Kulich - easter coffee cake with nuts and raisins

10 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 cup Milk; lukewarm
3 packs Active dry yeast
½ teaspoon Granulated sugar
½ cup Raisins, sultana
½ teaspoon Saffron; powdered
¼ cup Rum
2 cups Confectioner's sugar
5 cups All-purpose flour,
(to 6 cups)
2 teaspoons Salt
2 cups Confectioner's sugar
¼ cup Cold water
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
10 Egg yolks; lightly beaten
½ pounds Unsalted butter, cut into small bits, softened
4½ tablespoon Butter; softened
¼ cup Toasted almonds,slivered or coarsely chopped
½ cup Mixed candied fruit
& rinds
2 teaspoons Fresh, strained lemon juice

Directions

WHITE ICING

Recipe by: Recipes: Russian Cooking - Foods of the World - Time-Life Pour the milk into a small bowl and sprinkle in yeast and granulated sugar. Let the yeast and sugar rest for 2 to 3 mins, then mix well.

Set aside in warm, draft-free place for about 10 mins, or until mixture almost doubles in volume.

Soak the raisins in the rum for at least 10 mins. Transfer the raisins to paper towels to drain. Dissovle the saffron in the rum and set aside. Combine the confectioners' sugar, 4½ cups of flour and the salt and sift them into a large bowl. Make a well in the center, pour in the yeast-and-milk mixture, the vanilla, egg yolks and the reserved rum and saffron. With a wooden spoon, gradually incorporate the dry ingredients into the liquid ones. Stir until the mixture is smooth, then beat in the butter bits. Beat until the dough can be gathered into a medium-soft ball. Place the ball on a lightly floured surface and knead, pushing the dough down with the heels of your hands, pressing it forward and folding it back onto itself. Add up to 1 ½ cups more flour, ¼ cup at a time, until the dough is no longer sticky. Continue to knead for about 10 mins, or until dough is smooth, shiny and elastic.

With a pastry brush, spread 1 Tbs of softened butter over the inside of a large bowl. Set the dough in bowl, dust top lightly with flour and drape the bowl with kitchen towel. Put it in a warm draft-free place for about 1 hr, or until the dough almost doubles in volume.

Combine the almonds, candied fruits and reserved raisins. Sprinkle them with 1 Tbs of flour and toss them about to coat them evenly.

With a single blow of your fist, punch the dough down in the bowl.

Add the fruit mixture and knead vigorously until it is more or less evenly distributed throughout the dough.

With a pastry brush, coat the bottom and sides of an empty can about 6 inches in diameter and 7 inches high (3 lb coffee can) with 2 Tbs. of softened butter. Spread 1 Tbs of butter over a sheet of heavy brown paper about 22 inches long and at least 10 inches wide, and line the can with it, unbuttered side against the metal. Cut out a circle of brown paper, slightly smaller than the diameter of can and coat 1 side of it with the remaining butter and place it in the bottom of the can, buttered side up. With scissor, slit the paper crown that extends above can down to the rim at 2 in intervals. Fold the resulting strips down and tie them snugly in place with cord.

Place the dough in the can, drape it with a kitchen towel and set aside in the draft-free place for about 30 mins, or until it rises almost to top of the can. Preheat oven to 400°F. and bake the cake on the lowest shelf for 15 mins. Reduce temperature to 350° and bake for one hour longer. The cake will mushroom over the top of the can to form a cap. Remove from the oven and cool in the can for about 5 mins.

To unmold the cake, turn the can on its side and remove the bottom with a can opener. Insert a long knife into the bottom of the can between the paper and metal and work the blade around the edge to loosen the cake. Gently set the tin upright and, with the knife, carefully loosen the "mushroom cap" from the sides of the can, taking care not to break the cap. Untie the cord. Pushing from the bottom of the can with one hand, gradually slide the cake out and place it up right on a wire cake rack.

Peel off paper.

WHITE ICING:

With a wooden spoon, mix together the sugar, water and lemon juice and pour it over the top of the warm cake, allowing it to run down the cake in thin streams.

The Russians prepare kulich for serving by first slicing off the mushroom-shaped cap and placing it in the center of a serving platter. The cake is cut in half lengthwise and finally cut crosswise into 1 ½ to 2-inch thick slices. The slices are then arranged around the top of the cap.

from my kitchen to------------------------------->yours..... Dan Klepach

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