I used to belong to an online writing community called Red Room. In December of 2011, we were asked to consider this question: What is the secret ingredient in your holiday traditions?
My answer: Potica, Bread of Memory.
Potica, a rich yeast bread, is probably Slovenia's most well known dish. My family's version is more pastry than bread. It's like the love child of brioche and baklava.
The secret ingredients are:
a refrigerated yeast dough made with sour cream
a simple, uncooked nut filling
a heavy hand with the honey
love, memory, and family
ambivalence
The link above includes the original essay, along with a no-frills version of the family recipe.
The link above includes the original essay, along with a no-frills version of the family recipe.
For an expanded guide, complete with photos and readers' comments, go to:
Potica: A Step-By-Step Guide to Slovenian Nut Roll.
I wrote this expanded guide to potica in December of 2012. It has become the most-visited post on this blog :-)
And here is my 2014 December update: New Potica Horizons, A Retrospective for 2014 .
And my latest adventure: New for 2015: Gluten-Free Potica with Amazing Almond Filling.
Enjoy!
I wrote this expanded guide to potica in December of 2012. It has become the most-visited post on this blog :-)
And here is my 2014 December update: New Potica Horizons, A Retrospective for 2014 .
And my latest adventure: New for 2015: Gluten-Free Potica with Amazing Almond Filling.
Enjoy!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteLove your site, but potica is a cake/walnut roll not a bread as such.
Again, love your site, and best of luck in your search for your roots. There's nothing that says special holidays as does potica ..... memories of baking with my grandmother.......
Thanks for commenting, Adriana! Where did you grow up?
DeleteI certainly agree that the sweet versions of potica are a dessert, and much more like a pastry than bread. Especially my family's version of walnut potica, which is almost like baklava! But it is a yeast dough and there are many versions with savory fillings that are not meant as sweets. So "bread" (at least for English readers) seemed like the best choice and the term that is often used.
Also, I like the symbolic meaning of bread. "Bread of life" and so on. For us, it certainly was that, since potica is the one thing that sustained the ethic identity of my family.
I hope you will visit and comment again!
All the best,
Blair
Hi Blair! My husband is 100% Slovenian and grew up in Pueblo, CO. In my 43 years of being in his Slovenian family with many, many, many meals at many Slovenian tables, I can say wholeheartedly that they all think of potica as bread. I've seen people eat it warmed with butter spread on it, used as bread for a ham sandwich, and also eaten as a sweet treat with coffee and tea or a cold glass of milk. I am about to make my first potica this Christmas season, using my late mom-in-law's tried and true recipe. She always was the source of our potica and she made a wonderful one. She passed away in 2013 so now I will carry on her tradition and honor her memory as best I can! Thanks for your wonderful writing about your Slovenian heritage and quest to know more. My husband and I and our son and his wife all traveled to Slovenia in 2014 and we all agreed...it was one of the most beautiful places we've ever visited and the people were by far the most gorgeous and most friendly of any country we have spent time in. We cannot wait to return and take our daughter next time.
DeleteHi Beth! I believe there is a branch of my family near Pueblo. (Do you know any Adamics?) Glad to hear you will be tackling your mother-in-law's special recipe. Yes, potica is hard to classify.In my family, it was so special and rich that we thought people who treated it like a sandwich bread (like one uncle-by-marriage :-) were being a little unappreciative. But during my own visits to beautiful Slovenia, I have seen that potica is both a special dish, mostly for holidays, but also much more bread-like than many American versions, including my own family recipe. I figure it's all good! Thanks for writing.
DeleteBlair and Beth - my maternal grandfather's family was also from Pueblo - do you know of any Yenkos? I grew up eating Poteca (how we spell it at our house), but not knowing anything about it (no joke - I didn't know that it had walnuts in it until a few years ago), since I guess my great-grandfather wanted to leave all of Slovenia behind when they left. Now only my aunt and I make it; we are the only ones with my great-grandmother's recipe. I've actually been looking for a poppyseed version, as I have a friend with deadly nut allergies, to make next Christmas, and I stumbled across your blog. I'm excited to see some recipes as I learn about my Slovenian side of the family.
