Step aside, panettone: there’s a new festive bake in town. Let Olia Hercules introduce you to kolach, a traditional Ukrainian braided loaf enjoyed on Christmas Day, studded with citrussy mixed peel, sprinkled with poppy seeds and baked with love
PHOTOGRAPHS JOE WOODHOUSE
Olia Hercules is a London-based chef and food writer who in 2022, together with food writer Alissa Timoshkina, started the Cook for Ukraine campaign, which uses the language of food to educate, raise awareness and make the colossal humanitarian crisis now unfolding in Ukraine something we can all support and relate to. For more information and to donate, visit cookforukraine.org
There are so many kolach recipes. Ones with the dough made with crème fraîche, ones enriched with butter and ones that use just water. Something they all have in common is the shape – a plait joined at both ends to create a ‘kolo’ (circle), which is symbolic of the sun, life and eternity.
Kolach can be plain or it can have many additions. I’m using mixed peel here, but you can add anything you like: raisins and chopped dried apricots, soaked in either rum, sherry, tea or juice; toasted nuts; even crystallised ginger, which isn’t traditional, but I think anything you love that means Christmas to you is a good call. I encourage people to cook Ukrainian recipes but to inject something personal, especially during a special time like Christmas. You can sprinkle the top with any seeds you have at home – sunflower, pumpkin, linseeds – they all feel very Ukrainian and also universal. I thought I made this recipe up quite randomly, but then I realised the poppy seeds and mixed peel must have been influenced by my time here in the UK.
In Ukraine we eat kolach just as it is, but my British husband loves it toasted the next day with a little bit of lightly salted butter. Sliced, it freezes well, but I doubt you’ll have any leftovers. If you do, kolach is amazing in a bread and butter pudding.
Ukrainian kolach
Serves 8-10 Hands-on time 40 min, plus overnight resting and up to 2¼ hours proving
Oven time 40 min
MAKE AHEAD The kolach is best on the day it’s baked but will keep in an airtight container for a few days. Alternatively, slice, wrap and freeze for up to a month.
BE A BETTER COOK A poolish is a version of a sourdough starter but much quicker, requiring only an overnight ferment. It encourages gluten to form in the final product and adds body and depth of flavour to bakes.
KNOW-HOW Strong or plain white flour will both make an excellent kolach. Strong flour will make it more bready; plain flour more cakey.
OLIA’S TIP M
