Kulebyaka

Name: Kulebyaka
Prep time: 3 h 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 600 g plain flour; 10 g fresh yeast; 250 ml warm milk; 2 eggs; 100 g butter, melted; 1 tbsp sugar; 1 tsp salt; 800 g salmon or sturgeon fillet, skinned; salt; black pepper; juice of ½ lemon; 200 g rice, cooked; 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped; 1 bunch dill; 50 g butter; 400 g mushrooms, sliced; 2 onions, chopped; 50 g butter; 100 ml sour cream; 2 thin pancakes, optional; 1 egg, beaten; melted butter

Makes 8 servings

Units

Ingredients

Dough

600 gplain flour
10 gfresh yeast
250 mlwarm milk
2eggs
100 gbutter, melted
1 tbspsugar
1 tspsalt

Fish

800 gsalmon or sturgeon fillet, skinned
salt
black pepper
juice of ½ lemon

Rice layer

200 grice, cooked
3hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 bunchdill
50 gbutter

Mushroom layer

400 gmushrooms, sliced
2onions, chopped
50 gbutter
100 mlsour cream

Blini layer

2thin pancakes, optional

To finish

1egg, beaten
melted butter

Directions

Make a rich yeast dough with the flour, yeast, warm milk, eggs, melted butter, sugar and salt, knead it 10 minutes, and prove for 2 hours.
Cook the rice, chop the boiled eggs, and mix both with dill and butter, then cool completely. Fry the mushrooms and onions in butter until all their water has gone and they begin to brown, then stir in the sour cream and cool.
Cook the mushrooms genuinely dry before the cream goes in. Every layer must be completely cold before assembly. Warm fillings start cooking the dough from inside and it will not rise. Season the fish and cut it into thick slabs.
Roll two thirds of the dough into a large rectangle on a sheet of baking paper. It is a moisture barrier as much as a filling, and it is what keeps the fish juices off the pastry.
Bring the long sides of the dough up over the filling and pinch the seam closed along the top. Fold and seal the ends, then turn the whole thing over onto a tray so the seam is underneath.
Roll the remaining dough thin and cut decorations, then lay them over the top and brush everything with beaten egg. Cut two or three chimneys in the top with the point of a knife. Cut the vents. Prove for 30 minutes, until the dough looks puffed and the seam has settled.
Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 20 minutes, then drop to 175°C (345°F) for a further 35 to 40 minutes. Brush with melted butter as it comes out and rest it 20 minutes before cutting. Cut it in thick slices across, so each shows the full stack of layers.

Technique

The layering is the whole point. A kulebyaka with the fillings mixed together is a fish pie, not a kulebyaka.
Vyaziga, dried sturgeon spinal cord, was the traditional luxury layer and is essentially unobtainable now.
It is served hot with melted butter, or cold in slices with horseradish.

Substitutions

Salmon in place of sturgeon, which is what almost everyone uses.
Puff pastry rather than yeast dough, which is the French coulibiac approach.

Variations

With cabbage instead of fish, as a Lenten version.
With buckwheat in place of rice.
Coulibiac, the French adaptation, usually in puff pastry.

History

A large, elaborately layered pie, its filling typically combining fish, rice, mushroom, hard-boiled egg and dill wrapped in a rich yeasted or puff pastry dough, documented across Russia for many centuries as a dish specifically associated with formal, celebratory dining, historically prominent within Russian aristocratic and merchant-class cuisine before the Russian Revolution. Its elaborate, multi-layered construction, requiring several separately prepared fillings assembled carefully within a single large pastry, made kulebyaka historically a labor-intensive dish reserved for significant occasions and formal meals rather than routine everyday cooking. Kulebyaka remains one of the most elaborate and historically significant dishes within traditional Russian cuisine, closely associated with the country’s pre-revolutionary culinary heritage.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kulebyaka?

Kulebyaka is a bread & pastry from Russia: grand layered fish pie with rice, mushrooms. A large, elaborately layered pie, its filling typically combining fish, rice, mushroom, hard-boiled egg and dill wrapped in a rich yeasted or puff pastry dough, documented across Russia for many centuries as a dish specifically associated with formal, celebratory dining, historically prominent within Russian aristocratic and merchant-class cuisine before the Russian Revolution. Its elaborate, multi-layered construction, requiring several separately prepared fillings assembled carefully within a single large pastry, made kulebyaka historically a labor-intensive dish reserved for significant occasions and formal meals rather than routine everyday cooking. Kulebyaka remains one of the most elaborate and historically significant dishes within traditional Russian cuisine, closely associated with the country’s pre-revolutionary culinary heritage.

How long does Kulebyaka take to make?

Kulebyaka takes 1 hr 30 min plus 2 hr rising of preparation and 1 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Kulebyaka?

Yes, within limits. Salmon in place of sturgeon, which is what almost everyone uses. Puff pastry rather than yeast dough, which is the French coulibiac approach.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kulebyaka?

Cook the mushrooms genuinely dry before the cream goes in. Every layer must be completely cold before assembly. Warm fillings start cooking the dough from inside and it will not rise. Season the fish and cut it into thick slabs.