Kulich - Russian Easter Bread
Easter in Russia was traditionally a day of great feasting. Besides roasted pig and sausages and sweet tarts there would always be the cheese Pashka and the Kulich. This bread is so delicate that pillows were put about the pan in which the dough was rising so that it would not fall and anxious housewives kept husbands with heavy boots and frolicking children out of the kitchen until the Kulich was safely out of the oven. Deep in the top of this cake were formed the letters "X V", the initials of the words meaning "Christ is risen."
| Preparation Time: | 1 hour |
| Cooking Time: | 1 hour |
| Time Until Ready: | 6 hours |
| Serves: | 20+ |
Ingredients
1 cup sultanas (golden raisins )
3 tablespoons rum
1 1/2 yeast cakes
1/2 cup warm water
10 cups flour
1-1/2 cups scalded milk
7 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 pound butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon saffron
Directions
- Soak the raisins in the rum.
- Soak the yeast in the lukewarm water.
- Mix 5 cups of the flour with the milk which has been cooled; combine with the yeast and beat well.
- Allow to rise for three hours in a warm place.
- Beat the yolks of 5 eggs with the sugar. Mix with the batter.
- Melt the butter, mix with the salt and the raisins, and add to the batter.
- Sift the rest of the flour with the saffron. Mix into the batter and knead well.
- Bake in a pan that should be about 12 inches high. Brush with butter and set to rise again till double in bulk. Brush top with egg yoke.
- Bake in a 400 degree F. oven for 15 minutes and then reduce heat to 350 degrees F. for another 45 minutes or until done.
- Kulich can be glazed or iced and then decorated with glacé cherries, angelica or crystallized fruit.
- Kulich is served, unusually, by slicing off the top and then slicing horizontally again for eating. The top is then replaced to keep the bread fresh for as long as possible.
Delicious with Pashka.
Source: hamiltro
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