not "arduous".
That's what I was thinking. I make challah every week and while there's no cheese involved, it sounds like about the same process. Tedious, maybe. Arduous? Not really.
Exactly what I was thinking. Beautiful bread takes a big time committment.
The lack of the luxury of time is why so many cultures have the tradition of preparing flat breads.
The Wonderful World of Breads!
It IS becoming a lost art.
Right. And the dough rises, not raises.
Thanks for such a heartwarming post! I'm from northeastern PA and my Polish-Lithuanian mom still makes paska every year for Easter – along with kielbasa, pierogi, and nut rolls. Every summer when we go back to visit, she pulls two loaves out of the freezer – one with raisins and one without. Love it and can't wait to go back :)
A typical Traditional Bulgarian Easter dish called KOZUNAK!
All Eastern Christian Orthodox cultures, especially the greeks make this kind of bread during Easter time with a red egg in the middle as well as Christmas with no egg. It is based on the jewish hulka bread recipe but is more sweet and more bready. Don't bother trying to make it, it will fail. Just go to a greek bakery and get one to try it. It tastes great.
I used to have Paska at my best friend's house as a child. Her father was from Russia, but lived all over Europe. However, the best part of "paska" to us was the spread her mother used to make for it. I don't know what it's called (I actually thought the spread was called Paska), but it's a sweet cheese spread with almonds in it. It reminded me of softened almond cheesecake. SOOOO good. If anyone knows what this is, please let me know. Her parents have passed and I have lost touch with her, so I have no idea. Thanks!
Actually, from reading your comments, maybe it's Hrudka? I know she used a cheesecloth to make it. Funny- I always thought there was cheese in it since it tasted like cheesecake!
My husband's family is Russian Orthodox and originally from Ukraine. They make Paska for Easter (although their Easter is rarely the same as Western Easter). They distinguish between the cheese spread and the bread: the cheese is the Paska and the bread is Kulich. But they also tend to refer to them both as Paska when not explaining to outsiders.
I'm Ukrainian but we always ate that on Easter Sunday too....google "Russian Pashka" or "Cheese Paska".....sooooooo goooood.
For Russians Paskha is a farmers cheese dish (pressed cheese with raisins, etc). The bread is like italian Panettone, but a decorated one, and it is called Kulich. Ukrainians call kuliches "paskhas", and Russians frown upon it :) . 6 hours to make? – mine takes 3 days! Not the active time of course, but still – it is celebratory bread, and it is ok to enjoy this special process.
Thank you everyone!! You answered a question I had FOR YEARS! :)
Looks like another ritual borrowed and re-badged from Jewish tradition. Enjoy your cheesy Challah.
American Jewish culture came from eastern Europe not the other way around. So much for the myth of Jewish intelligence.
Jews have the highest number of Nobel Prize Winners than any other group of people. Now I trust you have the intelligence to research and see for yourself. If your Christian, your feet are buried in Israel. If you live in the west, your civil laws are founded in Torah. Go study before you continue to embarrass yourself.
It isn't. You really must do some research before you post such rude remarks.
Sad that you could not simply enjoy the retelling of a wonderful childhood memory without being so negative.
you are the reason the world hates jews. just lets things, be. let people enjoy "their" things. you are a shmuck!
So you see a comment made by a Jew that you don't like and that excuses worldwide antisemitism?!?! Doesn't that make YOU the problem, and not the comment you didn't like?
Avi, because of your hypersensitive you miss the point. Jews must learn to be less noisy and self centered. The world does not revolve around them. Such attitudes cause bloody noises.
I agree with Long John. When Jewish people make comments within their own Jewish perspective–and the same can be said for any people-that is defamatory and ignorant, it does cast a bad light on them. They do need to be more considerate and less ethnocentric. Obviously, AMK knows nothing about cultural history and even less about the Jewish religion and culture. Historically, the challah bread is an outgrowth of the eastern European braided breads that preceded it.
LJS "Jews must learn" – your antisemitic leanings become more and more apparent.
amen!!!!
Aravah – It is incredible to see how insecure you are. You mask your self-loathing and low self-esteem by being over aggressive, completely irrational and unable to take any criticism. You view all criticism as anti-Semitic and hide such an attitude. You need to let go. Stop painting yourself as an eternal victim that is always persecuted. Learn to love.
