How to make
Sift the flour (needs to be high quality), make a well in the middle of it. Heat the milk a little, add the sugar to it to dissolve and add the yeast to activate.
To them add 1/2 the oil, beaten eggs, salt and lemon zest. Stir the resulting mixture well, pour it over the flour.
Knead a soft dough, while adding a little flour at a time. Once you obtain a nice, soft dough, start gradually adding the rest of the oil - make holes in the dough and pour a little oil in at a time until the dough absorbs it.
You don't have to punch the dough down 100 times like they used to back in the day. The important thing, during kneading, is to stretch it out and pull it to elongate it. Then mash into a ball again and stretch out again. It's quite a bit of exercise but that's how you get those nice threads in the cozonac.
Then again, if someone has pissed you off recently, punching the dough is a good stress relief method. :)
After the dough has absorbed all of the oil, it's time for the soaked raisins - add them like you did the oil. I set a few aside to decorate the cozonac on top. Leave it to rise well, form it into a weave, wrap it into a roll, smear with egg white and sprinkle sugar, then stick on the raisins.
Leave to rise again, without rushing the process in the oven. After that, put to bake in a preheated 360°F (180 °C) oven about 40 min.
Enjoy!
Source: Ralica Nikolaeva.
