Food / Looking for a Polish bread or something that sounds like "splechanka" [20]

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

Food / Looking for a Polish bread or something that sounds like "splechanka" [20]

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. ;-)

Food / Looking for a Polish bread or something that sounds like "splechanka" [20]

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

Food / Looking for a Polish bread or something that sounds like "splechanka" [20]

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) .

Food / Looking for a Polish bread or something that sounds like "splechanka" [20]

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. :-)

Food / Looking for a Polish bread or something that sounds like "splechanka" [20]

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!