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This Russian sweet Easter bread made from yeast dough and choux pastry is incredibly moist, fluffy and aromatic. It is ideal for Easter brunch with the family or as a homemade Easter gift from the kitchen. You can find a detailed choux pastry kulich recipe with the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions below.
Yeast choux pastry kulich
The secret of this kulich is that it consists of a mixture of yeast dough and choux pastry. One portion of flour is mixed with hot milk. Another portion of flour is used to make the pre-dough with yeast. The two doughs are then mixed together and kneaded with the remaining ingredients to form a yeast dough.
This method of preparation gives the kulich a really moist and fluffy consistency after baking. The dough for the pryaniki “Nezhenka”, peppermint pryaniki, vegetarian pelmeni and strawberry vareniki is made in a similar way.
How to decorate choux pastry kulich?
Russian Easter bread is traditionally decorated with royal icing. You can prepare it according to the classic kulich recipe.
Alternatively, you can cover the choux pastry kulich with a sugar icing made from milk, butter and powdered sugar. This is how I did it with my kulich with quark and kulich with sour cream.
This time I decorated the choux pastry Easter bread with the Italian meringue. You can prepare the meringue according to my sun cake recipe, for example. I have reduced the quantities here for two egg whites.
You can also simply sprinkle the choux pastry kulich with powdered sugar. That’s what I did with my puff pastry kulich.
Refined with a citrus note
I have refined this choux pastry kulich with fresh orange and lemon zest, just like the nut and poppy seed plait, the orange roll wreath with pudding or the maritozzi. This has given it a refreshing citrus note. It also makes the Easter bread particularly aromatic.
This Russian Easter bread is
- fluffy,
- moist,
- soft,
- incredibly tasty,
- fragrant,
- with a mixture of yeast dough and choux pastry,
- with a citrus flavor and aroma,
- decorated with Italian meringue,
- easy to make with a certain amount of time,
- an eye-catcher on the Easter table,
- ideal as an Easter gift.
How to make choux pastry kulich: tips and tricks
- You can add any dried fruits, candied orange peel or candied lemon peel to the yeast dough.
- The amount of flour specified in the recipe may vary. Only add enough of the last portion of flour to make a soft, sticky yeast dough. It must never become too firm.
- To bake the kulichi, I used two high kulich springform tins, which were 12 cm and 14 cm in diameter respectively.
- Depending on the size of your baking tins, the baking time given in the recipe may vary considerably.
- Do not bake the kulichi longer than necessary so that they taste moist and not dry. Test with a skewer to check whether they are done baking.
- Instead of decorating with the Italian meringue, you can cover the Easter breads with the royal icing or a sugar icing or dust them with powdered sugar.
Have you made the choux pastry kulich using this recipe? I look forward to your result, your star rating and your comment below on how it turned out and how you liked it.
Try these Easter recipes too:
- Easter bread wreath with marzipan & almonds – simple recipe
- Braided Easter bread vegan – easy eggless sweet yeast bread recipe
- How to make Easter cookies “fried egg”: recipe with lemon curd
Choux pastry kulich
Equipment
- Ø 12 cm kulich baking tin approx. 10 cm high
- Ø 14 cm kulich baking tin approx. 12 cm high
Ingredients
for the choux pastry
- 150 ml milk
- 100 g flour
for the pre-dough
- 100 g cream lukewarm
- 30 g flour
- 25 g fresh yeast
- 10 g sugar
for the dough
- 150 g butter
- 170 g sugar
- 3 eggs room warm
- approx. 450 g flour
- 70 g prunes
- 60 g raisins
- zest of 2 organic oranges
- zest of 1 organic lemon
- 1/4 tsp ground vanilla bean
- 1/2 tsp salt
- vegetable oil to grease the baking tins
for decorating (alternative)
- Italian meringue according to this recipe (with quantities for 2 egg whites)
Instructions
Preparation of the choux pastry
- Bring milk to a boil very briefly and remove from the heat.
- Quickly and thoroughly stir flour into the hot milk to form a firm dough.
- Leave the choux pastry to cool to lukewarm.
Preparation of the pre-dough
- Dissolve fresh yeast and sugar in lukewarm cream.
- Add flour and mix to a homogeneous mass.
- Cover the pre-dough and leave to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Preparation of the dough
- Add the choux pastry to the pre-dough, mix to form a homogeneous, sticky dough and leave to rise, covered, in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- Melt butter and leave to cool to lukewarm.
- Separate egg whites from egg yolks.
- Beat the egg yolks with sugar to a creamy, light-colored mixture.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff.
- Add the melted butter, egg yolk mixture, vanilla and salt to the dough and mix.
- Fold the egg white mixture into the dough mixture.
- Add flour in portions and knead into a soft, sticky dough.
- Then knead the dough for approx. 10 minutes and leave it to rise, covered, in a warm place for 1.5 hours.
- Pour hot water over raisins, leave to stand for 10 minutes and then drain thoroughly.
- Cut prunes into small cubes.
- Knead the raisins, the prunes, orange and lemon zest into the yeast dough.
- Grease the kulich baking tins with vegetable oil and fill them about 1/3 full with the dough.
- Leave the kulichi to rise in a warm place for 1.5 hours.
- Bake the Easter breads in a preheated oven at 356 °F (180 °C) on the second shelf from the bottom for approx. 35 minutes in the smaller tin and approx. 45 minutes in the large tin. Cover them with baking paper after approx. 20 minutes to prevent the surface from burning.
- Leave the kulichi to cool slightly in the baking tins, then carefully remove them and leave them to cool completely.
- Decorate the Easter breads with Italian meringue or alternatively with sugar icing.
Notes
- You can add any dried fruits, candied orange peel or candied lemon peel to the yeast dough.
- The amount of flour specified may vary. Only add enough of the last portion of flour to make a soft, sticky yeast dough. It must never become too firm.
- To bake the kulichi, I used two high kulich springform tins, which were 12 cm and 14 cm in diameter respectively.
- Depending on the size of your baking tins, the baking time given may vary considerably.
- Do not bake the kulichi longer than necessary so that they taste moist and not dry. Test with a skewer to check whether they are done baking.
- The time for decorating the Easter breads is not included in the preparation time.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the choux pastry kulichi at the top of the article.
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