Simple Recipe for a Fluffy Romanian Cozonac

A simple recipe for a fluffy sweet bread with walnuts and Turkish Delight.

Servings: 2x cozonac

ingredients

For the dough

• 1 kg of 000 flour
• 50g fresh yeast or 14g dry yeast
• 350ml warm milk
• 250g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 150ml oil or 100ml oil and 100g unt melted
• 3 sachetsvanilla sugar or two teaspoons of vanilla extract or a vanilla pod
• the zest from 2 lemons and an orange
• 15g high

For the filling

• 300g Turkish delight
• 150g nut
• 100g sugar
• 50g cacao

In plus

• 1 yolk
• 50ml milk

Method

I warmed the milk slightly (do not let it be hot!) - prepare 400ml, but first put 350ml into the dough and keep 50ml (if the dough is too hard - it depends on the flour). I took the eggs out of the fridge a few hours before. The flour had to be brought from the pantry to warm up and come to room temperature. The flour must be white (000), of good quality and must be sifted before starting work.

Don't forget to weigh the salt! In the bakery, 2% salt is added compared to the amount of flour, so, in our case, it would be about 20g of salt (about 4 grated teaspoons). I advise you to put 15g of salt (I put 20g but don't think it's too salty). Don't skimp on salt because it gives flavor to sweets too!

I washed the citrus fruits well with hot water and wiped them. Then I finely grated their peel (2 lemons + 1 orange). If you have grated lemon or orange peel put 2 teaspoons of the first and one of the second.

I lightly fried the walnut kernel in a pan and then ground it. Thus its flavor is intensified.

We can get down to business!

How to make the yeast for the traditional cozonac?

First I spread the yeast in a small bowl together with a teaspoon of sugar (taken from the weighed one) and 100ml of milk (from the weighed ones). I rubbed it well with the spoon and sprinkled it with a little flour (taken from the weighed one). I set it aside to activate (10 minutes). If you have dry yeast, do the same with it: pour 100ml of warm milk into the bowl, put a teaspoon of sugar, sprinkle the dry yeast and mix. Sprinkle a little flour on top and wait 10 min. After this time mix well and move on to the next steps of the recipe.

How to knead the cozonac- step 1

In the bowl of the mixer (or in a large bowl) I put the 4 whole eggs. Yes, egg whites and yolks are also used in this recipe. On top of them I added the rest of the sugar as well as the vanilla (I put 3 sachets of vanilla sugar). I started the mixer and mixed the eggs for 5 minutes. They must become foamy and light-colored. If you don't have a robot, you can use a classic hand whisk.

I replaced the whisk with a mixing paddle (the triangular one or a wooden spoon if you work by hand) and added to the bowl: mayo, the rest of the milk, grated lemon and orange peel and 500 g of flour.

I mixed everything approx. 5 minutes. The dough is thin, like pancakes.

Stage 2

I put the rest of the flour together with the salt. I changed the attachment of the robot with the special hook for kneading. If you work by hand then it's time to roll up your sleeves.

I set the timer for 10 minutes to knead this dough (at speed 2).

For now it is sticky, but it will become smooth after we continue kneading it. After 10 minutes mine looks like this. I took it down from the hook and covered it with a plastic sheet. I let him rest for 10 minutes. And the robot needs a break.

Stage 3

Now comes the incorporation of the fat. In Monica's recipe, only oil appears, but you can also make a mix of 100ml of oil and 100g of melted butter. I stuck to her recipe. I restarted kneading the dough and poured a little oil, in 3-4 stages. Do not pour the next portion until the previous one is incorporated! I also scraped the walls of the bowl with a scraper so that the dough wouldn't stick to them.

This kneading stage lasts approx. 20 minutes, so be mentally prepared, especially if you knead by hand. In this stage, the gluten network develops from the flour, i.e. those long-loved strands that give elasticity to the dough are formed.

In the end, the dough became elastic and smooth, non-sticky.

THE FIRST FERMENTATION OF THE DOUGH FOR FLUFFY SWEET BREAD

With my palms greased with a little oil, I gave it the shape of a ball (I pulled the corners over the middle and then turned the dough with the smooth side up) and prepared it for leavening. I put the whole bowl in a big plastic bag that I closed as best as possible. It is more efficient than the cotton cloth because it does not allow the surface of the dough to dry.

I preheated the oven to 50 C and then switched it off. I put the bowl with dough in the warm oven and closed its door. I left it to ferment for 30-40 minutes. It grew up beautifully!

I turned the dough onto the lightly oiled table and stretched it into a rectangle 1 finger thick. This stage is called degassing. A hissing sound is heard - the gases formed by fermentation come out.

