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Bozhichni kolach (Christmas Bread)

Bread:

• 8 cups flour
• 4 tsp. yeast
• 2 cups milk
• 4 yolks (reserve the whites)
• 4 tbs. sugar
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. salt

To get the right shape, bake this bread in a one-gallon saucepan or pot that’s narrow, round, and straight-sided, with ovenproof handles. The best utensil I’ve found is a stoneware crock liner from an electric slow cooker.

Warm the milk to 105º or until it feels warm, but not hot. If it’s too hot, it’ll kill the yeast, and your kolach won’t rise.

Dissolve the yeast into a small amount of the milk, then gradually stir in the rest of the milk and the sugar. Let stand 10 minutes.

Mix in the remaining ingredients and knead well, to make a fairly stiff, stretchy dough that pulls clean from your fingers. If it’s too stiff, add milk as needed. Put in a greased bowl. Spray with vegetable oil. Cover. Set to rise in a warm place, at least one hour. Test by pressing the center lightly: if it springs back, it has more rising to do.

Punch down and knead just enough to work out any big creases. Pinch off about half a cup of dough and set aside for decorations. Butter the baking pot well, put the dough inside, and let rise again. Meanwhile, make the dough sculptures and decorate the bread with them.

Decorations:

• 1/2 to 1 cup dough, pinched off from bread
• 2 tbs. flour
• A little milk
• 1 yolk
• Egg whites (left over from bread), beaten slightly
• Sprig of fresh basil
• Red ribbon or thread
• Assorted nuts in the shell

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, yolk, and enough milk to make a dense, pliable lump of sculpting dough. This dough won’t rise while baking, so it’ll retain any shapes you mold it into, or carve into it.

Pinch off some sculpting dough and roll two long cylinders thinner than a drinking straw. With a rolling pin, flatten them into ribbons. Make them two inches longer than the kolac is wide. Dip them in egg white and arrange in a cross over the top, forming four quadrants.

Roll a third cylinder, this one about two-thirds the length needed to encircle the bread. Flatten it, rolling out to the right length. Dip in egg white and rope it around the bread.

For an alternative to a plain band that encircles the bread, try my grandmother's specialty: an elegant fringe. Roll the band to 1" wide. Use a paring knife to cut fringes 3/4" long and about 1/4" wide. Dip in egg white and place on bread. With the tip of a paring knife, bend back every other fringe 180º, flat against the bread.

Use the reserved bread dough and the rest of your sculpting dough to make shapes that represent things meaningful to each member of your household. Keep in mind these properties as you form your sculptures: the bread dough will rise; the sculpting dough will keep whatever shape you give it. Think of it as a mixed media project. Tip: bread dough barrels are fun to eat!

Dip your sculpting dough objects in egg white before placing on bread. The egg white will glue them in place, and will be glossy when baked. But don’t dip your bread dough objects in egg white: they’ll slip off the bread.

When you’re done, brush top lightly with egg white--sculptures and all. Bake at 400º for 10 minutes, then cover loosely with a sheet of foil folded into an inverted V. Turn down heat to 350º and bake 60 to 80 minutes more. Bread is done when a light thump produces a hollow sound. Let partly cool, then carefully turn it out into a dishcloth.

On a platter, arrange nuts in a ring around the bread. (Some people balance the bread on three red apples, and cover the platter straw, hay, and dried grains; some surround the bread with fruits instead of nuts.) Lay the basil, tied in the ribbon, on top.

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