Pagach
Dough:
2-1/2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
1 pkg yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cabbage filling:
1 lg onion peeled and sliced
1 med head cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup oil
salt
pepper

Potato filling:
3 potatoes
1 medium onion
1/4 lb oleo
1 tablespoon milk
5 oz cheddar cheese

The dough: Dissolve yeast in the water. add salt and 2 1/2 cups flour and knead smooth and
elastic, adding more flour as needed. Place dough on countertop, cover with
stainless steel bowl. Allow to rise double in bulk.

Potato filling: Cook the potatoes in 2 quarts salted water, until done. Drain. Fry onion in oleo until golden. Add to the potatoes. Add cheese, milk and salt and pepper and mash with the potatoes.

Cabbage filling:
Saute onion in oil until soft. Add shredded cabbage and salt and pepper and cover and cook until cabbage is tender and soft. Drain off any excess oil.

Assembly:
Punch down dough and divide into 2 parts. Cut bread dough in half. Roll out one half and place on cookie sheet. Place cooled potato filling on one side of the dough and spread the cabbage filling on the other half, leaving a 2 inch margin at the edges. Cover with the other half of the dough. Carefully pinch edges together. Brush oil over the top of the dough and sprinkle with salt or garlic salt. Place on greased baking sheet. Let rise until double.

Pagach_1 Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Post from: Blisstree

Pagach

Did you know that Christmas used to be banned in Russia? After the 1917 Revolution Christmas was banned. Not until 75 years later, in 1992, was Christmas allowed to be openly celebrated.

Christmas is rooted in the Russian Orthodox faith, around the Christmas Eve fast and meal. The fasts lasts until the evening worship service or the first star appears in the sky. The dinner that follows is called the Holy Meal, in which meat is not allowed. However, Kutya, a type of porridge, is the primary dish.

Kutya is made of grains for hope and poppy seed for happiness and peace.

The Holy Supper is in honor is the Christ Child and includes a white table cloth symbolic of Christ’s swaddling, Hay for poverty, A white candle for “the Light of the World”, and a large loaf of bread, “pagach” for the Bread of Life”.

The meal begins with the Lord’s Prayer, led by the father of the family. The Mother of the family blesses each person present with honey in the form of a cross on the forehead.

Following this, everyone partakes of the bread, dipping it first in honey and then in chopped garlic. Honey is symbolic of the sweetness of life, and garlic of the bitterness. The “Holy Supper” is then eaten (see below for details). After dinner, no dishes are washed and the Christmas presents are opened. Then the family goes to Church, coming home between 2 and 3 am.

Post from: Blisstree

Russian Holy Supper