For the benefit of Jon and others...

A couple of days ago my friend Jon asked me for a good potica recipe, and he included the sentiment that he felt as though I would have one. I whole heartedly enjoy that reputation and felt completely honored that he'd asked me of all people.

So, for the "others" out there, potica (pronounced po-tee-tsa) is a very traditional Eastern Euorpean nut rull, though it occasionally has other fillings. If you find yourself in the Cleveland area around Christmas or Easter, you are bound to run into some. With a total around 44,000 people of Slovenian descent, Cleveland boasts the largest concentrated population of Slovenians outside of our native Adriatic homeland. The best way to find good potica in Cleveland is to ask around. Someone here, specifically on the East Side where the population is the greatest, knows someone who knows someone who makes it.

Good potica should be heavy, moist and should have large concentrations of filling compressed between layers of wafer thin, delicate, flaky pastry. The raisins should pop inside your mouth when you bite into them, they should be plump and sweet. The best potica should also be made with love (not to sound cliche), it should be made with hands that remember those who have gone before them. When you are rolling out the dough, you should think of the generations of people who came here to the unknown, crammed together on the lower deck of a steamship with one suitcase and volumes of recipes that traveled here inside their heads, and their hearts. Even if you're not Slovenian, just think of all of the things you'd be missing out on if they'd never come at all (potica, klobase (Slovenian sausage), strudel, and lest we not forget polka music). Keep it simple, keep it traditional and most importantly, keep making it.


Basic Potica

(Based on the recipe from the Treasured Slovenian and International Recipes cookbook, produced by the Progressive Slovene Women of America, and used frequently by my Grandmother. I've made some revisions to help out.)

1/2 cup warm milk (115 degrees on a candy thermometer)
1 TBS sugar
2 cakes yeast (usually found in the dairy/cooler section of the grocery store)

Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Stir in sugar and let stand in warm place until foamy, about five minutes.

6 cups of sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 stick of butter, softened
3 beaten eggs
1 cup of room temperature sour cream (very important that it's not cold)

Place flour in a large bowl and add salt, sugar, butter, beaten eggs and sour cream. Add yeast mixture and mix well. Knead until dough is pliant, about 10 minutes. (The dough should be feel smooth all the way through, be springy and easy to work with.) Divide dough into three parts. Oil three medium sized bowls and place a ball of dough in each one, turning to coat with oil. Cover each bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes. (Suggestions for a warm place would be on a heating pad, or ontop of a pre-heated oven.)


1 cup golden raisins
2 TBS brandy, rum or orange juice
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 lbs ground walnuts (should be fresh, if they are stale it will taste bitter)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup honey
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 stick butter
3 egg whites, beaten until stiff
cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar

In a small bowl, combine raisins, brandy, and warm water. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at least 30 minutes. Drain.

In a small sauce pan, combine milk and sugar. Scald the milk mixture (heat it until the moment before it boils, watch it carefully). Place the walnuts in a large bowl and pour the milk mixture over them. Add the butter and let it melt in the warm milk mixture. Add honey, 2 TBS of sugar, vanilla and egg yolks and mix well. Fold the stiffly beaten egg whites gently into this mixture and set aside.

Roll the first ball of dough out onto a lightly floured cloth to between 1/4" and 1/8" thickness (shape it like a long rectangle). Spread 1/3 of the filling mixture of the dough, leaving 4 inches of dough on one end without filling (to make a top crust). Sprinkle 1/3 of the raisins over the mixture. Sprinkle with a dash of cinnamon and 1/3 of the remaining sugar. Roll like a jelly roll, starting with the end that has the filling. Seal the edges with your fingertips.

Grease 3 extra-long loaf pans and line them with parchment paper. Place the log into the loaf pan with the end unfilled layer up (to make the top crust). Prick with a toothpick. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. Repeat the rolling and filling procedure with the remaining two balls of dough.

2 egg whites
2 TBS of water

Beat together until mixed and frothy.

After the poticas have risen the second time, brush the tops with egg white mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 3 poticas.


Suggestion: I would think about making 1 and 1/2 recipes or a double recipe of the filling, because I like A LOT of filling in my potica. Just a personal preference.