DeleteHi Allison,
DeleteSorry I am a little late replying to comments. We lost my mother on February 11 (she'd been under hospice care for many months) so I have been preoccupied.
"Poteca" is also the spelling I saw on my mother's old recipe cards. Yes, my immigrant grandfather (her father) also had lot of that "leave Slovenia behind" mentality.
No, I don't know of any Yankos. I am pretty sure the original Slovenian spelling must have been Jenko (j is pronounced like y in Slovene.) But I have confirmed my grandmother's tie to the Adamics who settled in Pueblo and Canon City, thanks to looking at some family trees and then discovering a DNA cousin match between my mother and a Colorado Adamic descendant.
Perhaps you will make potica for Easter??
I haven't had a slice of potica in almost 30 years! I have a memory of potica since I was a little girl. My mom is Italian and my Dad is Austrian. I was never sure what family tradition it came from. I started thinking about the potica since seeing the bread in a catalog, but my mom hasn't made it in years, and she wouldn't be able to find the recipe due to her age. It makes sense that it was from my dad's family because we would have it at his brothers house too around the holidays. I have asked my uncle to look for my aunts recipe but have yet to hear from him. They are all up there in age! I do remember my mom using filo dough, and of all the recipes I've seen so far haven't really mentioned that. I remember watching her make it and always requested her to put more cinnamon in it. She rolled it and shaped it into a circle...not sure what pan...I sure hope my uncle comes thru with the recipe before Christmas. It would make my dad and siblings so happy to see it back on our menu!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comments, Judi! Potica is Slovenian in origin, but there is definitely an Italian connection. I recently made something called putizza di noci (and will post it soon.) It is a style of potica that became popular in Trieste and the surrounding areas, on the border between Italy and Slovenia. It is also a traditional dish for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. I hope you find your family recipe!
DeleteI too always thought Potica was Slovenian in origin, but now I see comments online that it is Croatian or Serbian. So I wonder really where it started. (I'm Slovenian, so I'm hoping for Slovenia, but I'm really not sure.)
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DeleteThank you for commenting, D Furar!
DeleteYes, I have seen similar claims about our beloved potica. And, much as it pains me to admit it, other Central and Eastern European countries do have similar rolled, filled yeast breads. Hungary, Poland, Croatia and Serbia all have breads that are in the same family.
A few years ago, I was amazed to discover potica (or so I thought) in Israel, in the dining room of a kibbutz tourist resort on the Sea of Galilee. When I asked a server what it was called, she just shrugged and said it was "cinnamon bread." She seemed surprised at my excitement. Turns out the kibbutz had been founded in the 1930s by refugees from Czechoslovakia.
There is a funny story about the source of our family recipe. I've told it before, but here it is again: My grandmother, like so many ethnic cooks, didn't use recipes. Although my mother watched and learned from her, for written directions she turned to a Serbian American friend, who got a potica recipe from her mother. But it's the same technique as my grandmother's. And, most important: it tastes just like hers!
As to where potica originated, who knows? But I still believe that the Slovenian version is special. And only Slovenia has raised potica to an art form :-)
Just to be clear: The name "potica" is definitely Slovenian! The other countries with similar breads have different names. Povitica in Croatia, beigli in Hungary, and so on. Wikipedia has a good entry about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_roll
DeleteIn the United States, the Slovenian name seems to have become the most widely known, along with the generic term "nut roll." So you might find a perfectly fine potica for sale, made by a baker who uses the old family recipe from Croatia or Czechoslovakia.
But it's all good, as the saying goes!
My Grandmother was Croatian and she made it.
DeleteOne of the best "commercial" brands is made by a Croatians-run bakery in Kansas City!
