Thanks Yuri!
I look forward to making this treat!

There goes my diet.

Happy Easter!

I would just like to point out that I've seen Kim say numerous times that the average income means that half the people in Russia are earning less than $300, which is untrue. It would be true if the median income were $300. Averages can be skewed by high or low outliers, and the raw data of averages rarely reflect a 50/50 split.

I'm sorry Kim, but I didn't read your comment past the fact that "one can't find powdered sugar in Russia..." Tons of powdered sugar everywhere in USSR and in Russia. By the way - much better grocery stores than in America - more selection, variety, and everything is 24/7, not only in Moscow...

Yurik, ask mama or grandma to substitute butter milk for milk.

Magnifique.

I was just pointing out the difference between average and median, Kim. I was not defending anyone or anything, or trying to put forth any sort of agenda. You sure do get huffed up easily.

On a more pleasant note, I plan to try this recipe with my girlfriend. It looks a little like Amish friendship bread.

Looks great to me. Nice photo, and not only this one.
Hristos Voskrese! (Happy Easter!)

I have bought po'sug' in Tver. It was such an amazing experience, that I wrote about in my diary and wept--incidently, it goes well with fruit cake, Kim.

BTW, it has been my experience that Slavic women are proud of being the cooks--and really don't trust the men to get a bliny right, let alone a kuhlich.

"When you can find it, powdered sugar made from beet sugar turns out to be highly inferior to the cane variant."

Umm, no. Beet sugar and its powdered variant are both much sweeter than cane sugar. In that way, for example Americans are much poorer in sugar-purchasing parity since you need roughly 50% more cane sugar to equal the sweetness of beet sugar (try it in your coffee and see for yourself). However, the picture is much worse as most processed foods made in the US are sweetened with (high fructose) corn syrup, which is probably the leading cause of the diabetes epidemic in the US. An interesting fact is that almost all Coca Cola products sold in the US use HFCS as a sweetener, while this to my knowledge is not done with Coke products sold anywhere else. This is actually the reason for the noticeable difference in taste between European and American coke.

The reason why sugarcane continues to be the dominant sweetener-producing crop has as much to do with the lingering effects of imperialism (the vast majority of all sugarcane continues to be grown in the 3rd world), as it does for the fact that it has higher yields than beet sugar (and probably corn as well - the reason why corn is so cheap in the US is because of the massive farming subsidies there). However, claiming cane sugar as superior to beet sugar (and especially their powdered variants) is just culinary idiocy.

I lived in Petrozavodsk for more than three years and scoured grocery stores- no powdered sugar. If you use a coffee grinder, you can make your own.

I think that the Coke in Russia tastes better than in the States, and I attribute this to the use of beet sugar rather than corn syrup, a fact about which I am sure someone will correct me.

Well, Nick Slepko successfully purchased powdered cane sugar in Tver, Andy Young (Siberian Light) also mentioned that he found some in Irkutsk...but don't that let that get in the way of stumbling on a crazy rant about how there is no powdered sugar in Russia. :)

Happy Easter everyone!

The recipe for the kulich is a little confusing. The way it is posted sounds like the eggwhite/powdered sugar glaze goes on before the kulich is baked. The glaze actually goes on after the kulich is baked and cooled.

I went to Russian festival in Denver, Colorado and purchased a red platic form for making a Russian Easter cake, but it is not Kulich. It uses cream or cottage cheese, yolks of hard boiled eggs, raisins and a number of other ingrediants, but no flour. Have you heard of anything like this?
Cpacibo

This is a recipe for boolka(bun) not kulich.Real kulich is very rich, fragrant and actually rather heavy. Kulich has more eggs, butter, never margarine, sugar, vanilla bean, cardamon, saffron. Also, you do not cut kulich vertically. Start cutting from the bottom, the rounds, so you still have the shape of kulich. You also serve it with Paskha, sweet cream cheese. It is a tradition.
I guess, in Russia,before perestroika, it was not encouraged to celebrate the religious holidays, such as Pasha(Easter) or Christmas, so people did not have the authentic recipies.
Regards

Hi Yuri! I'm from Adelaide, Australia and today (Good Friday) my husband and I made our first kulich! Our Ukrainian neighbour helped us - it took 31/2 hours but was worth it! I cant wait to share it with my husband's family on Easter Sunday.