(3 Apr 2018) LEAD IN:
Bakers in the small Caucasus country of Georgia are busy in the lead up to Orthodox Easter (8 April). That's because Easter time in Georgia means Paska time.
Paska is an Easter bread that's traditionally eaten in Eastern European countries during the annual religious holiday.
STORY-LINE:
Bakers here at Tbilisi's Agrohub supermarket are working non-stop in the run up to Orthodox Easter.
They're busily crafting these traditional paska breads for the annual religious holiday.
The supermarket is baking over 12,000 paska breads for this year's Easter celebrations.
It's offering a wide variety of paska, with a special emphasis on Easter-themed, decorated breads.
"Every time we are making dough it is accompanied with nervousness, because there is a possibility that the dough will not rise," says chief baker Mikheil Odishelidze.
"It needs silence and a special approach. Every stage has its own rules, proper time to put it into the oven, a special technology to make dough which you cannot breach, otherwise you will not get this end result and it will be catastrophic.We are following technology very carefully and the result is great."
It's thought the tradition of baking paska in Georgia dates back centuries.
Nowadays, it's a must-have item on the Easter table. Together with coloured eggs, they're considered a main symbol of Easter celebrations.
There are numerous recipes for baked paska, some favour the classic style, using basic ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs, flour and milk. Some add raisins and other dried fruits.
But the most important element in Georgian-style paska is its unique flavour - a blend of ground nutmeg, cardamom, saffron and ginger.
The process of baking paska is unique, it's a challenge for even professional bakers.
Bakers say paska requires a special approach, each step must be carefully followed.
Baking paska takes about ten hours.
When the dough is mixed, it must be put in a warm place to rise.
Every few hours, more ingredients are added.
When all the ingredients are in place, the dough is left to rise for about five hours.
Finally, it's put into the oven for baking.
Lia Kandelaki, production manager at Agrohub, says before starting to bake the bread they even read prayers.
"Every time we are very worried and overwhelmed with this process and want to satisfy every customer," she says.
"Before starting to bake, we are reading prayers and lighting up candles.We have very detailed discussions with bakers to foresee everything, how dough will be acting and what we should do in different circumstances."
This year, Orthodox Easter falls on Sunday 8 April.
The Western Christian church follows the Gregorian calendar, while the Eastern Orthodox uses the older Julian calendar and the two Easters are often weeks apart.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
