• This recipe makes one large roll. If you want to make two, simply double the recipe and divide the dough equally into two

Prepare the dough:

• Combine all-purpose flour, milk, yeast, lard, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir with a spatula at first and then knead with your hand into a smooth dough, about 5 minutes. You can also do this with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook
• Wrap it up with a plastic wrap and keep it chilled in the fridge for at least 1 hour

Prepare the filling:

• Soak the raisins in rum for 30 minutes then drain. I leave 1/3 of the walnut roughly chopped (for texture, but you can skip), and the rest I finely chop the walnut in the food processor until finely ground. Then combine with powdered sugar, orange zest, lemon zest, and hot milk. Stir to combine to form a moist spreadable paste. Add hot milk as needed to reach that stage

Shaping:

• Lightly flour your surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches, with the long side near you
• Spread the walnut filling evenly over the dough, leaving an 1 inch border on all sides. Fold the edge over the filling to prevent it from leaking out during baking
• Starting from the long side, roll the dough into a log (not too tight not too loose),
• Place this on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper, seam side down. Make sure to really pinch the seams to shut or it may burst open during baking
• Beat the egg yolk with a fork. Brush the outside of the shaped dough with egg yolk. Let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature and then brush again with egg yolk and rest another 20 minutes
• Then brush with beaten egg white all over and let it chill in the fridge, uncovered for another 30 minutes. Do not skip this step as it helps the dios beigli to develop nice crackle-looking appearance

Baking:

• 15 minutes before the last rest in the fridge (after brushing the egg white wash)Begin preheating the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven. For convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 F (15 C)
• Use the tines of the fork or just a toothpick or skewer to make holes along the length of the body, about 10-15 pierces should be enough and then also on the sides of the dough. Make sure to really poke through the dough.This is to let the steam to escape, preventing the dough from bursting at unwanted places
• Place this in the oven's middle rack and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the dios beigli is deep golden brown

Cooling:

• Carefully transfer to a cooling rack and let it cool down completely before slicing. This may take 4-6 hours

Don't serve on the same day:

• I've made this several times and found that when I age it for 24 hours or longer, it gets better. It tends to be drier on the same day. Once it has cooled down completely, I wrapped the whole log in a cling wrap and stored it in a zipper bag at room temperature. Then slice it to serve the next day