BULGARIAN EASTER BREAD (KOZUNAK)

Steps:

• Mix first five ingredients (yeast, small amount sugar, salt, one egg, warm milk) in a large bowl.
• Cover and leave in a warm place for 40 minutes.
• Put raisins in rum to cover, and set aside to soak.
• Grate and juice the lemons.
• Set aside.
• Sift 4 of the five pounds of flour onto a large tray or other work surface.
• (You can estimate- does not need to be precise.).
• Melt butter and combine with oil.
• Heat 2 cups of milk and sugar on low in a small saucepan until warm.
• Separate 4 of the eggs; set aside the yolks for brushing.
• Beat the whites with the other 7 eggs.
• Add a handful of the flour from the work surface to the warm yeast mixture.
• Bit by bit, mix in with a spoon the rest of the flour, the milk mixture, the beaten eggs and the butter/oil mixture.
• When most of it is together, mix in the lemon juice and zest, and the vanilla.
• Adding more flour to the work surface if necessary, dump out the dough and knead until it holds together well.
• Let the dough rest in a warm place until double in bulk (1-2 hours).
• You may need to divide between two bowls.
• Punch down and knead the dough.
• Drain the raisins and dredge in flour.
• Work about half of them into the dough as you knead, a few at a time.
• Let the dough sit and rise again (another 1-2 hours).
• Preheat oven to 425 (400 if your oven runs hot).
• Punch down and knead again.
• Divide the dough into 8 parts.
• Each of these, divide into three parts; roll them long and braid into a single loaf.
• While braiding, work the remainder of the raisins between the strands.
• Brush the loaves with the reserved egg yolk and stud the top with nuts.
• Bake the loaves about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
• (We usually did about 3 loaves at a time.) You can also use the dough to make smaller rolls, if you prefer; bake for proportionally less time.