When we visited Tom's mom in Wisconsin over Christmas, she asked if we were familiar with potica, because she had purchased a loaf from a local baker for us to enjoy during our visit. As it happens, I had recently added potica -- a Slovenian bread with a swirl of filling made from nuts -- to my to-bake list after seeing a recipe for it in Shauna Sever's Midwest Made. The potica we ate in Wisconsin was a free form loaf that was long and relatively compact, with a single intricate swirl of filling. Shauna's potica is baked in a loaf pan from a roll that is folded into thirds like a letter Z, yielding a three-lobed bread with a cross section that looks more like a babka. I was immediately sold after seeing the impossibly fine and thin layers of bread and filling in the cookbook photo.
Making the dough wasn't difficult because you can do it in a mixer. You combine yeast that has been dissolved in warm water, melted butter, warm milk, sugar, egg, all-purpose flour, and salt, and knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic. I let the dough rise in an oiled bowl until doubled in size.
While the dough was rising, I made the filling by toasting finely ground walnuts in a skillet with salt; adding cinnamon; stirring the cooled nuts into a mixture of honey, brown sugar, egg yolk, melted butter, cocoa powder, and vanilla; and folding in a egg white beaten with a pinch of salt.
I rolled out the dough into a thin sheet about 18 inches by 24 inches. I didn't use any flour, but rolled it out between two sheets of parchment paper. Then I spread on the filling and rolled up the dough. I stretched out the roll until it was three times as long as my loaf pan, folded the roll into a Z shape, and put the resulting loaf in a pan. After another rise, I brushed the loaf with egg wash and sprinkled it with sugar before baking it.
The recipe instructs you to sprinkle a lot of granulated sugar on top of the loaf (three tablespoons), and sugar was falling off everywhere as I handled the loaf and sliced through the thick outer crust. When I cut the loaf open, I was a little surprised at what I saw. While I definitely achieved three sets of spiraled layers, the photo in the cookbook shows a loaf with roughly twice as many layers of bread and filling, and those layers are much thinner and more delicate. Clearly, my potica-rolling technique still needs work. (I don't feel too bad about this; the recipe headnote states that practice makes perfect when it comes to the process of shaping potica.)
But I have no regrets. This bread was tender and sweet and full of flavor. I thought my loaf actually tasted much better than the loaf we tried in Wisconsin, because I could hardly taste the filling in the latter (but the baker was clearly a master of her potica technique -- the super-fine layers and the shape of the loaf were flawless). Shauna's filling has just the right amounts of cinnamon, cocoa, sugar, and salt -- and, if anything, I think my clumsy technique and thicker layers might have allowed the flavor of the filling to come through more clearly.
I definitely want to make this loaf again and improve my potica-shaping skills. But even this first flawed attempt was a success where it counts most -- taste.
Recipe: "Potica" from Midwest Made by Shauna Sever.
Making the dough wasn't difficult because you can do it in a mixer. You combine yeast that has been dissolved in warm water, melted butter, warm milk, sugar, egg, all-purpose flour, and salt, and knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic. I let the dough rise in an oiled bowl until doubled in size.
While the dough was rising, I made the filling by toasting finely ground walnuts in a skillet with salt; adding cinnamon; stirring the cooled nuts into a mixture of honey, brown sugar, egg yolk, melted butter, cocoa powder, and vanilla; and folding in a egg white beaten with a pinch of salt.
I rolled out the dough into a thin sheet about 18 inches by 24 inches. I didn't use any flour, but rolled it out between two sheets of parchment paper. Then I spread on the filling and rolled up the dough. I stretched out the roll until it was three times as long as my loaf pan, folded the roll into a Z shape, and put the resulting loaf in a pan. After another rise, I brushed the loaf with egg wash and sprinkled it with sugar before baking it.
But I have no regrets. This bread was tender and sweet and full of flavor. I thought my loaf actually tasted much better than the loaf we tried in Wisconsin, because I could hardly taste the filling in the latter (but the baker was clearly a master of her potica technique -- the super-fine layers and the shape of the loaf were flawless). Shauna's filling has just the right amounts of cinnamon, cocoa, sugar, and salt -- and, if anything, I think my clumsy technique and thicker layers might have allowed the flavor of the filling to come through more clearly.
I definitely want to make this loaf again and improve my potica-shaping skills. But even this first flawed attempt was a success where it counts most -- taste.
Recipe: "Potica" from Midwest Made by Shauna Sever.
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