Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling

I would say this Easter bread recipe with cheese broke all possible records of all the trial batches and the variants that I tried in the last 5 years. I have a whole collection of pictures of Easter cake with cheese from each year, different variants, but none of them was worth posting. The reasons are may - they lost shape, they weren't tasty, the dough wouldn't rise, they didn't look good - so it seemed I hadn't found the perfect recipe just yet. Finally, this year, I came up with a combination which I tested twice in the last month. It turned out perfect, both in taste and appearance.

It's very good to use classic sweet bread dough here, but keep in mind that it will be too soft and sticky - Easter bread will be good, but it will have a very strange shape, you won't be able to work it properly and you'll get annoyed. That's why I had to adapt. I made this dough which would rise more slowly and would be easier to shape. In the end, this Easter cake turned out to be a kind of work of art which made our holiday table more beautiful.

For the cheese filling, I also used a very good combination. It's the farmers cheese cake, with delicious taste and perfect texture for this recipe. Just make sure to choose drier and well drained cheese, not the very creamy one.

Ingredients

Warm water
125 ml
Active dry yeast
10 g
or 25g of fresh yeast
Sugar
150 g
Milk
125 ml
Egg
3 pieces
Butter
80 g
melted and cooled
Salt
1.5 tsp
White flour
650 g
Farmers cheese
500 g
Sugar
3 tbsp
for the cheese
Semolina flour
4 tbsp
Vegetable oil
1 tbsp
Baking soda
0.25 tsp
Vanilla Extract
1 tbsp
Raisins
50 g
or candied cranberries

Step by step

Step 1

The dough:

Combine yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar and warm water. Leave for 10-15 minutes until it starts to foam.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 1
Step 2

In a large bowl, pour the warm milk, melted butter, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of salt, 150g of sugar - beat well with a whisk.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 2
Step 3

Pour in the yeast mixture from step 1 and mix.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 3
Step 4

Add 500g of flour and mix the dough with a spoon, at first.

You will still need to add flour, but you will do it along the way, during kneading. If you add too much at once, the dough may get too hard and may not rise.

We have different types of flour and the quantities may vary.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 4
Step 5

Start kneading the dough with your hands, adding flour little by little along the way.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 5
Step 6

In the end, we'll have to have a soft, non-sticky and easy to shape dough.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 6
Step 7

Set aside in a warm place, covered with a towel and let rise for 40-50 minutes.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 7
Step 8

After this time, turn the dough out onto the table.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 8
Step 9

Cut about 1/3 of it.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 9
Step 10

We will use this piece to make the base for the cake.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 10
Step 11

From the remaining dough, cut another 1/3 - we'll have a smaller piece which we'll use for the cross in the middle.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 11
Step 12

And the last piece left, the biggest one, see the middle of the picture, will be used for the sides.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 12
Step 13

We are making the base:

We take the piece for the base and roll it out with the rolling pin into a circle about 28 cm in diameter - the size of the tray.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 13
Step 14

Place in a pan greased with oil and smooth out / press evenly.

Here I used a springform pan, 28cm in diameter.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 14
Step 15

We are making the sides:

-Take the largest piece of dough, for the sides - cut in half.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 15
Step 16

Roll each half into a thin long stick.

Work without flour on the table, otherwise your hands will slip and you won't be able to shape the wands. If the dough sticks to your hands, just lightly sprinkle with some flour on your fingers.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 16
Step 17

For the 28cm pan, each strip must be about 110cm long.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 17
Step 18

Twist the edges of the strips in opposite directions - this way you'll have a beautiful and even braid.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 18
Step 19

And braid - as the sticks are long, it's easier to do it from the half, in 2 steps.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 19
Step 20

Arrange the border in the tray, carefully joining the edges together.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 20
Step 21

We are making the cross:

Take the last piece of dough, the smallest, and cut in half.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 21
Step 22

Roll each half again into a thin long strip.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 22
Step 23

This time, they should be about 70cm long.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 23
Step 24

Braid the same way as the border.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 24
Step 25

Cut in half and we'll have the two parts of a cross.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 25
Step 26

Now let rise for at least 1 hour - base and border in the tray, the cross, separately, not in the tray.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 26
Step 27

The filling:

Fifteen minutes before the end of the dough rise time, prepare the cheese filling.

Choose drier, well drained cow's cheese.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 27
Step 28

Add to the cheese: 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of semolina, 1 tablespoon of oil, 0.5 teaspoons of salt, a teaspoon of baking soda, vanilla essence and raisins / cranberries. Mix well.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 28
Step 29

We are assembling the Easter cake:

Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of semolina over the dough in the pan, only on the base, not on the border.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 29
Step 30

Spoon the cheese in the middle and smooth out.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 30
Step 31

Use a knife or a spoon to cut out a canal in the cheese, in the middle.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 31
Step 32

Fit the first part of the cross in it.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 32
Step 33

The same way, make the other canal  - lightly cut the piece of braid in half, but not completely.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 33
Step 34

And carefully arrange the other part of the cross.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 34
Step 35

Brush over with eggwash - both on the dough and on the cheese.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 35
Step 36

Bake in the preheated oven at 160 degrees C for 1 hour.

In the first 15 minutes, the cake will brown quickly.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 36
Step 37

Cover with foil and bake like this for 30 minutes.

This is to avoid too much tan :)

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 37
Step 38

After this time, remove the foil and keep the cake in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 38
Step 39

Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 1 hour.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 39
Step 40

Then remove from the pan and allow to cool completely for 5-6 hours.

If you cut it while it's hot, it will seem raw because of the cheese filling that needs to set and cool.

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 40
Step 41

Here is a delicious and beautiful section for you.

Enjoy!

Pasca - Romanian Easter Bread with Cheese Filling - Step 41
Quantity: 3 kg (1 large Easter 28cm in diameter)
Prep time: 120 min
Difficulty: intermediate
Ready in: 180 min
Publish date:

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