Potica (Povitica) - Central European Nut Roll

This potica, a Slovenian nut roll (or povitica in Croatia) is a traditional bread served for Easter, Christmas, and other celebrations such as weddings. 

 

Potica (pronounced po-TEE-sa) is made with a leavened sweet dough that is rolled out thinly and spread with a sweet or savory filling, and then rolled up and baked to create a delicious pastry. 

The most traditional filling includes ground walnuts, but you can get creative and fill it with anything you like. Kelly of A Messy Kitchen, our Bread Baking Babes host kitchen this month has also made it with blueberries and cream cheese, apple cinnamon, and with a poppyseed filling. 

The dough for this bread is traditionally rolled and stretched out very thinly on a cloth covered work surface and then spread with the filling. 

I followed Kelly's recipe for the walnut filling, but substituted pecan meal for the ground walnuts, mostly because I had a one pound bag of pecan meal in my freezer... and I'm really trying to cut back on the amount of ingredients I have on hand. 

Plus, I love the flavor of pecans. 

How to assemble this potica:

First, roll the dough out onto a lightly floured cloth spread out onto a work surface. I used my linen couche that I usually use to cradle baguettes when they rise. It is already floured from making baguettes, so I didn't have to add any more flour. P.S. I keep the couche in the freezer so that it stays moth-free. 

Next, once your dough is rolled out thinly to about 25 inches by 18 inches, spread it with your prepared filling. While I didn't measure it by volume, the filling is probably somewhere between 2 to three cups. 

Dot the dough with the filling and then spread it with an offset spatula so that it evenly coats the dough. If you need to, feel free to use your hands too. 

Finally, beginning with the longer side, roll up the dough into a long log and then fold it into thirds, like an "S," place it in a loaf pan, let it rise, and then bake. 

The dough for this potica is a dream to roll out. It's made with a soft wheat flour that is finely ground, called T45 in France. I combined some pastry flour and cake flour I had in my freezer with a few tablespoons of unbleached all purpose flour with the hope that the dough would be easy to roll out but still have enough structure to develop some gluten. 

Typically, pastry flour or cake flour is not recommended for using with bread due to the low protein of the wheat. I held my breath hoping that it would roll out without tearing. It worked beautifully. 

I would recommend using a combination of cake flour and all purpose flour to begin with. If your dough snaps back a bit, let it rest a bit and stretch it out again. 

For the filling, I used a combination of pecan meal, butter, milk, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, egg yolk, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. 

Because my pecans were already ground, I just stirred the ingredients together in a bowl before spreading them over the dough. 

If you begin with whole walnuts or pecans, just add the nuts, along with the sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and salt to a food processor and process until finely ground before adding the liquid ingredients. 

I really enjoyed making this bread! I may have to play with using the dough for other pastries. The combination of yeast and finely ground soft flour was so intriguing. 

I was also skeptical about rolling yeasted dough out onto a floured cloth. Because dough typically snaps back and is difficult to stretch, like with pizza, I was a little concerned. However, the minute I began rolling the dough, I realized I had nothing to worry about. It was amazing. 

Roll, flip, roll, flip, stretch. I felt like a pro. 

Tips for serving this potica:

This bread is wonderful with coffee or tea, or even as a dessert. 

Be sure to slice it fairly thickly or it will fall apart. Kelly suggests slicing it from the bottom so that the top doesn't shred. 

Don't tell anyone, but I enjoyed this bread with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I'm pretty sure it's approved in Slovenia and Croatia. 

After the recipe, be sure to check out all of the Bread Baking Babes' takes on this bread. The Babes are always so creative. If you want to bake along, be sure to visit Kelly's post for instructions. 

Kelly adapted this recipe from Bake Street. 

Potica Recipe

Yield: 16 slices

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

This potica, a Slovenian nut roll (or povitica in Croatia) is a traditional bread served for Easter, Christmas, and other celebrations such as weddings.

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 227 grams (8 ounces) cake flour
• 57 grams (2 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 120 grams (4 1/4 ounces) whole milk
• 15 grams (1/5 ounce) water
• 1 large egg
• 5 grams salt
• 50 grams (1 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
• 22 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled. 

For the Filling

• 280 grams walnuts or pecans
• 95 grams granulated sugar
• 3 grams ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 60 grams whole milk, room temperature
• 58 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yolk

To Brush the Dough

• 25 grams unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

To Make the Bread

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flours and the yeast. Add the milk, water, egg, and salt.
2. Mix the ingredients with the dough hook until combined and homogeneous. 
3. Add the sugar in two additions, mixing in between until fully incorporated. Continue to knead the dough for about 3 minutes. 
4. Add the butter in three additions until each is fully incorporated. Once the dough is smooth, knead on medium low for 12 to 15 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky, soft, and elastic. 
5. Form the dough into a ball and place it into an oiled bowl or dough rising bucket and let rise until doubled, 1 to 3 hours. 
6. While the dough is rising, mix the filling ingredients. In the bowl of a food processor, process the nuts, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cocoa powder. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. 
7. Add the milk, butter, vanilla, and egg yolk and stir until combined. Set aside.
8. Once the dough has risen, lay a large cloth out over a work surface and sprinkle with flour or fine cornmeal. Turn the dough out onto the cloth.
9. Pat the dough into a rectangle with your hands. Roll and stretch the dough out into a 25 inch by 18 inch rectangle. The dough will be very thin. 
10. Drop the filling in spoonfuls over the dough and spread it out to an even layer with an offset spatula. 
11. Starting with a long edge of the dough, roll it up tightly with your hands. Seal the the seam. 
12. Shape the log into an "S" and place it into a 9 inch by 5 inch oiled loaf pan and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise until puffy, 1 to 3 hours. The dough should have risen at least one inch. 
13. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the dough with half of the melted butter. Bake the bread for 15 minutes, and then lower the heat to 300 degrees F. Bake for 45 minutes more. Remove the loaf from the oven and brust with the rest of the melted butter. 
14. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 20 minutes, and then depan and cool completely on a wire rack. You can dust with powdered sugar if you like. 

Nutrition Facts

Calories

274.21

Fat (grams)

17.40

Sat. Fat (grams)

4.48

Carbs (grams)

26.16

Fiber (grams)

1.68

Net carbs

24.47

Sugar (grams)

10.17

Protein (grams)

5.48

Sodium (milligrams)

144.66

Cholesterol (grams)

37.03

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2021/05/potiva-potivica-central-european-nut.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

potiva, potivica

Bread

Slovenian, Croatian

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