Eggless Slovak Easter Bread - Paska

Hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving with your dear ones. Now that Thanksgiving is over it is time for everything Christmas-y. But. Oops ! I have a East European Easter Bread for you today. As a compensation I decorated it to look more Christmas-y.. with leaves and berries just so that you do not think that I forgot about Christmas all together and jumped to spring..

I baked this Slovak Easter Bread as part of Gayathri's Baking Eggless Challenge wherein the challenger presents the group with a eggilious recipe and challenges everyone to convert it into an eggless one. This month Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot challenged us with this sweetish butter bread East European Bread. The original recipe was for 3 7 inch round loaves and used 3 large eggs. I decided to make 6 peeps and a 6 inch round loaf and so made only one third of the recipe using whole wheat flour and all purpose flour in 1:1 ratio and yogurt + a pinch of baking soda as a substitute for one egg. The whole wheat made the bread slightly dense, nevertheless it was tasty. We had it with spicy curry for Thanksgiving and enjoyed it much. 

With its buttery deliciousness this loaf will look grand at any holiday table. Be it Christmas or Easter. The peeps of course look more Easter-y so its best to reserve them for spring...

Eggless Slovak Easter Bread - Paska

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Recipe adapted from Eastern European Food
Prep time: 2 hour 10 minutes - 2 hour 20 minutes                                         Cook time: 40 minutes

Total time: 2 hour 50 minutes to 3 hours                                                      
Yield: 7 inch round loaf or 6 inch round loaf + 6 peeps

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 tbsps sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• pinch of baking soda
• 1-1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1-1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/16 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 tsp maple syrup

Cooking Directions

1. In a small saucepan, heat milk along with the butter, the salt and 3 tbsps of sugar over low heat until the butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool till the mixture is luke warm.
2. Along with the lukewarm milk mixture, add all the ingredients for the dough to the bread machine pan in the order specified by the manufacturer and program the machine for the dough cycle.
3. Towards the end of the dough cycle, grease a 7 inch round bread-baking pan or grease a 6 inch round bread baking pan and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
4. When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, turn the dough into a lightly floured surface and punch it down. At this point the dough will be very sticky and it might be somewhat difficult to work with.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and proceed to work with the dough.
6. In case you are making the peeps and the round loaf, divide the dough into 2 parts in the ration 2: 1.
7. Put 2/3 of the dough in the prepared round pan. Portion out 2 tbsps each of the dough for 6 individual peeps. Reserve the remaining dough for decorating the round loaf.
8. Keep 6 dough balls on the lined baking tray, cover them with a kitchen towel and let them rest for about 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile flour the remaining portion well and shape it to decorate the round loaf.
9. You can decorate the loaf as you like. Since Christmas is around the corner I topped the round loaf with holy leaves and berry shaped dough and decorated it with braids around the edges. For the braids, I rolled out two long ropes out of the remaining dough , then twisted them together to look like a braid. For the holy leaves, I rolled out some of the dough with the rolling pin, then cut out the shapes using a cookie cutter.
10. Place the decorations on the round loaf and let it double. Then glaze it with the milk-maple syrup mixture and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until the loaf looks golden brown. (It took me about 25-30 minutes to do all the decorations. By then the round loaf had doubled so I put it in the preheated oven right away and then began shaping the peeps. )
11. Once done, remove the loaf from the pan immediately and cool completely on a wire rack.

To shape the peeps, 

1. Flour the dough balls and roll it out into a 10 inch long rope. 
2. Form a knot with the short end sticking out for the head and the long end for the tail. Position the knots so that they look like wings sticking up and the head is in an upright position. 
3. Shape the edge of the head to make a beak and insert two cloves on either sides for the eyes.
4. Flatten the long end slightly and make 3-4 slashes on it to give the appearance of tail. 
5. Finally glaze it with the milk-maple syrup mixture and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. (Since the dough for the peeps had already rested before shaping and had begun to look over-poofed, I did not wait for another rise. In case you are making only the peeps, let the shaped dough double before baking it.) 
6.  Cool the peeps before serving.

This loaf is being yeast-spotted. 

I shall also be sharing this at few Christmas parties and the following food parties.

Monday : Mix it up Monday, The Scoop, Made with love Monday, 
Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Monday, Inspiration Monday Party Sharing Monday, 
Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop,Maniac Monday Linky Party

Meatless Monday:Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory

Tuesday : Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations, 
Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home ,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings
Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles,  Tasty Tuesday @ Anyonita Nibbles,  Hearth and Soul blog Hop, 
In & Out of the Kitchen @ Feeding Big & More, Tuesday's Table @ Love in the Kitchen, 

Wednesday : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain, 
Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wine'd Down Wednesday, 
Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ All She Cooks Wednesday, Whatsit@White Lights on Wednesday, 
Wednesday Extravaganza @ Hunger Little Girl, Create & Share @ The Trendy Tree House,
What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar & Dots Look, What I Made @ Creations by Kara

Thursday: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, 
Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity,  Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage , 
 Freedom Friday @ My Turn,  Thursday's Treasures @ Food Done Light,Pin it Thursday @ Sweet Bella Roos

Friday : Foodie Friday @ Simple Living and Eating,  Friday Linky Party @ The Pin Junkie, 
Get Him Feed @ Anyonita Nibbles, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home,  
Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm, 
Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts, 
Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club, The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog Recipes