Tomorrow is Easter and while browsing YouTube I found this lady’s recipe for the Colac, the typical Romanian Easter bread, and I really liked her skill in preparing this traditional loaf so …I tried it too!!!
I made half of the amount shown in the video I share because Andrea will be at his dad’s for these holidays and I don’t want to change my wardrobe size since every day, with great joy, I cook and taste everything I then present to you, so you’ll understand I can’t go overboard!!!!!!
The bread is, even before being tasty, very beautiful. I’m not as skilled as the lady in the video but I’m satisfied: what do you think? I was also a little too quick to put it in the oven and I didn’t sprinkle sesame seeds on top, but you can add them if you like! I must also say the lady’s bread is very glossy while mine is just bread…period! Maybe I should have done further research but Easter is tomorrow and I was determined to make this COLAC so….
Having a blog and loving world cuisine so much always gives me the chance to peek into other countries’ kitchens, try their recipes and it’s TRULY a delight!
Romanian cuisine has other space on the blog with these recipes:
COZONAC
PEPPER CAVIAR or AJVAR
COLAC ROMANIAN EASTER BREAD
The Kitchen of ASI
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Rest time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Cooking time: 45 Minutes
- Portions: 8 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Romanian
- Seasonality: Easter
Ingredients
- 4 cups '00' flour (or bread flour (about 500 g))
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast (Mastro Fornaio for me (about 3 g))
- 200 ml (about 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) water (warm)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 50 ml (≈3 tbsp + 1 tsp) extra-virgin olive oil
Tools
- Small bowl
- Bowl
- Spoon
- Kitchen scale G3Ferrari G20062
- Baking sheet
- Work surface
- Knife
Preparation of the Recipe Colac Romanian Easter Bread
To prepare the Colac Romanian bread, traditionally made for Easter, I put the dry yeast and the sugar in a small bowl or cup.
I also add 100 ml of warm water and mix the mixture well.
I add, taken from the total flour indicated in the ingredients (that is, the amount equivalent to 100 g), some flour and combine everything.
I set it aside until the yeast activates and creates a sort of “cream” (I’m too romantic haha — a foamy little sauce really!).
Once this froth appears I pour it into a large bowl, adding the remaining flour, the salt and another 100 ml of warm water.
I start kneading in the bowl, then transfer everything to the work surface and begin forming a dough ball.
I knead by turning the dough of the Colac Romanian bread in every direction, gradually rotating it by about a quarter turn each time, trying to make it smooth and homogeneous.
I confess that after I started kneading I wondered why (why Annalisa???) I hadn’t put everything in the stand mixer — greetings!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, after kneading well, I oil the larger bowl and place the dough inside, covering it and leaving it to rest until it doubles in volume.
I put a drizzle of EVO oil on the work surface and turn out my risen dough.
I shape it until I have a baguette-like roll like this.
I divide it into 2 dough pieces of about 240 g each (about 8.5 oz each).
From each piece I form a strip as if making gnocchi: mine are about 120 cm long each — about 47 1/4 inches.
They are not perfectly the same thickness… please be more precise than I was!
To continue preparing the COLAC, the typical Romanian Easter bread, I cross the first strip in the middle of its length and continue rolling one end over the other as you can see in the photo, doing the same for both 120 cm (47 1/4 in) strips.
Now I twist the two braids around each other creating a wreath, a crown like the one in the photo.
Leaving aside a little dough to make leaves and roses (or whatever you prefer), I make a new strip always about 120 cm (47 1/4 in) long that I roll again as I did with the other two.
I put this on the lightly oiled baking sheet and place the double bread crown made earlier on top of it for the Colac Romanian bread.
With the small amount of dough left I make leaves and shape roses.
Using a small glass with a diameter of 5 cm I make 6 small circles which I slightly overlap as you can see in the photo — a 5 cm diameter is about 2 inches.
Then I cut them in half and position them with the leaves on the COLAC Romanian Easter bread.
It seems to me that for a first attempt it’s not bad and even after baking… I’m satisfied!
Bake in a conventional oven at 356°F for about 40 minutes, or according to your oven’s characteristics.
The bottom of the bread also looks fine to me…
Here is the COLAC from Romanian cuisine and I send you again my warmest wishes to you and your loved ones!
Annalisa
I tried to photograph and describe everything well and I added the lady’s video to make everything more understandable… BYE AND THANK YOU!!
