Trying to recreate an old recipe

[spinbaby]

Forty years ago, a family member had a commercial bakery. At a recent family reunion, there was much reminiscing about a pastry he made called a Bismarck. It was a kind of coffee cake/danish thing that had nothing to do with filled doughnuts. Then someone said they had the recipe and, being the baker in the family, the recipe was presented to me with the apparent expectation that I’d be able to do something with it. Here is the recipe as transcribed from handwritten bakery notes from 40 years ago:

Bismarck dough
8 oz yeast
1/2 gallon water
60 degrees, dissolve, mix together, let sit
Add to water egg shade, vanilla, and butter flavor

Sugar 1#
Shortening 1#
Salt 1 1/2 oz
Eggs 1 1/2
Powdered milk 4 oz
Pastry flour 1 1/4#
High gluten flour 2 1/2#
All purpose flour 3 3/4#

Mix everything together
Mix til dough comes off side of bowl
Mix 1st gear couple minutes
Mix 3rd gear about 10 minutes
If sticky add more flour
If too dry add more water
Let sit 45 minutes
Punch down
Let sit 15 minutes
12 oz dough for each Bismarck
Roll thin
Spread paste
Fold
Pinch edges
Make into ring

Almond paste

2 1/2 # almond paste
4 1/2 # granulated sugar
1# shortening
1 quart eggs
1 1/2 # flour
Egg shade
Mix paste and shortening until creamy after it is mixed put it on 4 speed
Mix eggs and pour slowly to creamed mixture on 4 speed
Put egg shade before flour is added enough to look bright
Don’t mix long after flour is added

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As you can see there are many issues here, from what seems to be an extreme amount of yeast, to no baking instructions, to no one in the family seemingly able to remember exactly what the thing looked like. My first impulse is to just find a recipe for a similar almond pastry and make that.