Kulich - Best Russian Easter bread baking tips

  Kulich - Best Russian Easter bread baking tips.

Kulich is a sweet bread made of yeast dough and various additional flavoursome components. It is baked in cylindrical tins and has a rounded top which is covered with powdered sugar or icing. 

  The quality of a kulich mostly depends on the quality of ingredients that are used for the dough. The flour should be finest grind and slightly warmed before use. The yeast has to be exclusively fresh and the egg yolks, if they are used separately for the softest pastrys, are pushed through a cieve. The butter should be heated to boiling point until the milk solids separate and can be removed, then the butter is cooled down again to lukewarm temperature and ready to use.

   Making of the dough begins with throughful mixing of the dough starter (1/3 of the total amound of flour is used for that). Once the starter has raised and increased in volume to about 2-3 times, the rest of the flour, main ingredients, spices and salt are added and then the dough needs to be well kneaded. Almonds, raisins and candied citrus zest sould be added only once the kneading is done. After that the dough is placed in a high round buttered baking tin that has been sprinkeled with breadcrumbs and left to rise one more time. The baking tin should be initially filled with dough only to half of the hight since well made dough may rise well over the ege of the tin. There is a little trick to avoid deformation of the top of the bread- you can place a tall paper cup in the tin.

   In case you don´t plan to covering the kulich with icing after baking you can give it a light egg wash before it goes into the oven. The average baking time for a kulich is 1½ - 2 hours, after that it is taken out of the oven and left to cool on it´s side- this way it will keep it´s shape while cooling. 

   The pastry will have a wonderful colour if you add saffron to it - soak 1 tablespoon of saffron in a bit of rum or water for 4 hours, drain the liquid and add it to the dough. But keep in mind that not everyone likes the taste of saffron. However you can adjust quantity of all the additional components such as flavorings according to your taste and even substitute milk for cream if you prefer richer flavor.