Potica: A Step-by-Step Guide to Slovenian Nut Roll

The last time I posted my family's potica recipe, I promised that I would add an expanded version of the instructions, along with step-by-step photos.

Suddenly, the year is drawing to a close. So here it is.

There are at least four generations of potica bakers in my family.  As a child in Cleveland, I used to watch my Slovenian-American grandma roll out the dough on her kitchen table. I learned to make it from my mother.  My sister and I have passed the recipe along to our sons, who have turned out some impressive loaves.

The step-by-step photos are from a potica-making session a few years ago. I had been asked to contribute a potica to the Trgatev, the annual fall grape harvest festival, held at San Francisco's Slovenian Hall.  So I decided to take photos and record some details, to flesh out the recipe.

The potica turned out well, even though it was a little overbaked.  Actually, it was twice baked.  I had stored it in the oven overnight, for safe-keeping, after reminding my husband to be sure he didn't turn on the oven.  You can imagine the rest!

I was tempted to call this recipe Easy Potica, even though that is something of an oxymoron.  The only truly easy potica is the kind you buy.  And yes, I have tasted some very good commercial versions. So far, the one that comes closest to my treasured family potica is made by these folks.  (It must be that Rocky Mountain air!)

Our family's style of potica is closer to pastry than bread.  With the rich honey-nut filling and the thin layers of yeast dough, it tastes like a cross between brioche and baklava.

But it is easier to make than many other potica recipes I have seen.

Here is why:

-The sour cream refrigerator dough is make-ahead, so the recipe is prepared in stages.
-The dough is easier to handle than the usual yeast dough.
-The filling is simple and elemental, with no complicated mixing or cooking.
-The loaves are made individually, which is easier to manage

Another advantage to this recipe: The potica keeps very well, because of the honey and sour cream.

There are many approaches to making potica.  There are also many different filling possibilities, especially in Slovenia.  (Including some unusual savoury versions, with tarragon and even pork cracklings!)

But this is the potica I have eaten every Christmas of my life.  It is also a traditional Easter dish.  So I am partial to it.

Enjoy!  And Happy Holidays, from my kitchen to yours!

And do feel free to join in the lively discussion in the comments below. I would love to know how you found this post, so please let me know!



Update: For a few more thoughts about potica, see my 2014 holiday update.

Gluten-Free? See New for 2015: Gluten-Free Potica with Amazing Almond Filling.

My Latest Thoughts: Christmas Potica 2015: Reflections and Revelations, in which I discover that my family's simple, rich walnut-honey filling is also the most economical!

Vegan? See Vegan Potica : Not Your Babica's Slovenian Nut Roll,  my holiday experiment for 2016.

Remembering My Mother: Alice Kilpatrick, 1923-2018

Christmas 2015

Potica (Slovenian Nut Roll)

Dough

1 cup plus 6 T. butter, melted and cooled (2-3/4 sticks)
1 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
1-1⁄2 cups sour cream
2 packages dry yeast
3/4 cup warm milk
1 t. sugar

6 cups flour, plus more for kneading
1 t. salt

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, egg yolks, and sour cream.  Mix well.

In a small bowl, proof yeast in warm milk and sugar. Add yeast to the first mixture.  Mix well.

Sift flour and salt. Add to the mixture in the large bowl and stir to combine.  You should have a soft, sticky dough.  Turn it out on a floured board and knead until smooth and elastic.  Divide dough into four even balls and flatten them slightly.  Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

Filling

2 pounds (about 6-1/2 cups) finely ground walnuts
1 c. sugar
1 T. cinnamon
dash of salt (optional)

1⁄2 cup melted butter
honey to taste, 1/2 to 1 cup
(Optional: dried cranberries)

To Assemble

It is easiest to use a floured cloth to roll out the dough. I like to cover the kitchen table with a tablecloth and then put a floured pillowcase in the center. The pillowcase provides a good guide for shaping and it can also be used to nudge the roll along.
 
Remove a ball of dough from refrigerator and place it on floured surface. Roll it into a rectangle.  The dough should be thinner than pie crust but thicker than strudel or phyllo. I ended up with a 15 x 26 inch rectangle.

(For ambitious bakers: To make an extra-tasty potica, try to create even thinner layers. Roll the dough into a rectangle that is a little narrower but considerable longer. To see the difference, you'll find a photo of of an extra-thin potica below.  Or see a more recent potica post, here.)

Spread the dough with 2 T. melted butter and a quarter of the nut/sugar mixture, which should be about 2 cups. Warm the honey in a saucepan of hot water to thin it slightly.  Drizzle the dough with 2-4 T. of honey.  (We use the larger amount!)

Roll up the dough, beginning from the short end.  (I used to roll from the long end, but I now believe rolling from the short end results in a better-shaped loaf.)   After every few turns, prick the dough with a fork to eliminate air bubbles.   Pinch seam and ends closed and fold ends under.  Place seam side down on baking sheet or rectangular pan that has been oiled or lined with parchment paper.

Repeat with remaining balls of dough, for a total of four loaves. 

