“Pasca” or the Romanian Easter Bread with cheese

For Easter, in Romania it is traditional to eat lamb and Easter bread with cheese. These are both customs borrowed from the Jewish people by the Christian religion. To break the bread and to pour the wine signifies Jesus’ sacrifice. The Easter bread is baked on the eve of the Resurrection and it is usually taken to church for blessing. There are many recipes of the Easter bread, one more inviting than others, such as the Easter bread with sour cream or with chocolate, but the traditional remains the recipe with cheese. That is why we have chosen to present Easter Bread with cheese recipe.

Ingredients: For the dough you will need 300 g of flour, 60 ml of milk, 200 g of sugar, 2 egg yolks, 200 g of butter, 25 g of yeast and lemon and orange zest, instead for the topping you will need 1 kg of cottage cheese, 2 tablespoons of sour cream, 2 tablespoons of flour, 4 eggs, 250 g of sugar, 200 g of raisins, 2 satchels of caster sugar, lemon and orange zest and a pinch of salt for the filling.

Directions: Put the flour in a bowl, you make a hole in the middle and add the eggs, the yeast, the milk and a little sugar and then one by one all the other ingredients for the dough. Knead the dough well and then place it next to a heat source so that it can rise.

In a different bowl, put the cottage cheese, the sour cream, the sugar, the lemon zest and the orange zest, a pinch of salt, the flour, the caster sugar and the eggs. Blend all these with the mixer and add the raisins at the end.

When the dough has risen, roll it out with a rolling pin until it reaches the thickness of a finger and then cut it in two. Now roll out both parts of dough with the rolling pin. Put the first piece in a baking tray, previously greased with butter, put the cheese filling over it and the other piece of dough on top. Cook it in the oven at a constant temperature. When ready, you should leave it to cool for a bit and then sprinkle it with powdered sugar.

Enjoy your meal!  

Sources:

http://www.romaniatv.net/retete-de-paste-pasca-cu-branza-dulce-pasca-cu-stafide-pasca-moldoveneasca-10-retete-delicioase_139633.html