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Paska (also known as Kulich) is a classic Easter Bread. It’s a wonderful Easter tradition shared by Russian and Ukrainian people. This recipe comes from my aunt Tanya and cousin Lena; thank you so much!
Easter only comes once a year so don’t panic when I tell you how long it takes to make this. First I will tell you how soft and delicious it is. Then I’ll explain how you will feel like a domestic diva once you’ve got this under your belt. After that I’ll convince you that this bread makes for an incredible french toast (like really, really good!).
I’ll also mention that the active time for this recipe is about 30-45 minutes and the rest is oven/rising time. Then, and only then will I tell you that it takes basically half the day to rise. I made it a couple weeks early just so I could photograph it and share the recipe with you. I’m going to make it again for Easter. See, that means it was worth it.
Thank You Lena and Aunt Tanya for this wonderful recipe; It’s a keeper for sure. My parents and sister tried it and were raving about it.
Ingredients for the Kulich/Paska:
2 cups + 2 Tbsp warm milk (I used whole milk)
6 eggs, room temp
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
2 cups sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, (1/2 lb or 226 grams), melted (if using salted butter, omit the salt)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
9 cups all-purpose Canadian flour, divided ** (measured correctly)
1 to 1 1/2 cups raisins (white or brown)
**On Flour Substitutions:
Canadian flour is made in Canada has a higher gluten content and produces a softer bread than American all-purpose flour. It is available in Cash and Carry, Winco and Canada of course! Several readers have reported great results with American all-purpose flour but because Canadian flour has a higher gluten content, you often need to use more American all-purpose flour, so keep that in mind if you substitute. Read helpful review below:
One of my readers, Natalia, shared this amazing review with her flour substitutions:
“I want to thank you for this wonderful Paska recipe. My family loved it. I made a half of the recipe, That was enough to make two medium and two small breads. I used the King Arthur’s bread flour (4 cups) and 1/2 cup of a/p flour (I was running short on bread flour). It turned out amazing. I’ve never made Paskas before, and it was a success from the first time. Thank you!!!”
For the Topping:
2 cups powdered Sugar
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
What you’ll need:
3 Large Panettone Paper Molds (4.8″H x 6.75″ W); we purchased them on Amazon
(you can also buy the mini ones and make baby paskas; I Imagine those would be adorable, but you’d need to adjust the baking times for sure). My husband actually discovered these molds and they were great!
How to Make Paska Easter Bread Recipe (Kulich):
1. In a large Mixing bowl, whisk together 2 cups + 2 Tbsp warm milk, 6 eggs, 1 Tbsp yeast, 2 cups sugar, 2 sticks melted butter (just warm, not hot!), 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup sour cream and 1 tsp vanilla. Whisk in 4 cups flour. Your batter will be thick like sour cream. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place or a warm oven (about 100˚F) for 2 hours.
Note: Do not put the mixture in a hot oven or it will deactivate the yeast and it won’t rise; yep we learned this the hard way and an entire batch ended up in the garbage can. So either put it in a warm 100˚F oven or put it in a warm spot in the sun.
2. Add 5 more cups of flour; one cup at a time or until the dough no longer sticks to your hands (it will still feel sticky but won’t stick to your fingers). I find it’s easiest to stir in the flour with a stiff silicone spatula. Dough should be soft. Stir in 1 to 1 1/2 cups raisins. Cover and let dough rise another 2 hours in a warm oven (100˚F).
3. Divide dough evenly into the three paper baking molds; try not to mix it or stomp it down too much. Let dough rise uncovered in a warm 100˚F oven for an additional 2 hours or until the molds are almost full. Remove from the oven and preheat oven to 350˚F.
4. Bake at 350˚F for 30-35 minutes in the middle of the oven until the top is golden brown. Let cool to room temp or just warm and then tear off the wrapper.
5. Once the Breads are at room temperature and wrappers are off, get your frosting ready. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups powdered sugar with 3 Tbsp lemon juice. Add a little water if it’s too thick or a little more powdered sugar if it’s too runny. Pour the glaze over each cooled Easter bread.