I first folded the dough in 3, bringing the side edges over the middle third. I obtained a longer rectangle whose ends I brought over the middle part. In international bakery parlance, this maneuver is called "stretch and fold" and has a crucial role in strengthening the structure of the dough - that is, it leads to the formation of those blades, twists or curds that everyone is looking for in the core of buns or bread.

I covered the dough with plastic and let it rest for 10 minutes on the work table.

How to divide the dough for muffins?

I weighed the piece of dough: 2000 g. I divided it into equal portions of 500 g each. Check with the scale! I shaped each portion into a ball and placed it on a lightly oiled work table.

Do you see how small it is on the surface? This is what a well-made bun dough looks like.

After each maneuver, the dough needs 10 minutes of rest, so I covered the balls with plastic and left them for a while.

HOW DO YOU MAKE THE FILLING FOR COZONAC WITH WALNUTS, TURKISH DELIGHT AND COCOA?

I cut the Turkish delight into pieces using a wooden plank dusted liberally with powdered sugar. I rolled every piece of Turkish delight well through this sugar. This way the cut pieces of Turkish delight will not stick together. I ground the roasted and cooled walnut. In a bowl, I mixed the powdered sugar with the cocoa.

Monica told us that her mother sprinkles sugar, cocoa and dried walnuts on the dough. If you want, you can scald them with a little hot milk and make a cream. There is also the version with egg white (raw) that you can apply, especially since we need 1 yolk to grease the cakes and you can use that white.

I decided to mix ground walnut with cocoa and sugar to make it easier for me when I fill the dough. You can mix cocoa with sugar and walnuts and moisten them with 2-3 spoons of warm milk.

HOW IS THE COZONAC FILLED AND BRAIDED?

From now on, the job is done! I took a ball of dough one at a time and stretched it in the shape of a rectangle (it should be longer - approx. 40 cm x 25 cm). On top I sprinkled 1/4 of the cocoa, sugar and walnut mix and distributed 1/4 of the Turkish Delight.

Then I rolled not very tightly forming a roll. Since the filling is dry, it tends to come out on the ends and dirty the table. It would be good to fold 1 cm of dough to the left and right to keep the filling inside.

In addition, the table must be cleaned of the cocoa spread before starting the next roll (so as not to stain its exterior). I got 4 rolls that I braided two by two. Do not tighten the curls, leave them looser! 2-3 loops are enough for each bun.

SECOND FERMENTATION OF THE DOUGH FOR FLUFFY COZONACI

I prepared my Cozonac's tins and lined them with baking paper. I carefully placed the braided buns in them. They must occupy max. 3/4 of the height of the shape.

I put the shapes in closed plastic bags and put them back in the oven, to leaven. Likewise, the oven was preheated to 50 C and then switched off. I left the cakes to rise for 1.5 hours. They grew wonderfully, rising beyond the edge of the forms.

I put them back in the bags until the oven heats up.

HOW DOES THE COZONAC BAKE? AT WHAT TEMPERATURE, ON WHAT RAIL AND FOR HOW LONG?

I set the oven to 180 C (top heat, bottom heat and ventilation) or high gear for gas ones.

I mixed a yolk with a little salt and a little milk and prepared my brushes.

The Cozonac is greased just a few seconds before putting it in the oven! So we don't hurry with the greasing because the egg dries out, forms a shell on the surface and cracks when baked. When the oven was well heated, I quickly (but evenly!) greased the Cozonac with egg and milk. I was careful not to put too much so that it does not flow into the pan and burn. If you wish, you can sprinkle them with powdered sugar, walnut pieces, etc. I left them simple.

I put the Cozonac on the bottom rail of the oven, both at once. I baked them for 20 minutes at 180 C. This is how they look after this time: they start to brown well on the surface.

I covered them with baking paper (fixed with toothpicks so that they don't fly through the oven) and reduced the heat to 170 C. From now on, they're ready in 20-25 minutes. If the oven does not bake evenly, you can turn the Cozonac without any problems. In total, I baked them for 45 minutes. It also depends on the oven.

HOW DO YOU LET THE FRESH OUT OF THE OVEN COZONAC COOL?

I took out the trays with the Cozonac... they smell amazingly good in the kitchen! I left them in the trays for a maximum of 5 minutes.

Then I carefully turned them onto the cake racks and removed the baking papers. The warm buns must "breathe", not condense from the emanating steam. Do not cover them with rags or bags as they are hot!!

A tip from great-grandmother Buia: Place the sweet bread lying on their side on the grill. Turn the hot buns from one side to the other (every 10 minutes) so they don't flatten! So we don't put them on their feet and let them cool.... We don't cut it hot!

After 2-3 hours (when they have cooled slowly and completely) they can be placed back in the molds and covered with clean kitchen cloths or cotton, hemp or linen tablecloths.

Look how fine they are!

Source: Urban Flavors