Pasca cu Branza - Easter cake filled with cheese

When Holy Week arrives we enter a season filled with a lot of wonderful and extraordinary sweet recipes, like torrijas. But there is a wide variety of sweets spread around the world that are also eaten at this time of year and that we must not miss. Like this Pasca cu Branza: Easter cake filled with cheese.

To give you a brief introduction, this is a cake made with a tender, fluffy dough, along with a filling made with cheese, subtly sweet and flavored. An incredible delicacy of Romanian cuisine.

Origin of the Pasca cu Branza

In Romania, when Easter arrives, it is traditional to make many recipes like the famous Cozonac. But another of the preparations that are part of their tables is this creation that combines a fluffy dough and a creamy filling.

It is said that this cake is related to a bread that Jews ate during Passover, called in Hebrew "mat" - מצה. It was an unleavened dough made with a mixture of water and one of the five grains; wheat, rye, barley, oats or spelt.

In Jewish tradition, Passover is nicknamed "the poor man's bread" לחם עוני, due to the fact that poor Jews continued to eat it even after Passover.

The book of "Exodus" - Cartea Exodului tells us that the Jews left Egypt so quickly that they did not have time to prepare leavened bread. In memory of that moment and experience, Jews only eat Pasca for eight days (instead of the usual leavened bread).

The custom of eating lamb and Pasca during the Easter period is related to the Jewish Passover ritual. In Jewish tradition, the lamb is eaten ritually with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (maror in Hebrew מרור), to remind us of the hardships suffered in Egyptian slavery.

At the Last Supper, Jesus and the apostles ate lamb according to the Jewish ritual, and the unleavened bread is represented by Pasca. For Christians, the lamb, the pasca and the wine are symbols with new meanings: the Lamb is Jesus Christ, who accepts his sacrifice; the pasca broken or cut and the spilled wine signify Christ's sacrifice.

Pască is prepared on the eve of the Resurrection. The true Pască is the one that is cut into small pieces and taken to the church to be sanctified (it may be related to the consecrated host). Pieces of Pască are taken home and kept so that believers may take part in God's blessing, which is believed to have the power to ward off illness and troubles.

Its adaptation to Christian tradition and its gastronomy has turned it into a preparation that not only consists of a leavened dough, but also of a sweet cheese filling seasoned with raisins.

De Buyer perforated round mold

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 560 g bread flour, W=290
• 125 g whole milk
• 125 g water
• 4.5 g dry yeast or 13.5 g fresh yeast
• 3 large eggs (approximately 167 g)
• 125 g sugar
• 65 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 7.5 g salt

For the filling:

• 500 g ricotta or cottage cheese
• 45 g sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 35 g semolina divided into 2 parts (half for the filling and the other half for sprinkling)
• 50 g raisins
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 g salt

For brushing:

• Beaten egg

Pack of 2 Thermic Luigi Bormioli glasses, Thermic Luigi Bormioli milk jug

Preparation

1. In the bowl of the stand mixer or KitchenAid we add all the ingredients except the butter.
2. Knead until you get a developed dough with a smooth consistency. Start kneading at speed 1 and increase to speed 2. It will take around 15-20 minutes.
3. Once the dough is developed, add the cold butter. Do it in two batches and wait to add the second when the first has fully integrated. The dough you obtain will be soft, elastic and perfectly developed.
4. Round into a ball and place in a previously greased airtight container.
5. Perform bulk fermentation. Leave the dough at room temperature until it increases by 1/3 of its volume. In my case it was 1 hour at 21ºC.
6. Refrigerate until the next day.

Second day:
Temper the dough and divide the dough for the Pasca cu Branza.

1. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature before working with it. The dough should have more than doubled overnight.
2. Time will vary depending on the outside temperature. In my case it was 1 hour and 10 minutes at 20ºC.
3. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and gently degas.
4. Cut off approximately 1/3 of the total dough to make the base. In my case it weighed 380 g.
5. Lightly preform to encourage a round shape. With the help of a rolling pin, roll the dough out until you reach the diameter of our De Buyer removable perforated mold (24 cm).
6. Place the base inside the mold and gently adjust.
7. From the remaining dough, cut off another roughly 1/3. In my case I divided the dough into two portions; a large one of 480 g to make the outer braid and a smaller one of 220 g to make the decorative top braid.

