Bukovynska Dora (буковинська дора, Bukovyna Easter bread)

The first thing you notice is the height. Not the sweetness, not the decorations, though they come shouting after, but the way this bread rises like it has somewhere important to go. Bukovynska dora is a festive loaf with a back straight enough for Easter morning: egg-yellow crumb, glossy crust, ropes of dough crossing the top, little flowers pressed in like someone's hands could not stop blessing it.

Bukovyna sits in the west, where Ukrainian, Romanian, Jewish, Armenian and Hutsul kitchens have been passing flour, walnuts, honey and habits across the table for centuries. This is not my southern steppe bread, and I say that with respect. I learned it from notes sent by a woman in Chernivtsi who wrote, very helpfully, "knead until it sighs." Aunt Nadia would have approved. It took me three attempts to understand that she meant the dough stops tearing and starts moving as one soft body under your palms.

The one thing that decides this loaf is the first rise. Enriched dough is heavy with yolks, butter and sugar, so it has to wake slowly and properly before you start dressing it up. Rush that, and the braids look proud while the inside sulks. Wait until the dough is light, domed, and smells buttery and faintly yeasty, then decorate. Bread forgives many things, but it does not forgive being hurried on a feast day.