Cozonac with raisins, walnuts and cocoa

Cozonac recipe with raisins, walnut and cocoa

I propose a recipe of cake with raisins, walnut and cocoa. If you haven’t already ordered an Ana Pan cake, try this recipe. Success will be sure!

Ingredients for dough:

1 kg flour, 500 ml milk, 250-300 g sugar, 6-8 eggs (yellows), 60 g yeast, 100 ml oil, 100 g butter, 1 rum essence (30 ml), 1 vanilla essence (30 ml), 1 lemon (shell), 1 teaspoon grated salt.

Ingredients for filling:

5 whites, 500 g ground walnuts, 300 g sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, 1 rum essence, ground cinnamon, grated orange peel, raisins soaked in rum,.

Preparation mode

The dough. Before preparing the dough, sift the flour into a bowl and leave it uncovered for 1-2 hours in a heated room with the other ingredients. We prepare the mayo: the yeast dissolves in a little lukewarm milk and mixes with flour, until a mixture of the consistency of a thick cream is obtained. Cover and leave at the back.

Separate the eggs. Mix the yolks with salt, then rub with the sugar until they become a foamy cream that has doubled in volume. Add the essences, lemon zest and 150 ml warm milk. Pour into the flour and stir a little. Pour the dough into the bowl, knead for 1/2 hour, bringing the dough from the edges to the middle.

If the dough is too hard, add a little more lukewarm milk. When the dough becomes elastic and begins to make farts, put a little of the mixture of melted butter and lukewarm oil. Continue kneading until all the fat is incorporated, then beat (to incorporate air) until it comes off the lighean and hand.

When it fights, it grabs an edge, it gets up and it stretches up, it continues all around. If it starts to make dizziness when stretched and comes off the lighean and hand, the dough is ready. Cover and leave in a warm place away from the current.

After it has grown, doubled its volume, the dough is divided into two pieces. Place a piece on the greased or floured floor(s), spread a thick sheet, fill, roll and place in the greased tray. It’s the same with the second piece.

Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume, grease with beaten egg, sprinkle with sugar and bake over a high heat for 10 minutes, then over a suitable heat. Baking time, about an hour. If the oven is used from the stove, after 40 minutes turn the trays with the cake to bake evenly.

The stuffing. Ground walnuts are mixed with sugar, cocoa and rum. The whites are beaten until a hard foam is formed and gradually added to the nut composition. Stir until a suitable consistency paste is obtained.

Observations

• The dough is part of the soft doughs with eggs and yeast that are the most grown and the most fluffy. The dough of doughnuts, muffins, etc. are actually variants of the dough of the cake.
• The cake is only hot!
• Ingredients and cooking vessels should be kept at room temperature, not cold!
• Bindings in the dough are eggs and milk (water, in variants for other cakes).
• The dough grows primarily due to the yeast. Prepare the mayo: the yeast dissolves in lukewarm milk or water, mix with a little flour (to have the consistency of a thick cream) and allow to ferment (to cook) hot, until doubled in volume. Then stir in the dough that needs to be kneaded long hot, to incorporate air and become elastic (by kneading, the gluten in the flour becomes elastic).
• Carbon dioxide, due to the transformation of starch into sugar under the action of yeast, causes the dough to increase and is retained in gluten dough.
• The optimal temperature of dough growth is 40 degrees Celsius. At a higher temperature, the dough is scalded. It should be allowed to grow near a heat source, not on the heat source, away from the water or the window.
• When it has grown enough (doubled its volume), grease the hand with oil, take a piece of it, place on the table (floor) greased with oil or sprinkled with flour and give the desired shape:

1. The piece of dough is divided into 3 parts, spread in turn each side, fill and run after which they are intertwined, bend the ends underneath and place in the form of baking greased with oil (preferably butter, so that the baked cake is more aromatic).
2. The piece of dough is divided into 2 parts, each part stretches, fills and runs, the two scrolls are intertwined, the ends are bended underneath and placed in the greased form.
3. The piece of dough is spread in a thick sheet of the length of the shape in which it will be baked, put the filling in the right layer, roll, bend the ends underneath and place in the greased or wallpapered form with baking paper.

• The volume of the cake must not be more than 3/4 of the volume of the baking form (cake tray).
• Once shaped, allow to rise, then grease with beaten egg, sprinkle with tos sugar (halves of walnuts, raisins) and bake.
• The baking time is 50-60 minutes, depending on the size of the cake.
• During baking it is recommended that the fire be high within the first 10 minutes, then suitable. Too low a fire does not allow the proteins to coagulate before the carbon dioxide comes out of the dough, so the dough swells first, then collapses. Too strong a fire causes a rapid coagulation, the formation of a crust, which corsets the dough, preventing it from swelling.
• The cake is ready when it comes off the shape. Remove from the oven and allow 10 minutes to cool in shape, then remove, place on a platter (powder with vanilla sugar) and leave to cool, but not in a cold place or in the current.