LJS – LOL, projecting again, I see. My statements have rational while yours have been disrespectful, trolling and a classic example of antisemitism/irrational hatred of Jews. Next you'll be telling us we need to "learn our place." Stop trying to deflect from your irrational, unjustified bigoted statements.
arvah, you have no idea how much of a hypocrite you are, do you? you are saying he hates Jews because he said "jews must learn" and then you accuse him of projecting. You are irrationally assuming he is anti-semitic just because he said something negative about a comment someone said that was remotely connected to judaism, then you accuse him of being irrational.
No, the reason Jews are hated is because of people like you that desperately try and find a reason to hate others irrationally because we won't bend to your ideal and expectations of others.
The chip on your shoulder seems very heavy.
LJS – projection much?
People who lie in glass houses should not thrown stones, Aravah. I have heard many derogatory statements coming from Jewish people as well over the years, directed towards other religious traditions.They are no better than others. People are people. By the way, is it better to hate "rationally" than "irrationally?" Just curious.
LJS' response was irrational and over the top. If you support obvious hate statements aimed at a group of people based solely on religion or ethnicity/race, that is irrational and says much about character. Attempting to deflect that by stating some Jews have spoken ill of non-Jews is dishonest.
No, the reason Jews are hated, is because they are God's chosen people and Satan HATES that! He will use ANY device or tactic to keep Jews from getting saved and keep Christians from witnessing to them. Any wonder how easy it is to hate them because of certain things they say or do? I saw an article where a prominent Jewish lawyer or leader or something, deliberately destroyed a bible, I think it was, saying how he hated Christian and Christianity. It really irked me, but I kept telling myself, he was one of God's chosen people, so I was able to quickly forgive his offense and go on loving the Jews. One bad apple does NOT spoil the whole bunch... but it can be hard to trust the whole bunch after having found the bad apple. :-D
Lup – you are correct ONLY in that Jews are hated because we refuse to convert from our eternal covenant with Gd.
Correcting AMK on his disrespectful statement is fine, disrespecting an entire religion and tribe of people is antisemitic and dishonorable. LJS fits that
Today is not a day to argue theology. Judaism and Christianity lead to Gd, that is what is important.
I do take a stand against the irrational hatred thrown out here against an entire religion and its followers.
Be blessed on your paths
Aravah – Only Judaism and Christianity lead to God? You are truly a racist pig!!! You should and need to be ashamed of yourself. In fact you should kill yourself to make this planet a better place. Earth has no room for such blatant racism and hatred. You make KKK look reasonable. You are mean in spirit and body.
do you know what shmuck means???? FYI... it means penis LOL
soft or firm?
... and Shmuck is a derivative of the German word "Schmuck" just like most Yiddish words are. Challah bread is likely of German origin too. Germans to this day eat a traditional Easter briads bread on Easter.
The world hates the Jews because G-d chose us to be the light to the nations introducing "Ethical Monotheism". It brought a conscious to mankind. Easy to kill the messenger eh? Now be a good person and stop hating.
The same worms will eat the "chosen" as well as the sinner. Its time to get of your tall donkey. Air is free, enjoy.
Who said I was Jewish, little john? Maybe I am, maybe not. You are awfully quick to assume. Go back to you bridge, Troll.
I always assumed you were smegma
And for the record, I was being sincere. I hope the author enjoys this cheesey Challah-like bread product. Just don't pretend that this is somehow unique.
The recipe for Challah is crafted to keep eggs and dairy separate; the above recipe includes milk and cheese, which are both dairy. Also, Challah has honey in it. Believe it or not, there are lots of different varieties of braided bread, and they're not all fashioned from Challah.
There is no jewish religious prohibition in mixing milk and eggs. Also, not all challah has honey in it. Most doesn't from what I've seen.
Why the negativity because someone pointed out that this is a weekly bread in the Jewish faith. We call it challah
Swissie, you are in error. The reason the eggs are first separated when making challah is to inspect for blood. Milk and cheese are NOT kept separate in kashrut requirements. Dairy and meat products are. Not all challah has honey in it either. There are sweet challahs, savory challahs and plain eggy challah
It is about time I cooked more from my paternal side of my family. I am ordering this cookbook asap. I have fond memories of poppyseed roll.
