Kulich

Make it step by step

1. Crumble the saffron into a small bowl, pour on the tablespoon of boiling water and leave to steep for 20 minutes, until the liquid is deep orange.
2. Put the raisins in another bowl with the rum or orange juice and leave them to soak alongside.
3. Whisk the yeast into the lukewarm milk, then stir in the 100g of flour and the 20g of sugar for the sponge to make a thick batter.
4. Cover and stand at around 24C/75F for 45-60 minutes, until domed and bubbling right through.
5. The sponge exists to get the yeast working in a light unenriched mixture first. Put the butter, sugar and yolks in at the start and the yeast barely moves at all.
6. Drain the raisins, keeping the soaking liquid, and pat them dry on kitchen paper.
7. Beat the egg yolks, whole egg, the 150g of sugar for the dough, the salt, vanilla, lemon zest, the saffron liquid and the reserved raisin soaking liquid together.
8. Add this to the sponge with the 400g of flour for the dough and mix to a soft dough.
9. Knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic and a stretched corner goes thin enough to see light through before it tears.
10. Now add the softened butter, 25g at a time, kneading each piece fully in before the next. The dough will slacken and look broken; this is expected.
11. Allow 10-15 minutes for the butter by hand. Do not add flour to firm it up — the slackness passes as the gluten reorganises around the fat, and extra flour gives a dry, bready kulich.
12. Knead in the drained raisins briefly, just until distributed, so they stay whole.
13. Cover and prove at around 24C/75F for 2-3 hours, until doubled. Judge it by size, not by the clock; an enriched dough runs to its own timetable.
14. Butter two 12cm paper baking moulds, or line two clean 1kg tins with parchment, bringing the collar 5cm above the rim.
15. Knock the dough back, divide it in two and shape each half into a tight ball, then drop one into each mould.
16. Fill the moulds no more than half full. A kulich rises tall, and dough that reaches the rim before baking slumps out sideways in the oven.
17. Prove for a further 1.5-2 hours, until the dough has risen to about 2cm below the top of the mould.
18. Heat the oven to 180C/350F.
19. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Lay a sheet of foil loosely over the tops after about 20 minutes, once they are deep brown — the sugar and yolk colour long before the centre is cooked.
20. Check the centre with a thermometer: 92C/198F.
21. Lay each kulich on its side on a folded cloth and turn it a quarter every 10 minutes as it cools. A tall enriched crumb is fragile while hot and compresses under its own weight if left standing upright.
22. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
23. Whisk the egg white to a loose foam, then beat in the icing sugar and lemon juice to a thick pouring consistency.
24. Stand the cooled kulich upright and pour the glaze over the top so that it spreads across and runs a little way down the sides.
25. Leave for an hour, until the glaze has set to a firm matt shell.
26. Cut across into discs, and replace the glazed top as a lid between servings.