Ethnicity:Croatian Food Type:Desserts Preparation Time:n/a Servings:n/a Author: John EmailIngredients:
YEAST MIXTURE:
l l/2 pkgs. dry yeast or rapid rise.
l tsp sugar
l/4 Cup water
mix above well, place bowl over hot water to make yeast rise fast.
DOUGH MIXTURE:
l cup milk or half & half to make dough rich
l stick butter (1/2 cup) or oleo
l/3 cup sugar.
WALNUT FILLING:
2 pounds finely ground walnuts
l cup honey
l cup brown sugar
l/2 cup white sugar
l stick oleo (1/2 cup) or butter
2 Tbsp cinnamon
l l/2 cans of evaporated milk (In thinning the walnut mixture, you can use regular milk or half & half).
Steps:
Place DOUGH MIXTURE in sauce pan and bring to a warm stage; pour into a large mixing bowl. Add YEAST MIXTURE, 3 eggs, and beat well.
Then add: 4 l/2 cups flour
l tsp salt
Add flour slowly, one cup at a time and beat well. Use mixer. When mixer cannot be used, add rest of flour by hand and mix well so dough is smooth. It may be a bit sticky, but not too sticky; if too sticky add a bit more flour. If too much flour is added, the dough will not stretch. Place dough in a well greased 9 x 12 cake pan and spread dough to the edges! Grease top of dough with oil or melted oleo. Be sure that the dough is spread right to the edge of the cake pan on all sides. Cover with saran wrap and put right on the dough and stretch to the edge of the cake pan so that no air can reach the dough. Let rise to top of cake pan about l hour - check.
I put my oven on WARM just for a short time, enough to get the oven warm, not hot; turn oven off immediately; then put cake pan into the oven to rise, about l hour or until dough reaches top of cake pan. The kitchen should be warm - no drafts. I put my worksheet or tablecloth; rolling pin and sifter of flour, into the warm oven, while the dough rises.
While dough is rising to top of cake pan, I prepare the walnut filling:
2 pounds finely ground walnuts
l cup honey
l cup brown sugar
l/2 cup white sugar
l stick oleo (1/2 cup) or butter
2 Tbsp cinnamon
l l/2 cans of evaporated milk (In thinning the walnut mixture, you can use regular milk or half & half).
Put all the above ingredients into a large pan, mixing well. In another pan or frying pan, I heat water and I place the large pan of walnut mixture over the hot water to keep it from burning. Nuts burn quickly. Use the remainder of the evap milk to thin out the walnut mixture as it tends to thicken. You can add milk just before spreading to a thin spreading consistency.
When the dough has risen to top of cake pan, take tablecloth and place on table, use sifter of flour and spread all over the tablecloth, so the dough does not stick; especially in the middle. Dump the cake pan dough in the middle of the tablecloth, using rolling pin lightly, roll out the dough as far as you can with the rolling pin; then with your hands, stretch the dough, walking around the table, pulling the dough to the edge of the table, it should be stretched thin. If the dough will not stretch, no big deal, it means that you will have more dough between the layers and I would call it walnut break - not potica. It will taste good anyway.
Spread the WALNUT FILLING with a rubbermaid spatula all over the dough. If the mixture is thick, thin it out with more milk, it should be spreading consistency, otherwise it will be hard to spread and it may pierce the dough. Then take a knife and cut off the dough (thick) from the edges or the dough that was stretched over the edges. This dough can be placed in a bowl, over hot water, and let it rise and can be made into potica rolls. (Good too).
Take the tablecloth, start from the longest end, and roll the dough to the other end. Just like you would a jelly roll. I cut this roll into 3 strips to fit a 9 x l2 (greased pan). I let it rise for l/2 hour, just so that the wrinkles will rise a bit. Bake 350 oven 30 to 40 minutes. I set my oven timer on 30 minutes, check the potica at that time, turn the pan around, and bake 5 to l0 minutes more, checking it often as everyone's oventemp is different. Be sure you grease the potica rolls with melted butter or oleo before baking and after baking. The dough may crack, this is due to rich dough; grease the dough after baking. While warm, take a knife and run it around the pan while warm. Let stand for an hour and take out of pan. When cool, each piece may be wrapped in tin foil or Saran Wrap and can be frozen indefinitely.
According to Slav tradition, the potica dough should be put into the pan in a snake form, but we found that cutting it to fit the pan is easier.
Comments: "very helpful instructions!" - Cathy "its very good, i love the recipe. I recommend it to anyone, it sounds complicated but its simple and delicious." - sarah "made my eyes tired" - anonymous "this is a very authentic povitica recipe. the instructions are very specific and easy to follow. anyone who finds it difficult should just order one from the Strawberry Hill Povitica Co." - Marija "this was a wonderful help. it made my holiday very special. Sretan Bozic! (Merry Christmas!)" - Stanislav "This recipe has been passed down in my family from generation to generation. It started with my great great great grandmother in croatia. This recipe has remained in my family for generations and will continue to do so. It has gone from being made" - Cherie "This is this worth the time, love it!" - anonymous "This is as close to the recipe used by my family for generations as I've ever found. If this sounds confusing, your missing it. Any which way you do it, it works and it's a show stopper!" - Badovinac's "yummy i love dis" - anne "my recipe came over from europe with my slovenian grandma. we put eggs in the filling, makes it richer and keeps it from crumbling, also NO cinnamon( grandma would faint over that one!!) just a little vanilla." - rockysmom "I agree, no cinnamon. The instructions are wonderful. I just put mine in the oven. Used my grandmothers recipe, but was worried because the dough was sticky. Hope it is good, if not....we try again. Ham will be here today and we must have potica." - just me "Very helpful instructions! I use a family recipe which is very close to this one, but the "how to" directions are invaluable since I am new to making potica." - Mary "" - barbara "I'm about to make Potica for Easter.
Do you have a recipe for cheese filling? My Baba used to make both walnut and cheesed filled but, of course, when she left us at 104 yrs she didn't leave a written recipe.
Thanks" - Barbara "Getting ready to make this year's poticas. Have notes in recipe book since 1991, all different. hen I learned how to make potica from my Croatian Grandmother she didn't have a recipe and I wrote down as best I could what she said and did. This rec" - Marie "My baba use to make 25-30 of these every holiday. How did she do it? She'd be stretching that dough all day, it was paper thin. Thank you for writing this all down." - Jennifer "It's not Croatian,it's Slovene.Croatian kitchen sucks that's why Croatians steal other nations' recipes and call it their own.Potica is a Slovene word which comes from the word "pot" which means way,road.potica was a cake/bread given to sons from the" - ronnie "" - anonymous
