Cozonac

{{short description|Sweet leavened bread, traditional to Bulgaria and Romania}} {{more citations needed|date=March 2013}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Cozonac | image = Cozonac-cu-nuca-103.jpg | image_size = 220px | caption = Cozonac with raisins and walnut filling | alternate_name = {{langx|bg|козунак|kozunak}} | region = Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Moldova | creator = | course = Dessert | type = Yeast cake<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Food|last=Davidson|first=Alan|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=9780199677337|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RL6LAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA687|page=687}}</ref> | served = | main_ingredient = Wheat flour, butter, milk, eggs, sugar, yeast, raisins, citrus peel, flavorings like vanilla or rum | variations = Poppy seed, walnut | calories = | other = }}

'''''Cozonac''''' ({{IPA|ro|kozoˈnak|lang}}) or '''''Kozunak''''' ({{langx|bg|козунак}} {{IPA|bg|kozuˈnak|}}) is a sweet yeast dough that can be used to make different traditional holiday breads and cakes. Often mixed with raisins or nuts, it can be baked as a loaf or rolled out with fillings like poppy seed or walnuts.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roufs|first1=Timothy G.|last2=Roufs|first2=Kathleen Smyth|title=Sweet Treats around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, California|pages=283}}</ref> It is common throughout Southeastern Europe in countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Moldova, North Macedonia, and Serbia.{{cn|date=March 2026}} Rich in eggs, milk and butter, it is usually prepared for Easter in Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, and in Romania and Moldova it is traditionally baked during Holy Week, typically on Holy Thursday or Holy Saturday morning. A simplified vegan version without eggs or milk—named ''Cozonac de post''—is also prepared during Lent. The name is thought to originate, via {{langx|bg|козунак}}, either from {{langx|el|κοσωνάκι|translit=kosōnáki}}, a diminutive form of {{langx|el|κοσώνα|label=none|translit=kosṓna|translation=doll}} or from {{langx|el|κωδουνάκη|translit=kōdunáki}}, a diminutive form of {{langx|el|κουδούνι|label=none|translit=kudúni|translation=bell}}.<ref>[https://dexonline.ro/definitie/cozonac Cozonac etymology]</ref><ref>[https://ibl.bas.bg/lib/ber_2_000-744/#page/528/mode/1up Български етимологичен речник, том 2, стр. 526]</ref>

Cozonac was the sweet chosen to represent Romania in the Café Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day 2006.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cafeeurope.at/coffee-sweets/ |title=Coffee and Sweets |access-date=2012-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140207073611/http://www.cafeeurope.at/coffee-sweets/ |archive-date=2014-02-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==Origins==

A similar Italian dessert, panettone, whose recipe was shared and adapted in Eastern Europe following the Roman occupation{{dubious|date=March 2026}}, is often mentioned as a starting point for the cozonac.{{citation needed|date=March 2026}}

The earliest known written recipe for cozonac appears in Costache Negruzzi and Mihail Kogălniceanu's ''"200 Proven Recipes for Dishes, Pastries and Other Household Works"'', published in Iași in 1841.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Negruzzi |first1=Costache |last2=Kogălniceanu |first2=Mihail |title=200 rețete cercate de bucate, prăjituri și alte trebi gospodărești |trans-title=200 proven recipes for dishes, pastries and other household works |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Negruzzi-Kogalniceanu_-%E2%80%93_200_retete_cercate_(1841).pdf |year=1841 |publisher=Cantora Foiei Sătești |location=Iași |language=ro}}</ref> Subsequent Romanian cookbooks document further elaborations: Christ Ionnin's ''"Romanian Cuisine"'' (Bucharest, 1865) includes a version enriched with butter, eggs, sugar, and raisins, while Ecaterina Steriady's ''"The Good Housekeeper"'' describes a more complex preparation incorporating rum, rose water, and lemon zest.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steriady |first=Ecaterina |title=Buna menajeră |trans-title=The Good Housekeeper |year=1871 |publisher=Otto Bielig |location=Galați |language=ro}}</ref> Over time, Romanian recipes incorporated additions such as cocoa, walnuts, and lokum, producing a distinctive regional version of the dish which was not to be missed from any Easter or Christmas table for hundreds of years and is widely recognized as a traditional dessert.<ref>Nastas, J. and Chiper, V. (2019) ‘Originea, evoluția și specificul alimentelor tradiționale românești. Studiu de caz: zona etnografică – Prutul de Jos’, Probleme ale ştiinţelor socioumanistice şi modernizării învăţământului, 3(21). Available at: https://ibn.idsi.md/vizualizare_articol/91781 (Accessed: 19 November 2022).</ref>

