The holidays are upon us, so I am spending the weekend baking treats for all of the special people in my life. I like to send each person a veriety of stuff incase they don't like one thing, they will certianly like another, and I like to change it up each year.

I mean, what fun is it to get a box of treats, if they are the same treats every year?

Lat year I sent out cookies, some of which I will repeat - Chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal, and then I sent out Hellfire Brownies, which were chalk full of 3 kinds of hot pepper. This year I am doing a few new items, including chocolate covered pretzels. I am also sending out potica.

What is potica, you ask? Potica is a slovanian sweet bread that looks a lot like a cinnamon swirl bread, but the layers are smaller and the filling is thicker. I found a great recipe online.

I use the small mini-loaf pans for this recipe, since a little potica goes a long way. I found out about potica just last year, it's a big thing up here in Ely, since there are a lot of people of Slovanian decent. They take it really seriously, and everyone tried to deter me from making saying it was "Sooo complicated" and "Sooo Much Work"! I will admit, it is time consuming, but a little egg timer can keep the time for you, and meanwhile, you can usually do some other stuff.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup warm milk

2 ounces yeast (I use 3 packets)

1 tablespoon sugar

Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add sugar and let stand in warm place until foamy.

5 cups flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup sour cream (room temperature)

Place 4 cups flour into large bowl. Add salt, sugar, butter, eggs, sour cream, yeast mixture and mix well. Add remaining flour and mix until dough separates from side of bowl. Knead until dough is pliant (about 10 minutes). If necessary, gradually add more flour. Place in greased bowl, cover with pastry cloth or cloth towel and set aside in warm place to rise until doubled in bulk (About 1 hour).

Nut filling:

1-1/2 cups sweet cream

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon brandy

1-1/2 pounds walnuts, ground

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup honey

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

3 egg whites

1 tablespoon grated orange rind (I use about half that amount)

1 tablespoon grated lemo rind (I use about half that amount)

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten

3 cups yellow raisins (optional) (chocolate chips are good too)

Scald cream with butter and pour over walnuts. Add the honey, sugar, grated lemon and orange rinds, vanilla, brandy, cloves, and cinnamon.

In another bowl, add 1 tablespoon sugar to the egg whites and beat until stiff. Fold egg whites into nut mixture and set aside.

Roll dough on lightly floured cloth to 1/4 inch thickness. Spread nut mixture over rolled dough. Sprinkle the raisins over the nut mixture. Roll as for jelly roll.

With seam edge down, place in well-greased loaf pans. Prick tops of loaves with a fork in several places. Cover with a light cloth and set aside in a warm place to rise about 45 minutes. Brush top with beaten egg.

Bake in 325° F. oven for approximately an hour. Remove pans from oven; leave poticas in pans for about 10 minutes, then move and place on rack to cool.

Yield: 3-4, depending on size of pans. (In mini-loaf pans, you will get 7 or 8)


Enjoy!
PS. Makes great french toast too!!!!!

Posted on Saturday 16 of December, 2006 [01:15:45 UTC]