Potica Recipe....Slovenia

Slovenian Nut Bread, Potica (Pronounced paw teet zah) is a traditional Slovenian holiday treat.


Ingredients for leavened dough: 1 kg flour, 30 g yeast, 3-4 yolks, 3 dl lukewarm milk, 120 g butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoon sugar, fat for the mould;

Filling: 600-700 g walnuts, 200 g honey, 50 g sugar, 1-2 dl milk, 1 egg, grounded cinnamon, rum or home made fruit spirit.


Prepare the dough in a warm room. Heat up the flour, sift it into a bowl and stir it together with a teaspoon of salt. Stir dissolved yeast together with a tablespoon of sugar, 2 spoons of flour and ½ dl lukewarm water or milk. Leave it in a warm place to rise. Make a hole in the middle of the flour; add whisked eggs, yeast, lukewarm melted butter and sugar, adding lukewarm milk while stirring. Beat the dough for 15 minutes or until the bubbles appear and the dough separates from the bowl. Certain types of flour may need more milk than others. Sprinkle some flour on the beaten dough, cover the dough with a cotton cloth and leave it in a warm place to rise. Crush or grind the walnuts and pour some hot sweetened milk over the walnuts. Slowly heat up the honey until it liquefies, and then add it to the walnuts; add also cinnamon. Leave the filing to cool down. Add one or two eggs to the almost cold filing and mix them thoroughly. Roll out the dough until it is ½ cm thick; spread it with the warm filing. Roll tightly; put it in a well-greased mould. The potica is then left to rise slowly, but not too much, because it will rise during the baking. Put the whisked egg on the potica before the baking. Bake time is one hour. When baked leave it in the mould to cool down for at least 15 minutes and then softly turn it over to the board. Sprinkle it with an icing sugar, if desired.