Kozunak: the soft heart of Easter in Bulgaria.
Those who have followed me for a long time know: my kitchen has no borders.
I love our Italian traditions, but my curiosity often pushes me to look far away, to experiment with recipes that smell of distant lands.
This is how I fell in love with Kozunak, the quintessential Bulgarian Easter sweet.
It is a braided leavened bread, incredibly soft and fragrant, showing many similarities with the Cozonac from Romania or Albania, but it carries with it a load of symbolism and rituals truly unique.
In Bulgaria, Easter morning is a magical moment of sharing; tradition dictates that the eldest woman in the family serves the Kozunak, accompanied by the indispensable colored hard-boiled eggs (often a vivid red, a symbol of rebirth).
From this tradition comes a playful and spiritual ritual: each diner chooses an egg and, after a prayer, challenges the others.
You tap your egg lightly against your neighbor’s; whoever keeps the shell intact until the end will have a year full of health and luck.
Kozunak is therefore not only a sweet but the center of a moment of good omen that unites different generations around the same table.
For this recipe I wanted to faithfully follow the Bulgarian tradition, even if fate played a trick on me: I was absolutely sure I had raisins in the pantry and… they were finished!
I didn’t lose heart and made it “plain,” still achieving a stunning result in softness and aroma.
However, Kozunak is so versatile that I’ve already promised to make it again very soon with a delicious chocolate filling, another very popular variant in Eastern Europe.
The main characteristic of this sweet is its “strand” structure, obtained by working the dough well and carefully braiding it.
Despite the long proofing time, success is within everyone’s reach if you have the patience to let warmth do its job.
It’s a cake that smells of lemon, vanilla and sugar, perfect to dip in milk or to enjoy on its own to appreciate its feather-light texture.
If you are as curious as I am to discover new flavors, you absolutely must try making it. Follow my recipe and bring a bit of Bulgaria to your Easter: the aroma that will radiate from your oven will win you over at once!
approx 900 kcal per person
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Moderate
- Rest time: 4 Hours 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking time: 45 Minutes
- Portions: 8 servings
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: International
- Seasonality: Easter
Ingredients for the Kozunak dough (Bulgarian Easter sweet)
- 2 1/2 cups (≈300 g) Manitoba flour
- 2 1/2 cups (≈300 g) Type 0 flour
- 3 Medium eggs
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) Whole milk
- 3 1/2 tbsp (≈50 g) Softened margarine
- 1 3/4 tbsp (25 ml) Corn or sunflower seed oil
- 3/4 cup (≈150 g) Sugar
- Grated zest of 1 orange
- 0.5 oz (≈14 g) Fresh brewer's yeast (about 0.5 oz; or ~2 packets active dry yeast)
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 1/3 cups (≈200 g) Almonds
- 1 1/3 cups (≈200 g) Hazelnuts
- 1 1/3 cups (≈200 g) Sultana raisins
- Juice of 1 orange (about 1/3–1/2 cup)
- 2/3 cup (≈200 g) Plum jam
- 1 Egg yolk
- 1 1/3 tbsp (20 ml) Milk (for egg wash)
- 2 1/2 tbsp (≈30 g) Pearl sugar (coarse sugar)
Tools
- 1 Cake pan springform
Preparation of the Kozunak (Bulgarian Easter sweet)
Start by putting the flours in the planetary mixer with the crumbled fresh yeast and the previously beaten eggs, then add the vegetable oil, sugar, margarine, warm milk, the grated orange zest and begin mixing.
While it mixes, add the pinch of salt.
When the mixing is complete you should obtain a homogeneous ball that is not sticky and is fairly soft.
At this point place the dough in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let it rise in the turned-off oven with the oven light on for at least 3 hours and in any case until doubled.
Meanwhile, squeeze the orange and soak the raisins in the orange juice for at least 30 minutes, then drain them with a sieve and set aside.
Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape it back into a ball, then roll it out with a rolling pin to form a thin but not paper-thin rectangle.
I must say I was a bit in a hurry and my rectangle, as you can see in the photo, is a little thick, but once I filled the strips I stretched them laterally so they thinned out a bit.
Divide the rectangle into three equal strips lengthwise. In a bowl place the chopped almonds and hazelnuts, the drained raisins and the jam, and mix everything well.
Spread the mixture over the strips, not too close to the edges of the dough, then fold the strips lengthwise over themselves to obtain sausage-like rolls.
Braid these three rolls together and close into a ring.
I used a round pan without a central tube, although the center still remained a little free; of course you can use whatever works best for you. Keep in mind that it should have a circumference of about 12 in (30 cm).
Once you have placed the kozunak in the pan, put it back in the turned-off oven with the light on and let it rise for at least 1 hour.
When it has risen, brush the kozunak with the egg yolk and milk mixture and then sprinkle the pearl sugar on top.
“If you want an extra glossy Kozunak, brush the surface with an egg yolk mixed with a tablespoon of milk and sprinkle generously with granulated sugar before baking!”
