Ingredients
6
oz almonds + some for garnishing
Directions
1.
Mix saffron with vodka and let stand.
2.
The aroma and colour of saffron will dissolve into vodka. Scald, peel, dry and finely grate almonds.
3.
Dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk.
4.
Add 400 ml flour, mix and let rise in a warm place.
5.
Batter will start to bubble when rising.
6.
Beat egg yolks (the number of yolks is irrelevant, add enough yolks to make mixture suitable for beating), sugar and vanilla sugar until pale and fluffy.
7.
Beat egg whites until stiff.
8.
When the bubbly surface of batter starts to descent, add salt, yolk mixture, egg whites, strained vodka, grated almonds and softened butter.
9.
Add enough flour to get a batter much thinner than regular yeast dough.
10.
The batter must not be too thick or hard.
11.
Line the bottom and sides of a tall, cylindrical cake mold with (buttered) parchment paper.
12.
You will probably need at least two molds.
13.
If you don't have a mold tall enough (about 15 - 20 cm), you can use any regular, large souffle mold and line it with parchment paper so that the paper forms a tall rim above the mold.
14.
Fill 1/4 molds with batter and let batter rise until it fills 3/4 of molds.
15.
Garnish batter surface with blanched whole almonds, glaze with egg wash and bake at 200 °C (390 °F) for about 1 hour.
16.
Watch the surface while baking.
17.
If it is getting very dark, cover it with foil to prevent it from burning.
18.
The kulichi are done, when a skewer inserted in the middle of them comes out clean.
19.
Let the kulichi cool down in their molds and then very carefully take them out and put on a wire rack.
20.
When kulichi are cool and firm, carefully slice them crosswise into disks, cut to wedges and serve spread with paskha.
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