Eggless Pasca ~ Romanian Easter Pastry

Happy Belated Easter Day everyone ! This year I've made a Pasca~Romanian Easter Bread on this special day. Pasca is a traditional Easter sweet bread or pastry made with eggs, milk, butter, sugar & cheese. However, some may prepare Cozonac on this special occasion. Cozonac is also one of the popular Easter bread in Europe but unlike pasca, cozonac will only serve plain without the sweet fillings. And I've chosen to make one without eggs. Glad I made this ! Its a beautiful bread indeed and perfect for this special day.

Ingredients for dough :
(A)
80ml  water
50gm  all purpose flour
1-1/2 tspn   yeast
(mix together then leave to rest for 10 minutes)

(B)
450gm   all purpose flour
2 TB  custard powder
2 TB  sugar
1 tspn  salt
200ml   water
60gm   butter

Method :
(1) combined both ingredients (A) & (B) together to form soft dough, knead till butter combined. Then leave to rest for an hour or till double in size.
(2) now, punch dough to release air then knead till smooth. Place dough to working table then divide into 4 portions.
(3) use one portion to roll out like a disk to fit into a 8" greased tray, to work as a base.
(4) then roll the other three portions into 36 inches length rope and braid them into ponytail shape.
(5) fit the braided dough into tray and trim off the excess dough if possible. (use the leftover dough to press to the base dough).

Note :  for eggless glazing, mix together 1 tspn  maltose with 2 TB of warm milk till everything weill combined.

Ingredients for eggless fillings :
100gm  butter
80gm  sugar
100gm  all purpose flour
1 tspn  baking powder
50gm   almond meal
1/2 tspn  vanilla essence
150ml  yogurt
(beat butter & sugar till fluffy then fold into the remaining ingredients and mix till combined)

Now, place eggless fillings to the center of the pastry and set aside to rest for 45 minutes or till dough reaches to the top of the tray. Finally, brush on some milk glazing and bake at preheated oven 180'C for about 20 minutes or till golden brown.

And TA...DA..... ! Here's my eggless pasca !