The traditional Ukrainian paska–also known as kulich in Russia–is a sweet and fragrant Easter bread. This popular delicacy abounds in eggs and butter, and typically has a tall cylindrical shape with a rounded top. It is often enriched with citrus juice or zest, vanilla, rum, ginger, and occasionally saffron.
Some varieties of paska also might include raisins, candied fruit, or maraschino cherries. In the past, the surface of the bread was commonly decorated with festive ornaments, usually roses or crosses, but modern versions are often brightened with pristine egg-white glaze, colorful sprinkles, or poppy seeds.
Bublik is a name that is commonly used in Eastern European countries, predominately Ukraine and Russia, when referring to a round, yeasted bun, in many ways similar to a bagel. Before baking, it is shortly poached in water and dusted with poppy seeds, sesame, or sugar.
It is believed that bublik was created among the Jewish population in czarist Russia, but got its present form in Ukraine. It was originally sold from street carts, where it was lined on a string and offered to the customers. Bublik is typically consumed as a snack or as an accompaniment to coffee or tea.
Prianik is a Russian sweet bread or a cookie that is flavored with spices such as cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, cumin, and anise. It is often filled with various fruit jams and caramelized or condensed milk. The first prianik was made only with rye flour, honey, and berry juice, while the spices were added later, by the 15th century.
Today, the sweet bread is typically served with tea or coffee and consumed as an afternoon snack.
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Gata is a mildly-sweet Armenian pastry with a shiny glaze crust. It comes in two varieties: plain, or if made for weddings and festive occasions, decorated with an intricate design on its top. There are many variations of gata, usually specific to different regions and towns, but the basic recipe consists only of flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and often an Armenian yogurt known as matsoni.
Although this pastry is baked all year round and on every important holiday in Armenia, it holds great importance as a dish that is specifically prepared on Candlemas. The most popular variety of gata is khoriz, a pastry containing a single-layered filling made of sugar, flour, and butter, followed by gata breads from the villages of Garni and Geghard which are embellished, round and large (commonly a foot in diameter).
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Choereg is a type of sweet bread from Armenia that is traditionally prepared for Easter. The buttery, egg-enriched dough is flavored with mahleb, a type of spice made from cherry pit seeds, which gives it a unique flavor and the scent of cherries and bitter almonds.
Once braided, the bread is either sprinkled with sesame seeds or glazed with egg wash.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Shirin chorek is a classic Azerbaijani sweet milk bread made with yeast, milk, flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and turmeric powder. The turmeric gives it a rich yellow color and a subtle flavor that goes well with the sweetness of milk and sugar.
The dough is traditionally shaped into a disk, then decorated with cross-hatching patterns and sprinkled with poppy seeds. In the past, shirin chorek used to be baked for holidays such as Ramadan and Novruz, but nowadays it is baked throughout the year.
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