Looking for a Polish bread or something that sounds like "splechanka"

my wife is looking for a bread recipe that seems similar to Houska
they called (and i have no idea how to spell it) "splechanka"
it was braided, on the sweet side, had golden raisins in it and was possibly topped with poppy seeds.
i can't find anything on the internets that sounds like splechanka - would that even be a polish word?

Probably splecionka, a regional name for a sweet braided egg bread known in Polish as chałka, a borrowing from our Jewish brethren who serve this delicacy on the Sabbath.

great - thanks for the answer!

you wouldn't by chance know which region of Poland they would use that term for a braided bread would you?

Is this what you had in mind?

easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/breads/r/eggbraid.htm

In Polish regional dialects it could also be called plecionka. Regardless of the name, this sweet bread was known all over Poland.

Merged: Splatanka? My Polish grandparents breads - braided egg bread with raisins (chałka)

Hi,
My family is Polish-American from Buffalo, NY. When I was a child, I remember my grandparents going to the bakery to buy a sweet, braided egg bread, I think it had raisins in it. We used to call it "splatańka" (I think that's how it would be spelled). I've been searching for a recipe for it, but internet searches for that term come up empty. Does anyone recognize this bread, and if so, do you have a recipe? Thanks!

Julie

It's called "Chałka". It's possible that your family called it "Splatańka" in reference to it being braided. Whether that's a regional name or whathaveyou, I don't know. I would assume that if it were a regional name, you would find at least one or two results searching but I also found none with that name. If you google "Chałka", you will find a ton of recipes for it. I actually just baked some myself and plan on sharing the recipe on my blog as well.

Thank you so much! I just visited your blog, and I did not see the Chałka recipe posted yet, but I will check back later. And you're right, there are lots of chałka recipes that are already online! Thank you so much -- Wesołego Alleluja! At least, that's how I was taught to say "Happy Easter," but apparently my family says things a bit differently. ;-)

You are very welcome.

Re: Wesołego Alleluja, you are actually correct. It's one of a couple of ways to say Happy Easter. It actually means Joyous Praise of God, or shortened and Anglecized "Praise God". And what do we Christians do on Easter? We praise God, right? ;)

You could also say "Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych" which means Happy Easter Holiday. But I can't tell you why Wielkanoc means Easter (it literally translates to Big Night, Wielka=Big or Great & Noc=Night), my mother once told me about an old tradition done at night around Easter but I don't remember it off-hand and I'm sure it's not a modern day tradition.

Could it be referring to the Easter Vigil Mass? That's done at night, and is still quite a big deal.

That would make sense, but I vaguely recall something about going out at night with candles and some other details I don't recall. Unless, perhaps it was an Easter Vigil Mass outside at night with candles? I was young when she told me about it.

Yes, that sounds right. The Easter Vigil Mass always starts off outside, with a fire in a brazier, which the priest blesses, and uses to light the new Easter Candle. Everyone in the congregation is given a candle, the first of which is lit from the Easter Candle. The Easter candle is carried into the church, which is in darkness, and the congregation follows. The flame from the candle is spread from person to person, throughout the congregation, symbolic of the Light of Christ. Once the Easter Candle arrives at the sanctuary, the cantor sings the Easter Exsultet, and all the church lights are turned on. Easter has arrived! :-) It's really a beautiful liturgy, although I think many are put off by the length (it can go up to 3 hours) .

I've never been to a Mass like that myself. We would go to a Polish American church, of course. But Mass was always during the day and no fire was used. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that these churches were in the city. My mom's from the countryside of Poland, so it would make sense that they would have Mass like this. My father, I don't typically ask him about religious ceremonies, I'm not sure why. I'll have to ask him. It's possible, even, that they took me once to a Mass like this somewhere and I might not remember.

This is celebrated on Saturday evening not Easter Sunday, just recently I took part in this Mass in Chicago, same as in Poland. There's more to Easter Saturday then just the blessing of the food most of you probably attend. In the evening you have the blessing of the fire (Cererum Paschalis) which in turn is used to bless the water. I'm sure the same takes place in other RC parishes, perhaps there's a smaller number of participants but the ceremony still has to take place, after all your local church uses the holly water just the same, where on earth do you suppose it all comes from? Same holds true for the ashes used on Ash Wednesday to smear your forehead.

