Cozonac evantai, Romanian cinnamon pull-apart bread

Name: Cozonac evantai, Romanian cinnamon pull-apart bread
Ingredients: 500 g flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 7 g dried yeast; 150 ml milk; 100 g sugar; 2 eggs; grated zest of 1 lemon; 50 g butter or margarine; 80 g soft margarine; 80 g sugar; 2 tablespoons cinnamon; 80 g butter; 1 teaspoon cinnamon or 8 g vanilla sugar

Dessert - Cozonac evantai, Romanian cinnamon pull-apart bread by Mioara D. - Recipia

Cozonac evantai, a Romanian cinnamon pull-apart bread, is baked in layered squares with sugar and cinnamon; the edges turn golden. The dough, made with milk, eggs and butter, pulls apart into layers, with a thin cinnamon crust on top. I keep an eye on the dough in the bowl and wait for it to double in size, rather than going by the clock alone. Preparation: 35 minutes. Cooking: 40 minutes. Resting: 100 minutes. Total time: 175 minutes. Serves: 10. About 375 kcal and 7 g protein per serving.

Ingredients

For the dough

500 g flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 g dried yeast
150 ml milk
100 g sugar
2 eggs
grated zest of 1 lemon
50 g butter or margarine

For the filling

80 g soft margarine
80 g sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

For brushing

80 g butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon or 8 g vanilla sugar

Preparation

1. Warm 30 ml of the milk until just lukewarm. Mix the yeast with 12 g of the sugar, 16 g of the flour and the milk, then leave the yeast mixture for 10 minutes, until foamy. 2. Beat the eggs with the remaining 88 g of sugar and the grated lemon zest. Put the remaining flour and the salt in a bowl, make a well in the middle, then add the yeast mixture, eggs and remaining 120 ml of milk. 3. Knead for 10 minutes, then gradually work in 50 g of melted, lukewarm butter or melted margarine. The dough should be smooth and elastic. 4. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise for about 60 minutes, until doubled in size. 5. Roll the dough out into a rectangle. Spread 80 g of soft margarine over the whole surface and sprinkle with the mixture of 80 g of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. Cut the dough into equal squares, smaller than the tin, and stack them in a roomy loaf tin lined with baking paper. 6. Leave the loaf to rise in the tin for 30 minutes. If the tin is small and the squares are crowded, you can skip this rise, as I did. 7. Heat the oven to 180°C. Brush the top with 80 g of melted butter and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon or 8 g of vanilla sugar. Bake for 40 minutes, until nicely browned on top.

Notes

Covered, it keeps for 2 days at room temperature; slice it once it has cooled and serve with black tea. A loaf tin about 30 × 12 cm leaves the squares with more room, while in a small one they are packed in and rise a lot upwards. I had a small tin and put the dough straight in the oven, without letting it rise after arranging the squares. The rise takes longer in a cool kitchen, so keep an eye on the dough’s size, not just the clock. The butter in the dough can be replaced with the same amount of margarine; the dough contains gluten, eggs and dairy.