Bulgarian Easter Bread (Kozunak)

Bulgarian Easter Bread (Kozunak)

Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg, beaten lightly
• 1 1/3 cups warmed milk
• 1 1/2 cups raisins
• 3/4 cup rum
• 2 lemons
• 5 lbs flour (you may not use it all)
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 11 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (vanilla powder is fine)
• 1 cup almonds or 1 cup hazelnuts or 1 cup walnuts, are fine too

Directions

• 1 Mix first five ingredients (yeast, small amount sugar, salt, one egg, warm milk) in a large bowl.
• 2 Cover and leave in a warm place for 40 minutes.
• 3 Put raisins in rum to cover, and set aside to soak.
• 4 Grate and juice the lemons.
• 5 Set aside.
• 6 Sift 4 of the five pounds of flour onto a large tray or other work surface.
• 7 (You can estimate- does not need to be precise.).
• 8 Melt butter and combine with oil.
• 9 Heat 2 cups of milk and sugar on low in a small saucepan until warm.
• 10 Separate 4 of the eggs; set aside the yolks for brushing.
• 11 Beat the whites with the other 7 eggs.
• 12 Add a handful of the flour from the work surface to the warm yeast mixture.
• 13 Bit by bit, mix in with a spoon the rest of the flour, the milk mixture, the beaten eggs and the butter/oil mixture.
• 14 When most of it is together, mix in the lemon juice and zest, and the vanilla.
• 15 Adding more flour to the work surface if necessary, dump out the dough and knead until it holds together well.
• 16 Let the dough rest in a warm place until double in bulk (1-2 hours).
• 17 You may need to divide between two bowls.
• 18 Punch down and knead the dough.
• 19 Drain the raisins and dredge in flour.
• 20 Work about half of them into the dough as you knead, a few at a time.
• 21 Let the dough sit and rise again (another 1-2 hours).
• 22 Preheat oven to 425 (400 if your oven runs hot).
• 23 Punch down and knead again.
• 24 Divide the dough into 8 parts.
• 25 Each of these, divide into three parts; roll them long and braid into a single loaf.
• 26 While braiding, work the remainder of the raisins between the strands.
• 27 Brush the loaves with the reserved egg yolk and stud the top with nuts.
• 28 Bake the loaves about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
• 29 (We usually did about 3 loaves at a time.) You can also use the dough to make smaller rolls, if you prefer; bake for proportionally less time.