Its worth mentioning that "Paska" is NOT just a Slovak bread. In fact, it is a very common holiday bread in many Eastern European countries. There isn't only ONE correct way to make it. Some ethnic groups use raisins, some use cheese, some don't add anything extra. The basic recipe has many of the same ingredients as the traditional Christmas bread called "kolach" which is also baked by many Eastern European families.
That's what is great about the Slavic people. We have quite a bit of diversity and a common baked good like Paska has so many different ethnic variations. Paska like cake gives the chef many ways to express themselves.
All the best Slovak recipes start like this: 1/2 lb butter, 6 eggs, more butter, eggs, flour, butter, eggs, brush generously with butter. :)
This is why all the women in my mother's generation were as wide as they were tall. ...and I miss them all dearly.
Liz, what a great comment! Yours' is the best!
Yup! Shades of Paula Deen. LOL
Butter, eggs, more butter...
I too grew up in Western PA enjoying all of the Slovak foods at Easter. I now make many of the traditional foods for my family at Easter and Christmas. There's a great cookbook that I highly recommend. It's a mix of traditional Slovak recipes and some pretty funny 1950's American recipes. It's called the Slovak-American Cookbook. It is published by the First Catholic Ladies Association: http://www.fcsla.org/cookbook.shtml. Check it out. It's great!
I LOVE that cookbook. There's nearly 15 pages of Kolacky recipes. What could be better than that?
Grew up in Trenton, N.J. Our Slovak Easter meal also included baked dough balls drizzled with a mixture of melted butter, poppy seeds, and honey. We called them :bolbalki. Can't be sure of the spelling.
Brought back memories of my Grandmother Podlesak and Easter. Thank you!
Christos Voskres! Christ is Risen!
Voistenu Voskres! Indeed He is Risen!
Now I am both hungry AND homesick!
Had all the family available for Easter brunch. Enjoyed a large tray of homemade Kolacky. My mom always made them and now my sister has the honor....
wow didnt realize there were soooo many slovaks from johnstown,pa! So were my mom's family. I am 30 so not sure how far back they go. i remember the noodles and cabbage hulushki?? yummm
My Mom always made halušky too. Those lumpy potato noodles. You can cover them with cabbage or pot cheese.
If anyone is interested, there is a Wikipedia article on them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haluski
my mom's Hungarian grandmother made that and my mother made it for me once with the pot cheese and cabbage. Definitely an acquired taste. ;-)
so many from johnstown! my grandmother and her whole family are from there. always lots of potatoes, lots of sour cream.
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My grandparents were Slovak and Slovenian, Roman Catholics, also from Johnstown, PA. Our family favorite was potica (sp), the nut roll with walnuts, sour cream, etc. I am the last one to carry on the tradition and I need to improve my skill! So glad to see their culture on here too!
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Another SW Pennsylvanian here. We enjoyed our blessing of the baskets last night and a table full of wonderful Easter food. Nothing beats this tradition. It always brings back such wonderful childhood memories. My father would spend weeks before Easter decorating the eggs.
Dad's Italian but Mom is Polish and my Godfather (where we have Easter) is Slovak from Johnstown, PA...so...kielbasa...check..ham...check...horseradish..check...nut roll...check...poppy seed roll...check...pierogi...check...beer...check.
So..Happy Easter to all and BRING IT ON...I'm hungry!!!
I love seeing articles about the Slovak traditions. I am of Slovak descent, and grew up in SW PA as well. My mother,s parents were immigrants from Yugoslavia. We always enjoyed the traditional Easter foods: ham, kielbasa, nut rolls, pickled eggs, horseradish ground with beets, and potato salad. Though no where near as good a cook, I try to keep these traditions going with my family.
Christos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!
And a Happy Passover too !
I grew up in Western Pa. too and like others, I am of Slovak decent. We had the same puska (no raisins), kolbassi, eggs, and a cheese dish described above that we called cidec(sp.). We also ate nut and prune rolls that we called Kolach. Ground horsradish mixed with beets too! And a shot of whiskey we you arrived the house – only for adults of course!
Chris, We had family in Johnstown, PA also (coal miners of course).
The other name for Hrudka is Cerrik or Cidek – it's also called "Egg Cheese" but it doesn't contain any cheese. It's made from eggs and milk. There is a nice link below that describes how it is made – and there's music too.
http://www.iarelative.com/recipe/eggcheese.htm
This looks similar to the Jewish bread challah, which interestingly is not eaten during Passover which occurs at the same time as Easter(Jesus' last supper was a Passover sedar).
