Baking Day 3, continued: Russian Easter Bread
I am not Russian, nor is it Easter. Nevertheless, yesterday I baked up some Russian Easter Bread from a recipe I found in the April 2004 issue of Gourmet. One is encouraged to bake the loaves in coffee cans, an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I had just made fun of my boyfriend for retaining all his old Maxwell House containers in case they might be put to future use for some obscure purpose, and here was an obscure purpose if I ever saw one! I ate humble pie and asked him if I could borrow some of his beloved cans for a day. He said yes but that he wanted them back when I was done.
The bread itself is straightforward; it's eggy and slightly sweet like challah, and can be braided into pretty shapes. The recipe calls for saffron, but I skipped it because we didn't have any. I baked the loaf on the left in a casserole dish after becoming paranoid that I would not be able to remove the other loaf from the coffee can after it came out of the oven. The can has a weird lip that juts out around the top rim (not sure whether all coffee cans have this, or just Maxwell House), so I assumed (correctly) that the bread would rise all around the lip as it baked and get stuck inside. My mom pointed out very sensibly that if all else failed, I could just flip the canister over and use a can opener around the bottom, then pop it out. She was exactly right, and this is how I retrieved the loaf. Sadly, this meant that one of Randy's cans would never make it back alive to him.
My parents' senile cat Sherman loves nothing more than to park himself in the most inconvenient spot in the middle of the kitchen floor whenever I try to cook.
The coffee can gave the loaf a very cute, perky shape, although it seemed to start sagging a bit as it cooled on the rack. I'm not sure how much it would have deflated if left to its own devices, because my grandma and I tore into the loaf while it was still hot. It's very tasty bread - flaky and rich, and it makes great toast.
The bread itself is straightforward; it's eggy and slightly sweet like challah, and can be braided into pretty shapes. The recipe calls for saffron, but I skipped it because we didn't have any. I baked the loaf on the left in a casserole dish after becoming paranoid that I would not be able to remove the other loaf from the coffee can after it came out of the oven. The can has a weird lip that juts out around the top rim (not sure whether all coffee cans have this, or just Maxwell House), so I assumed (correctly) that the bread would rise all around the lip as it baked and get stuck inside. My mom pointed out very sensibly that if all else failed, I could just flip the canister over and use a can opener around the bottom, then pop it out. She was exactly right, and this is how I retrieved the loaf. Sadly, this meant that one of Randy's cans would never make it back alive to him.
My parents' senile cat Sherman loves nothing more than to park himself in the most inconvenient spot in the middle of the kitchen floor whenever I try to cook.
The coffee can gave the loaf a very cute, perky shape, although it seemed to start sagging a bit as it cooled on the rack. I'm not sure how much it would have deflated if left to its own devices, because my grandma and I tore into the loaf while it was still hot. It's very tasty bread - flaky and rich, and it makes great toast.
posted by cindym at 9:45 AM
4 Comments:
what is the recipe for the Russian Easter Bread?
You can find it on Epicurious right here:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/109326
Thanks!
my grandmar makes it the same way shes russian i showed her this she says the cans work beter 2nd tme round you can reuse them by puting grease proof paper and puting them on a flat baking tray let them cool before pushing them out goes great with ester chese cake (plain chese cake with rasins)
From my Ukrainian heritage I've learned some of the tricks for the Babka(Easter Bread). The women would allow the dough to rise in the cans surrounded by pillows, and no one was allowed in the rising area for fear of this delicate bread falling. Once the bread was baked, it rested in the can for about 10mins.
When removing the bread from the cans they would slide the bread out on to a cloth covered pillow to cool sideways, slowly and gently turning the bread to cool evenly. If the bread is left to cool on a hard surface or a rack, the weight of the bread will deflate itself by our breadmaking enemy;gravity. Hope this helps. Good luck.
Post a Comment
<< Home