Form the decoration:

1. Take the larger piece and divide into two equal parts.
2. Stretch and shape one of the pieces into a rope until you reach a length of 95 cm. To do this, shape the piece into a cylinder by sliding both hands over the surface to lengthen it.
3. Repeat the same process with the other piece.
4. Braid the two ropes and place inside the mold making sure the braid is pressed against the mold. Seal the ends.
5. Cover the mold with plastic wrap.
6. To braid the top decoration follow the same steps.
7. Divide the small piece into two equal parts and stretch each of them, this time giving each a length of 60 cm.
8. Braid in the same way as before.
9. Once braided, cut in half and place on a tray lined with Teflon or silpat. Cover with plastic wrap.

Do the final proofing:

1. Let the dough double in volume; final proofing time will depend on the outside temperature. In my case it was 2 and a half hours at a controlled 27ºC.
2. The small braid must proof separately from the mold. For that reason we place it on a separate tray.

De Buyer perforated round mold

Make the filling:

1. Place a cheesecloth over a bowl and put the ricotta inside.
2. Gather the cheesecloth by the corners, lift and begin to apply some pressure to drain the whey from the cheese.
3. Press until almost all the whey is removed.
4. Tie the cloth and let rest on a strainer or tied to the sink for 30 minutes. You should monitor the dough's proofing to do this in advance.
5. Transfer the cheese to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients.
6. Mix with a whisk until you achieve a homogeneous mixture.

Incorporate the filling:

1. When you see there are about 15-20 minutes left to finish proofing, fill the pasca.
2. Preheat the oven to 160ºC with top and bottom heat.
3. Sprinkle two tablespoons of semolina over the inner base of the mold, not on the braid. Put the filling into the central cavity and smooth the surface.
4. With the help of a spoon, create a hollow in the filling.
5. Place one of the braided proofed dough pieces that you have on the tray.
6. Create another hollow to place the other braided piece and form a cross. Press gently in the center where the cross meets.

Removable perforated round mold De Buyer and T&G pastry brush

Bake:

1. With the help of a pastry brush, brush the entire surface with beaten egg.
2. Put in the oven at mid-height and bake for 70 minutes or until, when inserting a digital kitchen thermometer into the dough, the dough temperature reads 88º-90ºC.
3. It is important to watch the coloring of the dough and, if necessary, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil to prevent it from browning too much.
4. Remove the mold from the oven and place on a rack. Let the dough rest in the mold for 30 minutes.
5. After this time, unmold and cool completely on a rack. Ideally let it rest 5-6 hours before consuming to allow the cooling, cooking and settling of the filling to occur correctly.
6. Slice and serve.

Removable perforated round mold De Buyer and T&G pastry brush.

NOTES:

• In my case I used a bread flour W=290. If using a lower strength flour, you should adjust the amount of liquids in the recipe so as not to obtain an overly hydrated dough. The dough consistency is slightly sticky, but easy to work and handle.
• The process is divided into 2 days to make it more manageable.
• When forming the dough ropes, do it on a clean work surface. If you sprinkle with flour, it will be very difficult, almost impossible, to stretch the dough. If it sticks to the work surface, sprinkle very lightly with flour.
• It is not necessary to grease or dust the mold. This one comes with a Teflon interior that prevents the dough from sticking to the mold, in addition to greatly, greatly facilitating later unmolding.
• For the filling it is ideal to use granular ricotta; it is drier and the result is much better. In my case I only found this creamier variety.
• Whether using granular or creamy ricotta, drain it with cheesecloth to remove as much liquid as possible.
• Raisins can be replaced with another dried fruit of your choice.
• The filling can be flavored with vanilla or you can use some liqueur, like rum for example.
• I recommend monitoring the entire baking process to prevent excessive browning or the dough being baked for too long and drying out. The result is a very soft, silky and tender dough.
• It can be kept, wrapped in plastic wrap, 24 hours at room temperature. After this time, refrigerate up to 3 days.

This Holy Week don't hesitate to make this Pasca cu Branza and surprise your family. I assure you you will surprise them a lot.
The preparation process, despite seeming otherwise, is quite simple to carry out. There are many steps, but none that require greater difficulty. The baking process, thanks to the De Buyer perforated mold, is impeccable.

When we use molds to bake doughs, the material they are made of and how they distribute heat is very important. In this case, the mold we used helps distribute heat evenly, achieving a perfect bake that also doesn't burn the dough. This for me is something very important to highlight, because it makes the final result glorious or, on the contrary, not so good.

I hope you like it a lot, so much that this Holy Week we fill social media with this Pasca cu Branza ;)