Top with sprinkles, which just make these seem so traditional and festive. I remember having lots of sprinkles growing up. I’ll put sprinkles on my next one and post it.
Paska Easter Bread Recipe (Kulich)

Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 Tbsp warm milk, I used whole milk
- 6 large eggs, room temp
- 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, (1/2 lb or 226 gr), melted (if using salted butter, omit salt)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 9 cups all-purpose Canadian flour, divided
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups raisins, white or brown
For the Topping:
- 2 cups powdered Sugar
- 3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
What you'll need:
- 3 Large Panettone Paper Molds; we purchased them on Amazon
Instructions
- In a large Mixing bowl, whisk together 2 cups + 2 Tbsp warm milk, 6 eggs, 1 Tbsp yeast, 2 cups sugar, 2 sticks melted butter (just warm, not hot!), 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup sour cream and 1 tsp vanilla. Whisk in 4 cups flour. Your batter will be thick like sour cream. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place or a warm oven (about 100˚F) for 2 hours.
- Add 5 more cups of flour; one cup at a time or until the dough no longer sticks to your hands (it will still feel sticky but wont' stick to your fingers). I find it's easiest to fold flour in with a silicone spatula. Dough should be soft. Stir in 1 to 1 1/2 cups raisins. Cover and let dough rise another 2 hours in a warm oven (100˚F).
- Divide dough evenly into the three paper baking molds; try not to mix it or stomp it down too much. Let dough rise uncovered in a warm 100˚F oven for an additional 2 hours or until the molds are almost full. Remove from the oven and preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Bake at 350˚F for 30-35 minutes in the middle of the oven until the top is golden brown. Let cool to room temp or just warm and then tear off the wrapper.
- Once the Breads are at room temperature and wrappers are off, get your frosting ready. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups powdered sugar with 3 Tbsp lemon juice. Add a little water if it's too thick or a little more powdered sugar if it's too runny. Pour the glaze over each cooled Easter bread. Traditionally, these are topped with colorful sprinkles before the glaze sets.
I searched around comparing Paska recipes and your recipe is by far the easiest to understand and follow. Although a long recipe you made it easy to bring my grandmother’s tradition back to life in my family. Two of my siblings joined me in what we termed as the ‘great Paska challenge’. They all turned out really well.
I halved the recipe but in the end forgot to halve the butter. It still turned out delicious and not as heavy as I thought might be with all that butter. I couldn’t get my head around putting the rising dough in the oven with oven door open so I just put it in the bathroom under the ‘heat’ light – rose like a treat. Thanks again many times over!
I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe!!! 🙂 It kind of sounds like you’ve created a new tradition – the ‘great Paska challenge’ 🙂 That sure sounds like alot of fun!
Thanks, Natasha! This looks amazing!
I made it today and mine were not completely cooked on the inside. I followed the instructions exactly. I think mine rose a little more than your pictures in the panettone forms. Any idea why they were not cooked all the way through….
Lena, I’m sorry to hear that they were not fully baked :(. Were you using panettone forms as well and if yes, were they the same size? Did you gave your Easter bread enough time to cool down before cutting in to it? As with any bread, if you cut it when its still hot, it can turn gummy? Also, was the bread baked in the center of the oven? I hope this gives you some answers. Happy Easter 🙂
Natasha, hi!
Thank you for your reply.
Yes, they were the same size. My family did cut into one as soon as it came out of the oven.:) I got scared and put the other two back into the oven for 7 more min., which made them tasty but a little crumbly and dryer than they should be. Our family and guests loved them anyway. They should be perfect the second time around.:) Your instructions were great. I recently made your honey cake and your strawberry cake and they were awesome. I love your blog. Happy Easter to your family! Christ is risen!
I’d definitely wait to cut into it until it’s no longer hot. It’s ok if it’s just a little warm, just not hot. I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipes on my blog :). Happy Easter. Surely, HE is risen!
I just need to thank you for posting this recipe. Having never made paska, I doubted that I could ever pull it off. It seemed like something that was lost when my Baka passed in 2010. However, I tried your recipe, and they came out beautifully. I cannot thank you enough for bringing those memories back for me; my Baka would be so proud. 🙂
XB,
Christina
Thank you so much for your awesome comment! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the recipe and had great success with it. Have a wonderful Easter Sunday!