Let potica rise 1-1/4 hours. (Note: Loaves don’t rise much.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If necessary, bake for 10 minutes more at 325 degrees. Let cool before slicing.  To store, wrap in aluminum foil.  Potica tastes better the next day.  It stores well.  It also freezes well.


Variations: 

To make a less rich dough: Use milk instead of sour cream. (I've never tried this and don't recommend it!)

To omit the honey: Increase the sugar to 1-1/2 cups.  (We only skip the honey by accident!)

To avoid walnuts:  Just substitute pecans.  Tastes good, if less traditional.

To make a delicious almond filling, here's my adaptation from a Slovenian source.

To make a festive cranberry-nut version: Sprinkle the dough with dried cranberries before rolling.

To make a chocolate version:  See the previous post, for putizza di noci.

To make an easy poppy seed potica:  Add 2 beaten egg whites, 1/2 cup ground nuts, the grated rind of a lemon, and 1 T. rum to a 12 ounce can of commercially prepared poppy seed filling.

To do it yourself, use my homemade poppy seed filling.

For potica with the flavor of Kosovo, use tahini-honey spread.

Gluten-free? See my 2015 potica experiment here ( includes a wonderful almond filling).

Vegan? It's not as hard as you think! Go here, for my 2016 adaptation.

Dairy-free? Just use the vegan dough as above, but go back to the original egg yolks instead of the substitutes I suggest.

Potica Variations: Chocolate, Pecan, and Poppy Seed

Extra-thin, with tahini-honey spread

Step-by-Step, in Photos

mixing butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream for dough

proofing the yeast

mixing dough before kneading

      

dough, after kneading

dough, after refrigerating

filling ingredients

dough, rolled out

dough, spread with butter and walnut-sugar mixture

  

dough, drizzled with honey

potica, before rising (with extra "roll" in between)

potica, after rising

potica, after (over) baking!

potica, sliced

Cranberry Walnut Potica

Cranberry Walnut Potica, with Scottish Shortbread
(photo by Blair Kilpatrick)

Potica (puh-teet’-za) is Slovenia’s most famous dish. For American families with roots in that small, beautiful Alpine country, the rich yeast pastry is a beloved Christmas tradition. It is also a traditional Easter dish.

In my family, potica served as the bread of memory, because it was the only Slovenian tradition my mother maintained.  So we took it very seriously and didn't allow for much experimentation.  At most, we might substitute pecans for walnuts.  In recent years, we began to grind the nuts in a food processor and melt the butter in the microwave.  But that was the extent of our innovations.  We wanted our potica to taste just like my grandmother's.

Last year, I took a bold step. I added a sprinkle of dried cranberries to the family recipe. It seemed to fit with the Christmas spirit.  Besides, many traditional recipes call for adding raisins.

My family actually liked the cranberry version.  If I try it again this way, I'll use a lighter hand with the honey.

A word about this treasured family recipe:  It came from my mother, who learned to make potica from her mother.  But my grandmother wasn't the source of the written instructions.

My grandmother, like so many traditional ethnic cooks, didn't use recipes herself, and she never offered written directions.  So my mother turned to an old high school friend, who got a recipe from her mother.  Here's an odd twist: her friend's family came from Serbia, another country in the former Yugoslavia.  But my mother insists that this was the method her Slovenian American mother followed.

And we all agree:  It tastes just like our memory of Grandma's potica.

The recipe that follows is copied from the battered notecard my mother wrote out for me, with a few added comments of my own.  Clearly, it is one of those minimalist recipes that is intended for someone who is already familiar with a dish, knows how to prepare it, and just needs guidelines about quantities.

In a future post, I will offer step-by-step instructions, along with photos.  But for now, here is my family's traditional recipe for potica.  Good luck!

About the photo: Are you wondering why that Slovenian potica is sharing space with Scottish shortbread? Take a look at one of my early blog posts, Holiday Baking: A Bittersweet Taste of My Ethnic Roots.


Potica (Slovenian Nut Roll)

Dough

2 ¾ sticks butter, melted and cooled
1 c. sugar
6 egg yolks
1 ½ c. sour cream
2 packages yeast
¾ c. warm milk
1 t. sugar
6 c. flour
1 t. salt

Mix first four ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, proof yeast in warm milk and sugar. Add yeast to the first mixture and mix well.

Mix flour and salt. Add to the above and mix to make a soft, sticky dough.

Knead dough. Divide in 4 parts. Wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate overnight.


Filling

Combine:

2 lb. ground walnuts or pecans (6 1/2 c.)
1 c. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
dash of salt

Melted butter, about ½ c
Honey to taste
(Optional: dried cranberries)


Roll and stretch each portion of dough into a rectangle, a little thicker than pie crust. (Important note:  This should be: "a little thinner than pie crust," at least in my family.  The dough should be thinner than pie crust, but thicker than strudel or phyllo.)

Spread each portion with about 2 T. melted butter and ¼ of the nut/sugar mixture. Drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with dried cranberries, if desired. Roll up (from the long end) pinch seam and ends closed. Place seam side down on baking sheet, greased or lined with parchment paper. Let rise 1 ¼ hours.  (Note: Loaves don't rise much.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, if necessary for 10 minutes more at 325 degrees.  Let cool before slicing.  Makes 4 loaves.