Kulich – Russian Easter bread
Kulich is delicious sweet bread commonly eaten in Russia on Easter day. Similar in shape and flavour to panettone, kulich is packed with fragrant spices, dried fruits and citrus peel. Bake up a batch for breakfast on Easter sunday or serve it with a slice of pashka – its traditional accompaniment – for an indulgent afternoon snack.
Ingredients
Kulich
- 450g of strong white bread flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 50g of butter
- 50g of caster sugar
- 14g of fast-action dried yeast, (2 packets)
- 210ml of milk, tepid
- 1 egg , beaten
- 100g of mixed dried fruits
- 25g of citrus peel , mixed
Icing
- 100g of icing sugar
- 1/2 lemon , juice only
To decorate
- 8 glacé cherries , quartered
- almonds , toasted
- sprinkles
Method
1
Begin by washing and drying 6 tin cans. Butter the tins well and line each with some buttered baking paper into each one
2
Sieve the flour, salt, ground mixed spice and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the sugar and yeast
3
Add the beaten egg and tepid milk to the flour and mix together to a form a soft, pliable dough
4
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Carefully work the mixed dried fruit and mixed peel into the dough until well combined. Knead lightly for 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic
5
Shape the dough into a ball and place it into a buttered mixing bowl, then cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour to prove
6
Turn out the proved dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knock back the dough. Shape it into a ball again and return it to the bowl, then cover again with the tea towel and set aside for a further 30 minutes to prove
7
Place the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then roll them into a long cylinder shape and put them into the buttered and paper lined tins. Cover the tins with a tea towel and set aside to rise for 25–30 minutes
8
Preheat an oven to 240°C/gas mark 8
9
Once the buns have risen in the tins to about ¾ of the way up, place them on a baking sheet and bake for 25–35 minutes, or until pale golden-brown and sound hollow when turned over and tapped on
10
Turn the Kulich out of the tins onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing
11
To make the icing, add the lemon juice to the icing sugar, spoon by spoon, until you have a thick but runny icing that that will cover the kulich buns and dribble a little down the sides. Spoon the icing over kulich and scatter the glacé cherries, toasted almonds and sprinkles over the top
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Kulich – Russian Easter bread