Did you bake kulichi directly on the oven rack? Or did you put them on a baking sheet first?
Rita, I cooked them on the baking sheet :).
Hi Natasha:) this is my first time making paski and from over excitement i added instead of one teaspoon of vanilla extract to adding one Tablespoon!! is that going to completely make the dough bitter and not what its suppose to taste like?
Oksana, I think you are still in the safe zone. The recipe will definitely have more vanilla taste but because of the dough amount, should still work. Let me know how it comes out :).
Natasha, when you say you put the bread in a 100 degree oven to rise, do you close the oven door for those 2 hours or keep it open?
Also, do you keep the temperature 100 degrees for the whole 2 hours, or you just warm it up to 100 degrees and then turn it off?
If you can get your oven to 100˚F, you can leave the door closed. Not all ovens have a low heat setting of 100˚F, some have a lowest temperature of 170˚ which will ruin the dough.
Natasha- best wishes and congratulations on the birth of your little angle Diana. God bless you and your family. Thinking of you as I prepare for ukrainian easter next week and a double batch of your paska recipe. Христос Воскрес! Надя
Thank you Nadia for your sweet comment and wishes 🙂 Christ is risen indeed!!!
Such a great recipe, do u think I can make it in a bread maker?
I haven’t tried it that way, but I think it could work, except the full recipe might not fit into a standard sized bread maker since it makes 3 loaves.
This looks like a wonderful recipe! However, I would like to try it out before making a full batch of three loaves. Do you think that the recipe would turn out if you were to reduce the proportions to make only one of two loaves? Thank you!
I’ve always made the full batch, but I think it would work just as well if you follow the recipe and cut it down to 1/3 to make one loaf.
Thank you for the reply. I will try it out!
Hi Natasha, your kulichi look great! Could you tell me approximately how long to knead the dough for? My mom used to do it for over 30 mins.
Can I do it all using my kitchen aid mixer? I haven’t made kulichi all by myself before. So, I am really nervous and want it to turn out great to impress my family!! 😉
Total mixing time should be about 15 minutes in the KitchenAid mixer, from the time you first start putting in the 5 cups of flour, one cup at a time. The key is to mix it until it is at the right consistency as detailed in step 2. You don’t have to knead it very long.
I’ve been looking for a recipe that didn’t make a thousand loaves, like the one I wrote down when my sister-in-law’s Mother-in-law was making this bread for Easter back in the early 60’s. I married a Ukrainian in 1966, and enjoyed the wonderful traditions, which I have tried to keep, even though I lost him in 1989. I’ve since moved back home to TN. but am still making my own sausage, and this Easter Bread. My loaves are on their last rise, and so far,they are looking great. This recipe has all of the richness as my original, but makes just a few loaves, which is good, because I love this bread.
I also ordered the panettone molds, which are really cute. Who would’ve thought. Thanks again for a wonderful recipe and for making it so easy. As my original recipe was translated from Ukrainian to English by my sister-in-law, I ended up with about 12 pages, and it took about 12 hours to actually make. It did make a “LOT”. When I read your recipe, and went back to read mine, I couldn’t stop laughing, and thought
“What was I thinking” ??? Oh well, I was a lot younger then.
Thanks, Sharron Shylo
Thank you so much for sharing your story with me! 12 pages? WOW! 😉 I hope you absolutely love the Easter bread!! Oh my goodness do I love homemade sausage! Do you happen to have a recipe you could share for that? If not, I understand. 🙂
Hi Natasha,
Thank you so much for your kulich recipe! I love many of the recipes on here,especially since I don’t have a babushka to pass them onto me:) I made these last year and they tasted great. The only thing I noticed was the bottom of them were pretty dark by the time they were fully cooked. Have you ever had this issue?
