How to make traditional Korovai wedding bread

Korovai (Ukraine), karavai (Russia) or kravai (Bulgaria) is a traditional wedding bread popular in Eastern-European countries. While recipes vary from one region to another, they all represent the same rich symbolism of the unity of two hearts in love. While some wedding korovai is made just for show, the Korovai recipe listed below is a sweet delicious dessert bread you’ll be happy to serve to wedding guests or make to celebrate an anniversary.

 

Korovai decorations

Korovai has been a central part of weddings for ages and symbolizes fertility and family happiness. The meanings or symbolism of Korovai decorations differ a little depending on who you talk to, but the gist of all the meanings revolve around fertility, prosperity, unity and long life. For instance, braids around the korovai symbolize eternity (everlasting life), and symbols like pine cones or wheat represent fertility. In Ukraine Korovai is eaten at the wedding and shared with the guests, so decorations are made of the same dough as the Korovai, but in many regions the decorations are not eaten.

Korovai recipe

This recipe makes a classic two-pound loaf, so if you plan to make a traditional two-tier korovai you will want to double it.

Ingredients for Main Dough:

• 4 5/8 cup all-purpose wheat flour
• 2 rounded teaspoons of Instant Yeast
• 9 ounces milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 tsp. orange zest
• 1 tbsp. rum
• Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
• 5 tbsp. melted butter

Decorative dough recipe

• 1 ¼ c. all-purpose wheat flour
• 2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream
• 3 ½ tbsp. water (a little more if needed)
• 1 pinch salt

 

Egg wash will be pale yellow

Egg wash

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1 pinch sugar

How to make Korovai

1. Measure out ingredients and allow them to reach room temperature
2. In a bowl, combine yeast, 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp. sugar and milk. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, use an electric whisk to beat eggs, salt, and sugar for about 5 minutes (mixture will be foamy and pale yellow). Fold eggs mixture into the dough starter.
4. In another bowl, mix vanilla bean seeds, lemon zest, orange zest, rum, and melted butter. Fold mixture into the dough starter until well combined.
5. Add remaining flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Place dough in a large bowl, and cover with plastic. Let rise at room temperature until double in size (will take 1 - 2 hours).
6. While dough is rising, make dough for decorations. (Instructions below)
7. Lightly butter 10" baking dish.
8. Divide dough into two equal portions. Shape one portion into a ball and place in center of the baking pan. Divide the second portion into 3 equal portions: roll each one into a 36-inch-long rope. Braid them and situate the braid around the ball on the baking pan leaving about 1/2" space between the ball and the braid.
9. Use a large bowl turned upside-down to cover and let rise at room temperature for about 1 hour.
10. While bread rises, shape decorations.

Instructions for Korovai decoration dough

Mix all ingredients and knead dough. Cover with plastic wrap and allow flour to hydrate for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

1. After an hour, the dough should be smooth and elastic. Work with small portions of dough at a time. While you do, keep the remainder of the dough covered with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out. As you shape each decorative element place them in a covered container.

Baking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. For the best results, use a baking stone and 12" clay cloche.
2. Make the egg wash and brush over bread dough.
3. Arrange decorative dough elements on bread and brush bread dough (2^nd time) and decorations with egg wash.
4. Bake covered by hot cloche for 45-50 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, wrap hot bread in a kitchen towel and let cool on cooling rack.

Korovai bread is basically a paska bread and can be a single layer (one round loaf), or two or three tiers with different size loafs stacked and decorated. Often the bride and groom have a second smaller korovai to bring with them to their new home.

Photo credits: Wikimedia, Wikimedia, flickr, wikimedia

Traditional Bride's Bread a Piece of Art

Before we had wedding cakes, people celebrated with wedding bread. I mentioned this in my post about the Evolution of the Wedding Cake Tradition and how the bread was thrown at the bride for good luck during the ceremony to encourage fertility! 

Later as this custom evolved, the groom broke the loaf over the bride’s head and showered her with crumbs for good luck. While many cultures transitioned from bread to sweet confections, wedding bread is still a beautiful tradition in places like Bulgaria, Russia, Ukrainia, Poland and Romania. When I say “beautiful,” I’m not just talking in a theoretical sense. This bread known as Russian karavay, Ukranian korovai, karavai, korowaj or kravai holds deep symbolic meaning, and unlike wedding cakes of today, can’t be bought (or at least not for those holding to tradition). 

Symbolic Meaning of Korovai Wedding Bread

For the sake of this post, I’ll choose the korovai spelling for this traditional bride’s bread. This ritual bread is the main symbol of the marriage ceremony no matter the order of events or the format of the wedding (church or civil). Its shape and decorations all hold symbolic meanings.

• Round shape represents the sun. In the ancient Slavic culture, the god of the son was the main deity and so the round loaf was one way to curry the sun god’s favor for a new family.
• Decorations adorning the loaf: Korovai loaves are decorated with dough decorations like leaves and flowers and traditionally included two rings or a pair of swans which represents loyalty in love. While it baked, wheat stalks and tiny viburnum twigs were added. The wheat symbolized prosperity and the viburnum represented love and children. And since the bread was thought to bring happiness, many times bigger was thought to be better because the larger the loaf the more happiness would be bestowed on the newlyweds.

Today, decorations include braided strips of dough, spiral shapes, and cutters are used to create flowers and heart shapes, and little bits of rolled dough form berries, along with other creative touches.

Eating Korovai

Traditionally the bride and groom were the first have a bite of the korovai, and then it was shared with all the guests. This distribution of bread to others represented sharing their happiness. As for the decorations, they were normally doled out to unmarried girls as a way to help fulfill their wish for family happiness in their own lives.

Who Makes the Bride’s Bread?

Traditionally, making korovai was a process that combined a number of ceremonies that could take days to complete. Singing songs and prayers were part of this ritual, and the use of specific tools like a traditional ceremonial millstone to grind the grain were all essentials. But besides the ceremonial rites and tools the thing that hasn’t changed is who makes the bride’s bread. The answer is: only married women…and not just married women, but married women who have children and strong family bonds. Only these women were trusted to make the dough because through the process it was thought that they were sharing their family happiness with the newlyweds..

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Photo credits: pixabay, mazovia.pl, garnek