Sunday, March 30, 2014

Twice Baked

When life hands you a flopped popped Paska,
make Bread Pudding....

I just found out that I need a LOT more 
practice when making Paska.
I blame the fact that I'm trying to adopt
this delicious Easter bread into my
Swiss German Mennonite tradition....
not to mention my lack of practice.





This is what happens
when you try to get fancy and
bake it in tin soup cans.
A bit too much dough in each
can and letting it rise too much,
do ya think??
The top of one popped right off
in the oven!
The other two sort of withered
after pulling them from their cans.











Maybe it can be rescued
into a bread pudding?
After all it had a nice 
"crumb" as they say, and it 
smelled absolutely 
wonderful - just wasn't
pretty.





I decided to use a basic bread pudding recipe,
throw in some frozen raspberries 
and make it for Sunday Supper!



Basic Bread Pudding:
6 slices day-old bread (or flopped Paska) cubed
into a buttered 8 X 8 baking dish.
2 Tbsp. melted butter sprinkled on top.
Mix together and pour over top:
4 Eggs beaten with 2 Cups Milk,
3/4 Cup sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and
1 tsp. vanilla extract.
Add raisins, some frozen fruit or thinly sliced apples
if desired.
Push down with a fork till the bread is moistened.
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or
until top springs back when lightly tapped.








Back to the baking of the Paska...

Thankfully I had only made a half batch.

So I had half an orange and
half a lemon that were just waiting
to be used.
Why not - so I started over, determined to
do it properly this time and use
more traditional containers.

Success,
not perfection, but much better this time!!!



To be successful at making the perfect Paska,
one needs to
follow the experienced tutorial of

(page 132-133)
or on their amazing blog

and not try to get too fancy before you've got some experience!

It's all good!!!!!
I now have some delicious bread pudding
for supper and
some wonderful looking Easter Paska in the freezer.

Besides doing some baking and such in preparation
for Easter - I'm trying to prepare my heart too
for this most special time of year!




Till next time - what special preparations are you making for Easter this year? Is March going out like a lamb where you are?


8 comments:

  1. It also makes fabulous french toast...
    Even the popped heads look good to me.
    Maybe you should try my mom's recipe when using the cans...

    ReplyDelete
  2. i love your spirit of adventure- baking in the cans, and then in giving the bread a new use! It looks delicious to me, both as a bread and as a pudding! I'd call that a good beginning! I've never eaten Paska, but I love home made bread!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It sure looks beautiful! I think that I will try making mine in muffin tins this year so that we might have better portion control. The first year I made it, I was "in touch" with Lovella a couple of times. LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Absolutely everything looks SOOO yummy. Bread pudding is one of my faves, and the Paska looks amazing. Thanks for sharing such delightful recipes!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rosella your paska and bread pudding look both fantastic. I love the paska that had too much energy and popped off it's top. I still have that happen now and then. Last year for the Paska class I brought one along and told them I did that for them to show them what happens if you put a bit too much dough in your can. ha ha!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The paska is beautiful, Rosella! And bread pudding is a weakness of mine...yum! Looks sooo good!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Either way...as a loaf or as bread pudding...it looks delicious! Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, I enjoyed these photos and this post! The bread pudding sounds delicious and your paska looks beautiful!
    Yes.. it does rise. Still sometimes surprising after 30 years of making them.

    ReplyDelete

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