Cozonac cu Nucă

Ingredients

• 1 kg strong white bread flour
• 500 ml whole milk
• 40 g fresh yeast, or 14 g fast action dried yeast
• 250 g caster sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 120 g butter, melted
• 60 ml sunflower oil
• 1 tsp salt
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp dark rum
• 400 g walnuts, ground
• 150 g caster sugar, for the filling
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 4 egg whites
• 100 ml milk, for the filling
• 80 g raisins
• 1 egg, beaten, for glazing
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar, for the top

Before you cook

• Take the eggs, milk and butter out of the fridge at least 2 hours ahead so everything is at room temperature.
• Warm 100 ml of the milk until lukewarm, stir in the yeast and a tablespoon of the sugar, and leave it for 15 minutes until foaming.
• Grind the walnuts to a coarse meal.
• Soak the raisins in the rum with a splash of warm water.
• Grate the lemon and orange zest.
• Sift the flour into a very large warm bowl.

Steps

1. Warm the remaining milk with the rest of the sugar until the sugar dissolves, then let it cool to lukewarm.
2. Beat the egg yolks and the whole egg with the salt until pale.
3. Make a well in the flour and pour in the foamy yeast, the sweetened milk and the beaten eggs.
4. Mix with your hand until the dough comes together into a shaggy mass.
5. Add the lemon zest, orange zest and vanilla.
6. Beat the dough in the bowl with your fist for 20 minutes, lifting and slapping it down, until it starts to feel elastic.
7. Pour in the melted butter and the oil a little at a time, beating each addition in fully before adding more.
8. Keep beating for another 10 minutes, until the dough is silky, glossy and comes away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.
9. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it in a warm, draught free place for 2 hours, until tripled in size.
10. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks in a clean bowl.
11. Fold the ground walnuts, filling sugar, cocoa and the 100 ml of milk into the egg whites to make a thick dark paste.
12. Drain the raisins and stir them into the walnut paste.
13. Butter two loaf tins and line them with baking paper.
14. Turn the risen dough onto an oiled worktop and divide it into four equal pieces.
15. Stretch and pat each piece into a rectangle about forty by twenty five centimetres.
16. Spread a quarter of the walnut paste over each rectangle, leaving a narrow border.
17. Roll each rectangle up from the long side into a tight rope.
18. Twist two ropes around each other into a two strand braid and lower it into a tin.
19. Repeat with the other two ropes and the second tin.
20. Cover the tins and leave them in a warm place for 45 minutes, until the dough reaches the rim.
21. Heat the oven to 170C.
22. Brush the tops with the beaten egg and sprinkle the granulated sugar over them.
23. Bake for 55 minutes, covering the tops loosely with foil after 30 minutes if they are darkening too fast.
24. Test with a skewer pushed into the centre, which should come out clean.
25. Rest the loaves in their tins for 10 minutes.
26. Lift them out by the paper and lay them on their sides on a rack, turning them every 15 minutes as they cool so the crumb does not sink.
27. Cut into thick slices once completely cold.