Cozonac
Cozonac or Kozunak is a sweet yeast dough that can be used to make different traditional holiday breads and cakes. Often mixed with raisins or nuts, it can be baked as a loaf or rolled out with fillings like poppy seed or walnuts. It is common throughout Southeastern Europe in countries such as Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece. Rich in eggs, milk and butter, it is usually prepared for Easter in Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, and in Romania and Moldova it is also traditional for Good Friday, in a simplified version with vegan ingredients, without eggs or milk - named Cozonac de post - to be eaten by Christians during lent. The name is thought to originate, via, either from, a diminutive form of or from, a diminutive form of.
Cozonac was the sweet chosen to represent Romania in the Café Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day 2006.
Origins
In Bulgaria, the first recipe of "cozonac" appears in a cookbook in 1718, with the recommendation to be baked in long and narrow forms, a recommendation that remains valid nowadays. A similar Italian dessert, Panettone, whose recipe was shared and adapted in Eastern Europe following the Roman occupation, is often mentioned as a starting point for the cozonac.Romanians added cocoa, rum, walnuts and lokum to the composition, thus creating an original version of the dish, which was not to be missed from any Easter or Christmas table for hundreds of years and is widely recognised as a traditional dessert.
Today, this dessert with a long history is prepared mainly in southeastern European countries, especially in Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania and North Macedonia, where it is considered a traditional food.
Ingredients and preparation
Cozonac is a sweet bread, into which milk, yeast, eggs, sugar, butter, and other ingredients are mixed together and allowed to rise before baking. In Bulgaria, the kozunak is prepared by adding lemon zest to the dough mixture, just as the Romanian version.In North Macedonia, kozinjak, also called milibrod, is prepared with sultanas and raisins in the shape of a girl's plated hair, a braid, as derived from the Bulgarian word for hair. In the past, Macedonians would lay upon a straw-pleated mat, called Rogozina, which they would place on the ground.
In Romania, the recipes for trimmings differ rather significantly between regions. The dough itself is similar throughout the country; a plain sweet bread made from flour, eggs, milk, butter, sugar and salt. However, depending on the region, one may add to it any of the following: raisins, grated orange or lemon zest, walnuts or hazelnuts, and vanilla or rum flavor. Cozonac may also be sprinkled with poppy seeds on top.
Other styles more akin to the poppy seed roll dictate the use of a generous filling, taking up as much as half the product's volume, usually a ground poppy seeds and sugar mixture or ground walnut and sugar mixture, with optional cocoa powder, rum essence or raisins. The dough is rolled flat with a pin, the filling is spread and the whole is rolled back into a shape vaguely resembling a pinwheel. In the baked product, the filling forms a swirl adding to the character of the bread.