The kalach bread is a favorite with both the ordinary townspeople and tsars. It is a fancy white bread designed with a twist. The bread was one of Empress Catherine The Great's favorites. The circular shape of the bread has one part being thinner and another part being thicker. The thinner part is referred to as the "handle". From eating kalachi, the saying "go down to the handle" was created. It means hitting rock bottom because workers would hold the "handle" with their dirty hand while eating the rest of the bread, then toss the handle into the garbage. Only impoverish people would eat the dirty handles. It is baked using snowy white flour. The main attribute of the roll is it is repeatedly kneaded long and hard in a cool place. The most famous types of kalach were "moskovsky" (from Moscow) and "muromsky" (from Murom, Vladmir Region).
RECIPE
Ingredients:
1 tsp Sugar 1 c Water, Lukewarm 2 pk Dry Yeast 3 tbsp Sugar 2 c Milk (About 110 Degrees F.) 2 lg Eggs 1 tbsp Salt 2 tbsp Oil 8 c Unbleached Flour More 1 lg Egg Beaten With 1 tbsp Water For Glaze 2 tbsp Dry Poppy Seeds |
§ Step1
Sift half of the requited amount of flour, put it into a big bowl and thoroughly mix with warm (38–40 °С) milk and yeast. Cover the bowl with a towel, put it in a warm place without draughts and leave it to rise for 30–60 minutes. § Step2 Add into the leavened dough remaining sifted flour, salt, sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls of melted butter, an egg and one yolk. Knead dough for at least 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a towel; put it in a warm place without draughts and leave to rise for an hour or an hour and a half. § Step3 After the dough has risen for the first time, press it down slightly: with a few light movements with an open palm press it down to get rid of surplus of gases. There should be no less than two of such rises and pressings, with around an hour and a half in between them. § Step4 Divide ready dough into 3 or 4 parts. Roll each part into an oval 1 cm thick. On the one side of the oval cut out an arch 2 cm wide from the edge. § Step5 Grease the derived “tongue” with remaining drawn butter and bend it onto the other side of a kalach. § Step6 Put Kalachi on a baking sheet, grease the surface with remained yolk, leave it for proof for 20–30 minutes, and then bake in the oven heated up to 200 °С till ready. It will take 20 to 30 minutes. Use a little wooden stick or a match to check its readiness: stick it into a kalach and remove – if it is dry the buns are ready. |
Sources:
http://russia-ic.com/culture_art/cuisine/1267/#.WUQGtxiZORs
http://www.russiancuisine.us/node/1359
http://russia-ic.com/culture_art/cuisine/1267/#.WUQGtxiZORs
http://www.russiancuisine.us/node/1359