DeleteI just returned from Slovenia and enjoyed lots of good Slovenian food including potica which I remember from all my life.. especially Easter and Christmas time. I had also had a delicious potica with 3 herbs in it.. tarragon and two others...(melissa(lemon balm) and maybe mint or rosemary). Anyone got a good recipe for that? There were bags of little potica bakery.. both the walnut and the tarragon at the local Mercator grocery store.. wish I could buy them here..
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DeleteThanks for stopping by! I too was shocked at the idea of a sweet tarragon filling. But in recent years I have tasted it and also made a sweet cheese filling with tarragon for struklji. Unusual for Americans, but it has a sort of licorice taste. Was the herb potica sweet and/or with cheese?
ReplyDeleteBlair
PS: My struklji with a sweet cheese-tarragon filling is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://slovenianroots.blogspot.com/2012/10/slovenian-dinner-week-33-buckwheat.html
The herb potica was mildly sweet and, as you noted, a mild licorice flavor and it looked like a fine layer of white cheese of some sort.. farmers, or cottage cheese. It begged me to eat more until it was gone. My Mom used to make struklji but I didn't like it because she put lots of pepper in it. I didn't pay a lot of attention to how she prepared it, tho I remember her frying it or something for it in butter. Also remember it boiling in water. She'd make it for her little brother, my Uncle Norbie when he and my Dad would go hunting. He would come over at 4 or 5 in the morning while it was still dark and I would get up to get in on the excitement before the chase. The heavily peppered Struklji was strong smelling for my young senses.
DeleteThe boiled pasta I did enjoy was her boiled plum dumplings which she also fried in bread crumbs and butter..(I think she did that to the struklji also) She was a great pastry cook. Her apple strudel was heavenly., you could see her hands through the strudel dough as she streched over the whole expanded dining room table..she did put walnuts in it, but put them on the dough on the other side of the roll from the apple since she found out that putting them in with the apples turned them purple when baked. She also made flancite (sp?) which I liked. Not much zganjce (sp?) tho because she confided that she did not like it.. but described it very well and I recognised it when our Slovenian hostess placed a large pot of it on the table for breakfast complete with pork cracklings in it. (I must say I did like it pretty well.. great for travellers digestive system and filling too, though I can see that one might get tired of it when served on a continual and regular basis)
Just found this now! Thanks for the nice long reflection, especially you family recollections. I have got to try those plum dumplings sometime :-)
ReplyDeleteI was baking potica today for the holidays, had some left over filling, and found your site while searching for a nut horn cookie recipe. I agree that potica, more than any other dish, evokes warm and loving memories of Slovenian heritage and family.
ReplyDeleteI belong to a parish in northeast Ohio that still has a group of older ladies (and a couple men) that bake and sell traditional Slovenian potica for the holidays. I joined the group a couple of years ago and it is one of the highlights of my Christmas preparation activities. At 59, I am the youngest of the group - they are mainly in their 70's and 80's. They are a joy to work with, and I have picked up a few tricks and hints over the past couple years (we make about 400 per year).
I have found that as the elders are passing, those of us still here are striving to hang on to and strengthen our Slovenian ties. My brother is becoming quite fluent in Slovenian, and is doing a great deal of research on the language (also - he is married to an Adamich). Our heritage is strong and draws us to Slovenia whenever possible. Can't wait to get back there! All 4 of my grandparents emigrated from Slovenia to NE Ohio - so we were blessed to discover relatives on a recent trip. The best potica I have had in recent years was served with some homemade wine in the kitchen of a long lost cousin in Grahovo Slovenia. Doesn't get any better than that.
Thank you for the recipes on your blog - I will be trying several of them soon, and sharing with the family.
Hi Jane,
DeleteThanks for writing! We sound like kindred spirits! Where in northeast Ohio do you live? I lived in and around Cleveland until I was 15. I wonder if your brother's wife could be connected to my grandmother's family? Her maiden name was spelled in various ways: Adamic, Adamich, and Adamitch. Happy Holidays!