ShortHairThug, I've never been to that sort of Mass in the Polish churches in MD. It's not that we ignored an important ceremony, but those Polish Catholic churches have all been losing parishioners left and right in that area. The Polish community was a couple of handfuls of Polish families and that was it. The organization of a particular church in that group was disorganized and you essentially had to be part of the "in" crowd in the church to know about special Masses, etc. there. It might be different in Chicago, idk. I would assume it would be different in Chicago, different state, different Polish community, different churches, different everything. I live out in the country and the nearest PNCC church to me something like an hour drive. Gas here costs more than it does in MD so I don't get much chance to drive so far. I feel like I'm needing to somehow justify myself in this situation, much like the situation I face of being told that I should have taken Polish school in MD (which there weren't any) by Polish Chicagoans.

Not at all, that's not what I meant by what I have said. All I'm saying is that this ceremony has to be performed by the priest regardless of the participation of the local community or the settings be it urban or rural. If you ever have a chance to take part in this Mass do it, even if you're not religious type. I once took part in (Pielgrzymka) from Chicago to Merrillville Indiana (yes they have those too) loads of fun. Perhaps you're right there's much larger Polish community there so they organize those kind of events.

Oh, yes, chałka:

ShortHairThug, sorry I mistook what you meant. ;) You are right, it would be worth attending for sure. I'm hoping to be in Poland for next year's Easter, so this would be lovely to attend.

Chalka

Fresh from my oven

Pawian, yes, that's my splatańka!
Polishmama, the only thing I want to add about the Easter Vigil Mass, to clarify, is that it's not just a Polish thing. It's a Roman Catholic thing, and it's the pinnacle of the liturgical year, ancient and beautiful, so it takes place in every Roman Catholic parish around the world. I never attended one until I was an adult -- because it's such a long Mass, my parents never took us when we were kids. We would go to Mass on Easter Sunday morning instead. But once I started attending as an adult, I was hooked. :-) Now my kids are finally old enough that we all attend the Easter Vigil as a family -- although my youngest child, who's 9, will probably fall asleep at some point during the Mass, because it goes until about 11:00 pm in our parish. Anyway, you can read more about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Vigil

I do hope you can attend next year in Poland. That would be amazing!

Also, I just took a look at the chałka photo you posted to Facebook. It looks delicious! I spent my day baking what we call placek, although I've been told that placek just means "coffee cake," it doesn't mean any particular kind of coffee cake. But if you ask almost any Polish-American from the Buffalo, NY area, placek is a very sweet, yeasted batter bread (not kneaded) with golden raisins and a butter crumb topping. YUM!! Enjoy your Easter baking. :-)

@JulieS24
The bakery was probably Cohen's Bakery, on Broadway and Sobieski. How do I know? My dad worked there for 17 years. And, yes, it was called "Plecionka" because Cohen's had it printed right on the packaging it came in.

There isn't a bakery in Buffalo that makes it anymore. Cohen's sold to one bakery, which then sold it to another, and now the "famous" rolls and rye bread are made someplace in Syracuse and shipped in every day or so.

If you do make it back to town, Mazurek's Bakery, on South Park near Hamburg, has the closest thing to the rye bread. They've got some other delicacies, too, but nothing like the Cohen's Plecionka.

Thank you, Bolek! It's so funny to see this old thread resurrected. I think much of the activity on these old message boards has been transferred to Facebook groups nowadays. If you're interested, I'm co-admin for the group Polish Culture, Food and Traditions (facebook.com/groups/807349475945145/) and we have a good time reminiscing about these things, as well as sharing recipes, discussing traditions, sharing photos from trips to Poland, etc. In any case, thanks for the background story about Cohen's, and thanks for the tip about Mazurek's bakery in Hamburg. I'll have to check them out next time I'm in WNY!