Drabynka (драбинка, ritual ladder bread)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Baking tray lined with parchment
• •Pastry brush
• •Kitchen scale

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake the yeast

   Stir the warm milk with the sugar and yeast and leave it until the surface looks creamy and smells faintly bready. If your kitchen is cool, give it patience. If nothing happens, your yeast is tired and no amount of faith will lift the dough.

2. 2

   Mix the dough

   Put the flour and salt in a wide bowl. Add the foamy yeast milk, 1 egg, the melted butter, 2 tablespoons honey, and the sunflower oil. Mix until the flour disappears into a shaggy dough, then scrape everything onto the table and begin kneading.

   The sunflower oil is there for flavor as much as softness. Use the green-gold unrefined kind if you have it, Ukraine in a bottle of oil.
3. 3

   Knead until elastic

   Knead until the dough turns smooth, warm, and springy, with a soft slap against the board when you fold it over itself. It should stretch without tearing at once. This strength matters because the ladder has to hold its shape; weak dough makes tired rungs.

4. 4

   Let it rise

   Oil the bowl lightly, tuck the dough inside, cover it, and leave it until doubled and full of small bubbles under the skin. Press it with one finger: the dent should rise back slowly, like it is thinking about it.

5. 5

   Shape the ladder

   Cut off one third of the dough and keep it covered. Divide the larger piece into two long ropes, about the length of your baking tray, and set them parallel on a lined tray. Divide the smaller piece into 7 or 9 short rungs, then lay them across the rails and press each join firmly so the bread bakes as one piece.

   Odd numbers please the eye, but don't let arithmetic bully you. The joins matter more than the count: pinch them well or the rungs lift as they bake.
6. 6

   Prove and glaze

   Cover the shaped ladder and let it puff until the ropes look rounded and the joins no longer seem harsh. Beat the remaining egg with a pinch of salt and brush it over every rail and rung. Scatter with poppy seeds if you like their nutty little bite.

7. 7

   Bake until golden

   Bake at 190C until the bread is deep golden, the underside sounds hollow when tapped, and the kitchen smells of honeyed crust rather than raw dough. Warm the remaining tablespoon of honey with a spoonful of water and brush it over the hot bread so the surface shines.

8. 8

   Break and share

   Let the drabynka cool until the crumb settles, then bring it to the table whole. Tear the rungs by hand. Serve with butter, more honey, or sour cherry preserves, and don't fuss if the shape goes quickly. That is what bread is for.

Chef Tips

• •If you want a leaner, older-feeling version, replace the milk with water and the butter with sunflower oil. It will be less soft, a bit more modern in reverse, and still yours.
• •Make the rails slightly thicker than the rungs. They are the spine of the bread, and they keep the ladder from baking into a flat braid.
• •The dough can rise slowly in the fridge overnight after kneading. Bring it back to room temperature before shaping, or the ropes will resist you.
• •Small individual drabynky bake faster and are lovely for children. Shape each one with two pencil-thick rails and five little rungs.
• •Leftovers toast well the next day. Butter them, drizzle honey over, and call it breakfast without apology.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be mixed and left for a slow first rise overnight in the fridge, then shaped the next morning.
• •Bake the drabynka on the day you serve it if you can. Enriched bread is kind on the second day, but festival bread likes an audience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 105g)