Povitica

I grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. My mother is Polish and her grandparents came here from Poland. There is a large Polish community in Kansas City, Kansas called Polish Hill. It happens to be very close to Strawberry Hill, which is a Croatian community. Some of the butcher shops where my family would get the "good Polish sausage" would also carry some Croatian items. One of these was Povitica. Saying that Povitica is a bread with a walnut filling just isn't quite doing it justice. Just look at it.

I ordered some for mother's day from The Kobe House Bakery, but I didn't think of it until it was already too late to make it in time. I ordered one for my mil, 2 for my mother (so she'll have enough to share with the rest of the family) and 1 for myself. I hope it's as good as I'm expecting.

I used to occasionally make Povitica using a recipe I found somewhere that used a cheat of hot roll mix instead of making the dough from scratch. It made the process relatively easy, but it just didn't taste quite as good as the real thing.

Here's a recipe I found that I'll try one of these days when I'm feeling ambitious.

Ingredients

For Sweet Dough

* 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 2 egg
* 1/4 cup soft butter
* 2 packages fleischmann active dry yeast
* 1/2 cup water
* 7 1/2-8 cups flour

For Filling

* 1 can evaporated milk
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 cup margarine
* 1 1/2 lbs pecan or walnut (ground fine)
* 4 egg
* 1 pinch salt
* 1 teaspoon cocoa
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Sweet Dough preparation: Combine warm milk, sugar, salt, softened butter, and beaten eggs.
2. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add to other ingredients.
3. Add half of flour, mix well until smooth.
4. Add flour to handle easily.
5. Knead dough on lightly floured board.
6. Put dough in greased bowl, cover and place in warm, draft free place until doubled in size.
7. Punch down and let double again.
8. Divide dough in three parts.
9. Roll each part until very thin in rectangular shape.
10. Spread filling, roll and twist in circular shape like a snail or cinnamon roll.
11. Place in greased 8” or 9” cake pans.
12. Cover, put in warm place and let rise.
13. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 45 minutes.
14. Makes three loaves.
15. Filling preparation: In heavy pan, over medium heat, combine sugar, milk and margarine and heat.
16. Add nuts, then beaten eggs and mix well.
17. Boil one minutes stirring constantly.
18. Remove from heat, add pinch of salt, cocoa and cinnamon and mix well.
19. Let cool till just warm enough to spread.