At this time of year, we start to think about spring (goodness knows we can’t feel it here yet, only think about it. Ha!), and with spring comes Easter. In our family, my Mom & Grandma have always treated us with Easter bread, or Paska. This year, the challenge was to make myself some gluten-free paska. After playing around with a few recipes, I’ve finally got it to where I’m pretty pleased with the results. The smell when this bread is rising is AMAZING! And when baked & topped with some vanilla icing, they are perfect!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 1 Tbsp instant yeast
- 1 1/3 cup white rice flour
- 2/3 cup sweet rice flour
- 1 cup tapioca starch
- 2 tsp unflavoured gelatin
- 1 Tbsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/2 cup warm heavy cream (whipping cream)
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
- zest & juice of 1/2 navel orange
Directions:
- Combine warm water, sugar & yeast. Set aside until bubbly (proofing your yeast).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all dry ingredients and mix until evenly distributed.
- In a medium size bowl, combine all wet ingredients, including zest & juice of lemon & orange.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients, and the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients, and beat for 2 minutes. Add more water if it is too dry. The dough should be very soft and sticky.
- Place dough in greased pan. This recipe bakes one loaf, or you can make 12 buns, using muffin tins as a mold. Smooth tops with a wet spatula or greased hands.
- Let rise in warm place for 30-40 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes (25-30 for buns). Cover tops of loaf/buns with foil after 10 minutes, to prevent the tops from browning too much.
- Once cooled, frost with your favorite vanilla frosting (shh…mine was store-bought).
This I will definitely be making soon! Very cool that you were able to make this gf! I’m loving the frosting, too
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Wow Jeanine..you and Julie (from our blog) both posted gluten free paska today!
You paska looks yummy!
Wow. I thought this was something we’d have to do without from now on, but once again, you’ve come to the rescue! I’ll make this soon and round out our Easter celebration with it.
This looks so delicious and pretty!
these look yummy
Hi, my daughter made this recipe yesterday and it turned out fabulous! The flavor is very good. We made it in two 8 inch cake pans instead and topped them with a mixture of sugar, rum and slivered almonds. It remided us of the recipe for Easter Braid that we used to make before going gluten free. Thank you for posting this recipe. Claire
Hi!
Decided to try this replacement for my family's Easter traditio. Alas I did not read the instruction to cover the buns.Took them out when they got brown at 25 min. and they collapsed.
Still taste GREAT and slathered in icing…no one but me will know!
Thanks again for a great recipe!
Hi! I am looking for a Grain free/ yeast free Kulich type recipe. (Specific Carbohydrate Diet)
(Coconut flour or Almond flour)
If you hear of any… let me know!
@hope4today, Yes, the buns do brown quickly. Hope everyone still enjoyed them! Anything slathered in frosting tastes great.
@Maria, Sorry, Maria, I haven't seen a recipe like that. I'll keep my eyes open though!
Used coconut milk (boxed, not the thick canned stuff) to make it dairy free for my daughter. Even with cooking it at 375 (I read wrong) and a hour mine all came out white as, well a nice clean white.
Thank you for posting this! My sister and nephew have the same allergies so this is our Pascha dessert this year…
Yeah thanks so much for posting this. Do you think that I’ll be able to braid this around the Easter eggs? Should I just try and make this without the whole Easter egg? Thanks
Hi Moosie,
I don’t think this would be braidable, unfortunately. GF dough is so sticky, it works so different from regular dough. I am working on another version of paska though, so be sure to check back!
hello, i truly hope you see this before Easter! i am a GF baking novice but would love to try this bread. since i really know nothing about gf baking yet, i’m wondering what the best way to store it is. if i bake it on Good Friday or Holy Saturday, how should i store it for serving on Sunday to preserve optimum freshness? thanks!
Hi Laura!
Gluten-free baking is best fresh. I would bake these on Saturday, store them in an air-tight container once they have cooled. And before serving, I would probably even microwave them a bit to warm them up. Gluten free baking tends to get harder when it is cool, or day old, so this helps to make them feel fresh again.
Thinking to make this for next Easter (Paskah = Easter). I will add raisin and mix fruit and sneak in a roll of amandel as in traditional dutch way.
Sounds great, Vivi! Many add raisins & dried fruit, but what is amandel? I don’t think I’ve heard of that before.
Hi jeanine, i did a trielrun with your paska bread and it is yummy !!!!! thank you. This is a great bread recipe. Thank you so much !!!!!
Amandel is almond paste roll that is regularly out in kerstkrans/banketstaaf.
I did this run with my last batch of regular yeast. I, however just bough a big package if quick yeast (to make your cinammon rolls). How to modify the recipe so that I can use the instant yeast instead of the regular yeast?
Hi Vivi, to use the instant yeast, you can actually still follow the directions as written, it won’t harm the yeast in any way.
Just found your site from the Frugal Girls, and I’m excited to browse your GF recipes. These looks really yummy. Are they similar to orange rolls?
Hi Heidi, welcome here!
Actually, these are more like a citrusy flavoured bun, but THESE are like orange rolls – my favourite! –> http://www.thebakingbeauties.com/2012/04/gluten-free-paska-rolls-aka-sunshine-rolls.html
Thanks, Jeanine. I just checked out the other rolls, and I may just give them a try Sunday. Thanks!
Jeanine, has anyone else mentioned that paskha is a Russian/Lithuanian cheese dessert served at Easter? Kulich is the bread
http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/russianbreads/r/Russianeaster.htm
Interesting, Beth. Where I live it’s a bread, but no cheese involved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paska_%28bread%29