International Recipes
Potica (Slovenian Nut Bread)
Ingredients
Yeast
- 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup warm milk
Dough
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 5 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 7 to 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Walnut Filling
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- Grated peel of a lemon
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 5 egg whites
- Cinnamon
- 2 pounds walnuts, finely ground
Instructions
Yeast
- Dissolve yeast and sugar in milk. Let set 5 minutes to activate the yeast.
Dough
- Combine yeast mixture and the dough ingredients (except 2 cups of flour). Mix well, then add the remaining flour until the dough can be handled without sticking. This takes about 20 minutes kneading by hand or 9 minutes on a mixer with a bread
hook.
- Put dough into a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let set in a warm place until double in size.
Walnut Filling
- Bring with milk and egg whites to 120 degrees F in a heavy saucepan or double boiler. Rapidly add butter, zest and honey.
- Combine the dry ingredients, and add it to the milk mixture, then bring to a simmer.
- Remove mixture from the heat and add walnuts, ground fine. Allow the filling to cool down.
- Roll the dough very thin. spread the filling on the dough and roll into a 4 inch diameter cylinder. Cut into loaves that will fit into bread pans. Cover the ends of each loaf with a small piece of dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let it relax and rise until not quite double in size. Egg wash the top if a shiny top is desired.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F for 1 hour.