Bulgarian Easter sweet bread Kozunak is an Easter dessert that is not Italian, and as usual, I have fallen in love with recipes that are not part of our Italian cuisine. By now, you should know that I am very curious about knowing and experimenting with recipes far from us.
A recipe very similar to another I have already made related to holidays, but it’s made in Romania and Albania and is called Cozonac.
This time, I made the recipe according to tradition but avoided raisins because I thought I had some, but I found out I didn’t. Nonetheless, I plan to remake it with chocolate filling.
In Bulgaria, by tradition, on Easter morning, the family has breakfast together, and the oldest woman serves this dessert accompanied by colored boiled eggs.
Each person chooses an egg, and after saying a prayer, each one with their egg must tap lightly above and below the egg held by another participant. The person whose egg remains intact will have a year of good health, making it a good omen.
Try making this traditional Bulgarian Easter recipe yourself, and if you make this or any of my other recipes, send me the photos, and I will publish them on my page with your name.
Approx. 900 kcal per person
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 4 Hours 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8 people
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: International
- Seasonality: Easter
Ingredients for the dough to make Bulgarian Easter Sweet Bread Kozunak
- 2 1/2 cups Manitoba flour
- 2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
- 3 Medium eggs
- 1/2 cup Whole milk
- 3 1/2 tbsp Softened margarine
- 1 3/4 tbsp Corn or sunflower oil
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- Grated zest of 1 orange
- 0.5 oz Fresh yeast
- 1 pinch Salt
- 7 oz Almonds
- 7 oz Hazelnuts
- 7 oz Raisins
- Juice of 1 orange
- 1 cup Plum jam
- 1 Egg yolk
- 1 1/3 tbsp Milk
- 1 oz Sugar crystals
Preparation of Bulgarian Easter Sweet Bread Kozunak
Start by placing the flours in the mixer with the crumbled fresh yeast and the previously beaten eggs, then the oil, sugar, margarine, warm milk, grated orange zest, and begin mixing.
While mixing, add the pinch of salt.
Once completed, you should have a homogeneous, non-sticky, fairly soft dough ball.
Place the obtained dough in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let it rise in the turned-off oven with the light on for at least 3 hours or until doubled.
In the meantime, squeeze the orange and soak the raisins in the juice for at least 30 minutes, then drain with a sieve and set aside.
Once risen, pour the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and work it back into a ball, then roll it out with a rolling pin to create a rectangle, not too thin.
I must say I was in a bit of a hurry, and my rectangle, as you can see from the photo, is a bit thick, but once the strips were filled, I stretched them laterally, and they thinned a bit.
Divide the rectangle into three equal strips lengthwise, in a bowl mix the chopped almonds and hazelnuts, soaked raisins, jam and mix well.
Spread the obtained mixture over the strips, not too close to the edges, then fold the strips lengthwise into sausages.
Create a braid with the three sausages and close into a ring.
I used a round pan without the ring center, though the center remained a bit free. However, you can do as you prefer, keeping in mind that it should be about 12 inches in circumference.
Once you’ve placed your kozunak in the baking dish, put it back in the turned-off oven with the light on and let it rise for at least 1 hour.
Once risen, brush the kozunak with the egg yolk and milk mixture, then sprinkle with sugar crystals.