Why is my potica cracking on the sides
ReplyDeleteHi Joan. All I can say for sure is don't worry- it happens to the best if us! See my final post in 2015, a review and reflection of the year in potica. I include a photo if one of my own. I suspect it might be caused by excess honey or too soft a dough. But it seems to taste just the same!
DeleteAlthough my family is Croatian (but has a name also found in Slovenia), I feel tempted to try out your recipe. Just started baking with yeast recently -- so perhaps I am being over-confident. Thanks for this very interesting site.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael,
DeleteThanks for writing! I would encourage you to try the recipe--I think it is easier than many others. Yes, there is plenty of overlap with Croatian cooking. I have a friend here in CA of Croatian heritage, with a name spelled much like yours (Karpan) who knows potica from growing up in Minnesota. It's all good! (From your Google profile, it looks like we may overlap in another way--the University of Chicago!)
All the best,
Blair
My wife and I both went to grad school at UC. I started with Anthropology but "transferred" to the Law School. My wife got a Ph.D. in Russian Literature. We were in Chicago for over 15 years (Sept. 1974 to Dec. 1989). My father's family came from the Waukegan area (and before that from the Lika region -- just over the mountains from Zadar).
DeleteHave you ever seen the Slovenian stamps depicting the adventures of Martin Krpan? (I bought these and framed them for my father)
Yes, I know about Martin Krpan stamps and stories! Your famous relative, perhaps??
DeleteI've started making a half-size batch of dough. It was VERY sticky, but I didn't want to add immense amounts of extra flour. It was still sticky (but much more elastic) after over half an hour of kneading. We'll see how it looks tomorrow, for day 2 of the process. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGood idea to allow it to be sticky--took me a long time to learn that! Do post here so folks will know how it turned out!
DeleteI've been making poppy seed rolls and nut rolls for the holidays for years. The biggest challenge has been trying to figure out how to keep them from splitting and and all the filling spilling out. I've tried different dough recipes, rolling my loaf bigger, smaller, looser, tighter...When I saw your beautiful pictures of compact well shaped loaves, decided to try your recipe. My first couple of loaves broke wide open(we ate the evidence). Then I tried making smaller loaves. The results were only slightly better. Finally I ended up cutting each remaining loaf of dough onto eight pieces. I spread my filling down the middle and braided it up. After rising, I brushed with egg white and sprinkled turbinado sugar. It may not look like traditional potica, but at least I will have something attractive to put on the table. If you can tell me what I am doing wrong, how to get that beautiful shape, I will be ready to try again for Easter. My roots are also Slovenian but I just recently learned the name for what we simply called nut and poppyseed rolls. Poppyseed,( I use canned) has always been our favorite.
ReplyDeleteHi Eileen! Thanks for writing! I love the flavor of poppy seed filling, although my mother never used it for potica. But I have started to make at least one or two loaves that way.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what to suggest about the splitting loaves--except that it improves with practice, and it's not a disaster when it happens--especially with the poppy seed filling, in my experience. It is worse with the walnut filling, at least the way my family makes it, with the honey just drizzled on top before rolling. Too much honey will run right out!
One obvious suggestion, I guess: Use a bread pan or other mold instead of the free-form rolls we use. The round bundt-type pan is most traditional in Slovenia, although I haven't had such good luck with that--hard to get it fully baked without burning, I find. But I have used standard bread pans, and that can work well because the dough has to keep its shape.
Good luck and happy holidays!
Hi Blair, my mom always made patica every christmas. She made it with crushed pineapple and walnuts. The recipe has been lost :( and I would like to know how much pineapple I should add to your recipe please, thank you ...Shari Roberts
ReplyDeleteSorry I am seeing this so late, Shari! I have never tried pineapple potica and don't think I have seen a recipe. Why not experiment?
DeleteOkay, here is a possibility, a recipe for apple-pineapple strudel: https://www.duff.com/recipes/apple-strudel
DeleteMy mother wasn't Slovenian. She married my dad who was 100% Slovenian. My grandmother, my dad's mother, taught my mom how to cook. She was a good teacher, because my mom baked some delicious potica.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting!
Delete