Slovak Easter Bread

I’m a Slovak. Way back in the day my dad’s family came to America from beautiful Bratislava. Or so we’ve been told. To be honest, we’re not very in touch with the Slovak part of our heritage. Except for the fact that some of us are insanely stubborn, which my German mother insists can only be because we’re Slovak and she’s not. Because she’s not stubborn at all. Or sarcastic. And neither am I.

A few months ago my dad unearthed this book in our basement.

We assume it came from my great aunt’s house. She was the only one from the family who made the journey back to Bratislava to see where we all came from. This book is a collection of recipes from Slovak-Americans (probably way more Slovak than we are) all over the country. I got kind of excited when I saw it because I’ve never really heard anything about Slovak food. After paging through it I discovered why: Slovak food seems kind of gross. But I did find an interesting recipe for Paska, Slovak Easter bread..

Paska is pretty similar to other Easter breads from Eastern Europe. I think Polaks have something similar. I can call them Polaks. They are also my people in some small percentage.

It starts with a sweet bread dough.

Oh, by the way, this recipe makes four loaves. They don’t tell you that till the end of the recipe. And this is why we (should) read the whole recipe before we start baking. Wah wah.

Look, it’s a hat! A doughy little hat.

The filling is a ricotta dough with raisins & lemon zest. I added some other stuff because I just can’t help myself.

You poke a hole in the middle and wrap the filling up inside the bread dough. Isn’t it cute?

Finally got to use both those angel food cake pans at the same time.

Voila! Gorgeous! I must admit I’m pretty proud of my Slovak self.

And by the way, it’s freakin’ delicious. I’m actually kind of glad it made four loaves.

Maybe I’ll send one to Marian Hossa. And maybe he’ll send me some Blackhawks tickets.

Hossa if you’re reading this, I like Lexus club level.

Happy Easter everyone!