Kulich - Russian Easter Bread
March 31, 2007 by Ellen
My mother makes Kulich (Russian Easter Bread) and Seerney Paska (a yummy sweet cheese, cream spread) every Easter. The white pyramid looking thing with the cross on it is the Seerney Paska. I don’t have a special mold so mine looks like a rounded dome. I’m including a recipe for the spread and a link to a recipe for Kulich. We eat the bread with the paska or slather it with sour-cream. My mom’s is the best and we’ve documented how she makes it and hopefully we’ll continue the tradition. You use empty, clean, 1 or 2 lb. coffee tins to bake the bread in.
Update for Easter 2008 ~ I’ll be adding my mother’s recipe for Kulich before Easter this year. Click here for the recipe.
Seerney Paska
Ingredients: 18 - hard boiled eggs / 3 pounds Farmers cheese / 1 pint whipping cream / 3 cubes unsalted butter (12 oz.) / 3 cups sugar /
Press the Farmers cheese through a sieve. (This is the hardest part of the recipe) I usually use a wooden spoon and press it through a wire strainer a little at a time. Separate the egg yolks from the whites. (You will not be using the whites). Press the egg yolks through the sieve. Cream the sugar and butter together. Beat in the egg yolks. Beat in the cheese. Add whipping cream and mix well. You will place the mixture into a strainer lined with about 3 layers of cheesecloth. You will need enough cheesecloth to wrap up and over the top of the cheese. Place the cheese mixture into the cheese cloth lined strainer. Bring the ends of the cheese cloth up and tie the ends on top of the cheese in a knot. Place the sieve into a larger bowl suspended with enough room for the cheese to drain without sitting in the drained liquid. Place a plate on top of the cheese an place a heavy rock, brick, or other weight on top of the plate. Refrigerate over night.
Update: I just got this brilliant tip from another blogger. You can use a clean terra-cotta pot to mold your paska in. Place the cheese mixture with the cheesecloth in the terra-cotta pot (Hurray, it has a ready made hole in the bottom for the liquid to drain out of) Place a weight on the top. Set the pot on another bowl or saucer that allows the liquid to drain without the pot sitting in the liquid.
New tip: Use a potatoe ricer instead of a wire strainer for the egg yolks.
Update #2: This Seerney Paska recipe is for a huge amount (enough for my huge extended family). If you just want a normal amount, cut the recipe in thirds. (6 cooked egg yolks, 1-lb. cheese, 2/3 cup whipping cream, 1 cube butter and 1 cup sugar. Enjoy!
Update #3: I used a terra-cotta pot and a rounded sieve to drain and form the cheese in. I prefer the sieve method over the terra-cotta pot. The pot absorbed most of the liquid and kept the cheese more moist than I prefer. It was still good but moist. I might try a plastic flower pot next year.
Tip #2: If you don’t get around to baking Kulich you can substitute a good Panettone for the bread. Hard to find this time of year because most stores stock it at Christmas, not Easter. If you are fortunate to have a Italian food store near you they seem to stock it year round. I bought the most plain one I could find (not easy) It had raisens and candied orange and lemon bits in it. It was a good substitute nevertheless!
ht: Vera Titov/Nadia Bagdanov ~ recipe for Seerney Paska
http://www.myhouseandgarden.com/recipes/Kulich.JPG http://www.russiablog.org/kulich1.jpg upload.wikipedia.org/…/3/3a/Pashka_sauna.jpg www.passions.ru/cooking/pic/kulich.jpg
What fun! I didn’t realize Russian Easter bread was eaten with Seerney Paska. We’ve baked Kulich at Easter in the past, in large coffee tins. Is that how your mother makes it? It’s delicious. Maybe I’ll try it again this year. Thanks for the recipe!!! :~)
Hi emom,
Yes, my mother saves those coffee cans. She makes huge batches so she can give one to each of us kids and husbands/wives and then smaller ones for all her grandkids. Since we moved to Washington they ship us our bread overnight! I’ve mastered the seerney paska but haven’t quite done the bread on my own. I’ll have to do that one of these years. So happy to hear of another blogger that knows about Kulich!
Our daughters remember and talk about this!
I’ve managed to make a Russian Black bread that we all enjoy, but haven’t tried Kulich–I’m a bit “cooking challenged”!
I’ve found kulich at Russian delicatessans sometimes european deli’s here in the Seattle area that sell ready made kulich. They aren’t as good as mom’s! I’m pretty challenged in the bread dept., myself.
My grandmother acquired these recipes back in the 1920’s when she lived in Europe. She made then every year I can recall until I took over the responsibility when she was in her 90’s.
My daughter, now almost 17, will make these with me today and we’ll share with our family, including my mother (the “cooking” challenged generation in our family) on Sunday.
I’m glad to see that we are in good company!
My sister and I are going to start making our own kulich starting next year (Lord willing). We’re making seerney paska today. It’s time for us to carry on the tradition. Thanks for stopping by Meghan. Happy Easter to you.
Connie - I would love to see your Russian black bread recipe!! I love it and can’t find a good recipe anywhere…
I just finished my Easter Cheese an hour ago - hopefully it will set by Sunday morning!
Thank you for sharing the Seerney Paska recipe, but I was wonder if you could be more specific about how much three cubes of butter is. Are you meaning sticks?
erin, Yes sticks!