Challah makes the best French toast there is. Seriously.
I was thinking the exact same thing. I wonder where/how Paska differs from Challah? The only difference I can see is the cheese, however it seems that there are recipes for paska that are cheeseless.
Thanks for the recipe! Looks fantastic. I will most definitely be making this for me (heathen) and my Swedish (Lutheran, about to convert to Orthodoxy) roommate.
I just finished my paska for our Easter basket. Our Byzantine Catholic Church will bless all the foods tomorrow after Divine Liturgy. We'll hang in the church hall and break the fast by eating the blessed foods out of our basket. One church had some fun with the hrudka recipie by holding a contest for most creative recipe. I think the Bailey's Irish Creme recipe was the winner!
Due to the fact that I'm the only one in my family to make EASTER goodies, I make 18 PASKAS, 16 Nut rolls, and 2 Hurdka, (think I need to make one more). No one in the family knows how or want to make it....but I'm in my 70's and soon they will have make it, or do with out. My daughter has some idea of how it goes....but to really know it, you must bake or cook it yourself. Also made about 100 cabbage rolls – I mixed the meat, rice and got the cabbage ready, My daughter fill the cabbage, she's very good and fast. Love this time of the year, but not all the work. I'm Byzantine Catholic. My mother was born in Austria-Hungray, my Dad was 1st generation born in America.
Sylvia, can I come to your house for dinner? Please?
Christos voskrese!
If I didn't have to work this weekend, my baking would almost the same. I use my grandmother's receipe.
How big are you? Jesus Christ, that bread will kill you if you eat too much, there is nothing healthy about that crap
My spouse and his family are Ukr. Eastern Rite. Their paska is really different from the one described in this article. But while I'm welcome to partake of the foods when we visit my in-laws at holidays, I am certainly not encouraged to try to make them myself at home. Is it some kind of ethnic insult to for a non-Slav to try to make these things?
I remember the "Christos voskrese" song they used to sing in my grandmother's Byzantine Catholic church for Easter service in Elizabeth NJ. Voices only, no musical instruments (I guess that was because they couldn't afford them). But what a powerful sound from the voices of the congregation !
There are no musical instruments in the Eastern rite churches. The singing is let by a Cantor.
If anyone needs a good hrudka recipe for Easter here is a very good link.
http://doghillkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/04/hrudka-slovak-egg-cheese-for-easter.html
I make hrudka with half gal. milk, 1 dozen eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, pinch of salt and 1 tsp of vanilla....cook for about an hour until the eggs/miilk start to curdle and pore into bowl, lined with cheese cloth. Tie a strong string around the top and let drain until all the liquid is out, place in refg. I LOVE IT!!...What is your recipe like???
OMG, the ingredients you use kill probably 2,000,000 people a year, you should be ashamed of yourself. And your make believe God is going to be so disappointed in you for dying because you ate too much butter and milk....that is horrible
Dobro hutnany! Dekuji!
I too grew up in Western PA and had paska for Easter although we did not put cheese in ours. My mother always took the basket to church to be blessed on Easter Saturday. We also had horseradish with our ham and kielbasa on Easter Sunday.
Keeping and trying this recipe! I'm much more familiar with my mother's Irish side. Would love to incorporate a Slovak tradition to represent my dad's side of the family. I will have to ask him if his grandmother made this type of bread when he was growing up.
I am Slovak and my grand mother was Byzantine and grandfather was Roman Catholic also. Easter was filled with delicious foods and traditions. We take a piece of each of the easter foods and put it into a basket and take it to church to be blessed on Saturday and then we eat that meal on Saturday night as soon as the sun goes down.
Terrific to see some articles about Slovak foods and traditions John! Keep up the articles!
It's nice to see some Slovak culture go mainstream on CNN ! i'm reading this as I make the hrudka, "Egg Cheese" for Easter. Not really a cheese, but a large ball of eggs, and some raisins too. How about doing an article on hrudka next, John Bodnar ?
My mom makes krudka too!
So this bread incorporates the symbol of the Holy Trinity with risings and raisins thrown in for good measure. Any wonder why this is an Easter Bread? ;>
We make something similar for parties. We do cheese bread for all three strands of the braid, but we use a different cheese in each one. When we want something heavier, we'll put a different meat in each one – pastrami, salami, and pepperoni. We call it pizza bread.
Looks amazing!