Homemade Easter Kulich

Weigh all ingredients in advance — this will save time when kneading the dough.

Pour 12 g of yeast and half a cup of flour into a warm glass of milk. Mix well and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Add 30 g of sunflower oil to the starter.

Add 70 g of butter.

Add 250 g of sugar.

Add 180 g of sour cream.

Add 3 eggs.

Add another 12 g of yeast.

Pour in the remaining milk so that a total of 500 ml is used.

Mix well. Add 16 g of vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix again.

Sift the flour. Begin gradually adding 1 kg of flour while constantly stirring.

Add steamed raisins or poppy seeds and 2 tablespoons of vodka.

Mix in another 400 g of flour. At this stage, you can use a mixer or dough mixer.

Add flour gradually, monitoring the consistency. The dough should be soft and non-sticky. You may need an additional 100–150 g of flour.

Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise for 2 hours.

When the dough has risen, punch it down and let it rise again, or proceed directly to shaping.

Roll the dough into balls and place them in kulich molds so that they occupy no more than one-third of the mold's volume.

Cover with a towel and let it rise for another 20–30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Bake kulichs of the same size together: large — 40 minutes, medium — 20–30 minutes, small — 20 minutes.

Remove the kulich cakes from the oven, cover them with a towel and let cool.

After the kulich has completely cooled, coat with glaze and decorate as desired.