Hi Brandi. Thank you! I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipes :). Mine didn’t really get too dark on the bottom. Did you bake them directly on the rack or over a baking sheet? Also, are you baking them in the center of your oven? Not too low in the oven? I hope that helps. 🙂 Both of my grandmothers have passed away as well, but I’m thankful to still be able to learn how to cook these old world recipes from my Mom & Mama in law 🙂
I plan to make this as my second Natasha’s Kitchen recipe 🙂 Do you think it would be good with chopped, candied orange peel and chopped candied cherries in place of the raisins?
Mary, those sound like healthy substitutions and will work great. Let me know how they will work out :).
Natasha,
I am trying to find really hard Canadian flour in New York…i have no idea where to buy it in stores or online…can you please tell me the brand that you buy? or take a picture of it so i can search for it….
thank you
The brand I use is called Red Rose and it just says “made in Canada” it doesn’t specifically say “Canadian flour.” Do you have a Cash and Carry store nearby? That is where I found mine. Some of my readers have also recommended
Five Roses on Amazon
is the flour you buy bleached or unbleached:? they have both options
I generally use unbleached. I used to use bleached but the unbleached is healthier and I haven’t noticed a change in the quality of my baked goods. Enjoy! 🙂
Pascha is actually a different dish made of cottage cheese. This one is kulich. Nice receipe! Easy and not that time consuming.
I’m excited to try this. We had Ukrainian neighbors who would make this every year.
For those near a Sur la Table: they sell the molds for $1 each on their website – call & ask if you can buy in store to save on shipping. But if you google “how do I make” and “panettone mold”, you’ll find instructions – or you can line a coffee can with parchment paper, or buy a 1000 or 2000 ml Pyrex beaker (I’m a little hesitant on that one, although I guess they should be fine for the oven – others use them. Be gentle, though.)
This website has a paragraph discussion of Canadian flour, although it doesn’t really tell you exactly how to get the equivalent in the US. I’ll have to read flour bag labels to see if I can get it.
http://www.cooksinfo.com/flour
“Canadian flour is the first and still the greatest Canadian success story. Canadian wheat makes the finest flour in the world, bar none. Despite everything that is said about bread vs cake vs pastry flour, somehow magically Canadian all-purpose flour basically handles all those tasks effortlessly. …”
I wish Canadian flour was more readily accessible for everyone. I try not to post recipes with Canadian flour just because it’s harder to come by but for some recipes; it is jut crucial. Thanks so much for the info! 🙂
Hi Natasha, Thankyou for posting Kulich recipe, so I have read the comments(novice baker!), you mention that you have made it in a loaf pan – what are the dimensions please? I assume you used 1/3 of dough mix?
If I recall correctly, it was a regular bread pan and it was 1/3 of the dough. It was a 5×9″ pan (1.5Qt)
OK, Thankyou.
Natashenka, where do you buy these paper baking molds?
Thank you for your time.
Marina
I purchased them on Amazon. They weren’t very expensive at all. I have a link above in the post and also in the shop tab of my blog.
Hello, Natasha:
I am not a baker, but understand that sifted flour will be less when measured, and I couldn’t find any mention of whether to sift or not for your recipe. Would you please clarify that. I’ve made it twice: once with (american) all-purpose bleached flour, and once using (american) bread flour. Both were tasty, but quite different. The all-purpose raised beautifully and just amazed me! The bread flour hardly raised at all!!?? Too heavy?? But the bread flour Kulich was more desert-like; the all-purpose was great once something was put on it. I have a partial bag of both flours left, and I intend on combining the flours for the third attempt here. lol. Again: Sift or not?? Thank you for the recipe and the answer to my question.
I think combining them is a good idea since Canadian flour is more like bread flour but not exactly the same. I measured before sifting and I didn’t sift for this particular recipe although it doesn’t hurt to sift the flour. I measured the flour by scooping it into a measuring cup and then scraping off the top with the back of a knife. I hope that’s helpful.
Hi Natasha- I made this paska last weekend for Easter. My kids said it was better than Baba’s! But we didn’t tell her she is 90. Hope you and your family are all well. Xpuctoc Bockpec. Nadia
You didn’t tell her… lol. That’s pretty funny. I’m glad you didn’t tell her ;). Surely He is Risen! (Boictiny Bockprec!)
Hi in the toronto area, I found the paper moulds at Golda’s kitchen. On line also.