Cozonac cu rahat si cacao la masina de paine (Romanian sweet bread with Turkish delight and cocoa-Bread machine)

Cozonac is a traditional Romanian sweet yeast bread, similar to the Italian Panettone. Recipes are passed on from mother to daughter and kneading the dough for hours is a big part of making this delicious dessert. But suppose you could make it without all the effort of kneading it.
Some time ago I made Turkish delight, using this recipe: http://mediterrasian.com/blog/?p=2792 and it came out tasting great, but because of the high humidity it was very sticky. So I had the idea to bake with it, and to save time, I thought I'd try to make Cozonac using the bread machine. This is the result, after I had a few slices to make sure it was good:

Next time I make it I'll take photos of the process as well.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup milk

6 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

a few drops rose water (I have it left over from the Turkish Delight and I add it to everything now, from coffee to French Toast, but you can skip this)

rind of half a lemon

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

3/8 cup sugar (1/4 +1/8)

a pinch of salt

2 eggs, and one for brushing the bread

turkish delight, about 1- 1 1/2 cups, cut into pieces

3-4 tablespoons cocoa

First heat the milk, butter, vanilla, rose water and salt until the butter melts

Let the mixture cool until to about 110F and pour it in the bread pan. The order of ingredients in my bread machine is liquid first, flour afterwards, yeast last.

Add 2 beaten eggs, lemon rind, the flour, sugar and at the very end make a well in the flour and add the yeast. 

Select dough cycle, and when it is over touch the dough. If it is too sticky add a few more tablespoons of flour. Select dough cycle again. When the second cycle has finished, take the dough out and put it on a lightly floured surface. Roll it out into a rectangle.

Grease and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.

There are two ways of making the sweet bread. One is to roll it out into a rectangle, about as long as your bread pan. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, roll it up and place it in the pan. This yields a round top bread.

The other is to roll it out into a longer rectangle, spread the filling, roll it up and divide the rolled up dough into two, then twist the two cylinders one around the other. This yields the appearance of a braided top. 

Let rise in a warm place until the dough reaches the top of the bread pan, about half an hour to an hour.

Brush with beaten egg.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Check regularly to see if the top is browning. When the top has browned you can cover it with aluminum foil to prevent it from burning. 

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

I have always been fascinated by bread and its history. Mixing these simple ingredients together is a bit like magic, and like any proper spell, it took some time to get it right.
Bread is as old as man, with evidence of grains ground into flour putting the first bread man made at a ripe old age of about 30.000 years. Bread has helped man evolve and has kept us company all through this long process. So I have decided to make this first post about bread.
I have been searching for a good bread for sandwiches, one that is not too dense, but can be thinly sliced and I have finally found it on dinnerwiththebickfords.blogspot.com.
One other thing that surprises me is that people don't realize how much healthier and cheaper making your own bread can be, so I'll try to show that, as well. Home made bread is healthier because you know exactly what you put in it, no extra leavening agents, no additives or preservatives.
I have a bread machine and this recipe worked great with my 2 lbs loaf, Basic cycle. I selected light crust.

Recipe: 

1 1/3 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons and 2 teaspoons white sugar
3 teaspoons yeast
1/3 cup olive oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
2.5 cups white flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt

My bread machine requires that the wet ingredients go in before the dry, so I put the water, the oil, the salt, then added flour and sugar. I made a well in the flour and added the yeast. Set the bread machine on basic cycle and wait for a delicious bread.

Cost analysis

My favourite place to shop is Wegmans, so I'll use those prices to determine the cost of one loaf of bread.

• Wegmans All Purpose Flour, 5 lbs- $1.99. 20 cups in one bag, so that puts 2.5 cups at 0.25 c

• Wegmans Whole Wheat Flour, 5lbs-$2.99. 1.5 cups cost 0.23 c

• Wegmans White Sugar, 5lbs- $2.99. 2 Tbs and 2 tsp are 0.044 c

• Fleischmann's RapisRise Yeast, 4 oz- $4.69. 36 tsp per jar, 0.39 c.

• Wegmans Iodised Salt 26 oz- 59c, 0.0025 c

• Wegmans Extra Virgin Olive Oil 101 fl oz- $19.99. 0.52 c

Cost of one home made 2 lbs loaf of healthy, emulsifier and preservative-free bread: $1.44  (compared to Wegmans Whole Wheat Bread $1.99 per 20 oz)

So if you don't have time to make bread the old way, invest in a bread machine, it will pay for itself in no time.