The cozonac spread southward along the Danube during the nineteenth century, primarily through Romanian and Hungarian influence. Vasil Cholakov, writing of the Danubian town of Svishtov in the 1870s, recorded that residents would knead fine flour with butter, honey, and eggs into braided, decorated loaves which they called ''kozоnaci''.<ref name="Dechev2019">{{in lang|bg}} [https://www.svobodnaevropa.bg/a/29902958.html "Обикновен или виенски? За дългия път на козунака по Дунава"], ''Svobodna Evropa'', April 25, 2019</ref> Contemporary Bulgarian sources treated the pastry as a novelty of European urban culture, distinct from the traditional braided Easter bread known as ''kravay''; Bulgarian cookbooks only began to include cozonac recipes from 1895 onwards, and the spelling of the word itself remained unsettled well into the early twentieth century.<ref name="Dechev2019"/>

Today, cozonac is prepared mainly in southeastern European countries, especially in Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, and North Macedonia, where it is considered a traditional food.<ref>{{in lang|ro}} [http://revistaflacara.ro/istoria-cozonacului/ "Istoria cozonacului"], ''Revista Flacăra'', December 10, 2010</ref>

==Ingredients and preparation== right|thumb|Braided kozunak with raisins ''Cozonac'' is a sweet bread, into which milk, yeast, eggs, sugar, butter, and other ingredients are mixed together and allowed to rise before baking. In Bulgaria, the ''kozunak'' is prepared by adding lemon zest to the dough mixture, just as the Romanian version.

In North Macedonia, ''kozinjak'', also called ''milibrod'', is prepared with sultanas and raisins in the shape of a girl's plated hair, a braid, as derived from the Bulgarian word for hair (коса/kosa). In the past, Macedonians would lay upon a straw-pleated mat, called Rogozina (or Ruguzina), which they would place on the ground.

In Romania, the recipes for trimmings differ rather significantly between regions. The dough itself is similar throughout the country; a plain sweet bread made from flour, eggs, milk, butter, sugar and salt. However, depending on the region, one may add to it any of the following: raisins, grated orange or lemon zest, walnuts or hazelnuts, and vanilla or rum flavor. Cozonac may also be sprinkled with poppy seeds on top.

Other styles more akin to the poppy seed roll dictate the use of a generous filling, taking up as much as half the product's volume, usually a ground poppy seeds and sugar mixture or ground walnut and sugar mixture, with optional cocoa powder, rum essence or raisins. The dough is rolled flat with a pin, the filling is spread and the whole is rolled back into a shape vaguely resembling a pinwheel. In the baked product, the filling forms a swirl adding to the character of the bread.

==Similar breads== Examples of breads similar to cozonac from other cultures include ''badnji kruh'' in Croatian cuisine, ''folar de páscoa'' in Portuguese cuisine, brioche in French cuisine, kulich in Russian cuisine, panettone in Italian cuisine, hot cross bun in English cuisine, challah in Jewish cuisine, Shoreek in Egyptian cuisine, or stollen in German cuisine. Such rich brioche-like breads are also traditional in other countries, such as Hungary and the Czech Republic.

==Notes and references== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Cozonac}} * [https://gastroart.ro/2017/04/14/cozonacul-si-pasca-o-istorie-cateva-etimologii-si-mai-multe-retete/ Cozonac old recipes and more] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120413095614/http://culinare.tv/cozonac-pufos-cu-umplutura-de-nuca Cozonac with walnut] * [http://www.reteteculinare.ro/carte_de_bucate/dulciuri/cozonac-pufos-2458/ Cozonac] * [http://gourmandine.ro/retete-aluaturi-dulci/cozonac-rosenkrantz/ Cozonac Rosenkrantz] * [https://adygio.com/cozonac-cu-cacao-dungat-reteta-video/ Cozonac with cocoa] ( ro [https://adygio.com/cozonac-cu-cacao-dungat-reteta-video/ cozonac cu cacao])

Category:Easter bread Category:Bulgarian cuisine Category:Macedonian cuisine Category:Moldovan cuisine Category:Romanian breads Category:Christmas in Romania Category:Sweet breads Category:Christmas cakes Category:Yeast cakes