Potica - A truly sweet ambassador of Slovenia

Slovenian potica is one of Slovenia’s original desserts. It is a pastry consisting of yeast dough and a filling which is usually made from walnut. Next to štruklji, potica is the most typical Slovenian dessert and is considered a festive dessert. For years, potica has been known all over the world, finding recognition with the help of Slovenian emigrants. Some even describe it as the ambassador of Slovenia.

It can be made with over 80 different fillings and from different types of dough. The most characteristic fillings include tarragon, honey, walnut, poppy seed, crackling, chive, lovage and cottage cheese. Below are the recipes for the walnut and tarragon potica.

Walnut potica

Ingredients for leavened dough: 1 kg flour, 30 g yeast, 3-4 yolks, 3 dl lukewarm milk, 120 g butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoon sugar, fat for the mould. Filling: 600-700 g walnuts, 200 g honey, 50 g sugar, 1-2 dl milk, 1 egg, grounded cinnamon, rum or home-made fruit spirit.

Prepare the dough in a warm room. Heat up the flour, sift it into a bowl and stir it together with a teaspoon of salt. Stir dissolved yeast together with a tablespoon of sugar, 2 spoons of flour and ½ dl lukewarm water or milk. Leave it in a warm place to rise. Make a hole in the middle of the flour; add whisked eggs, yeast, lukewarm melted butter and sugar, adding lukewarm milk while stirring. Beat the dough for 15 minutes or until the bubbles appear and the dough separates from the bowl. Certain types of flour may need more milk than others. Sprinkle some flour on the beaten dough, cover the dough with a cotton cloth and leave it in a warm place to rise. Crush or grind the walnuts and pour some hot sweetened milk over the walnuts. Slowly heat up the honey until it liquefies, and then add it to the walnuts; add also cinnamon. Leave the filing to cool down. Add one or two eggs to the almost cold filing and mix them thoroughly. Roll out the dough until it is ½ cm thick; spread it with the warm filing. Roll tightly; put it in a well-greased mould. The potica is then left to rise slowly, but not too much, because it will rise during the baking. Put the whisked egg on the potica before the baking. Bake time is one hour. When baked leave it in the mould to cool down for at least 15 minutes and then softly turn it over to the board. Sprinkle it with an icing sugar, if desired.

Tarragon potica

Ingredients for leavened dough: 1 kg white flour type 500, 1 cube yeast, 1 egg, 2 yolks, 150 g sugar, 150 g butter, approx 4 dl milk, salt. Filling: 2 dl double cream, 150 g butter, 150 g sugar, 2 eggs, 100 g bread crumbs, a fist of fresh tarragon leaves.

Knead the leavened dough from flour, prepared yeast, melted butter, salt, yolks, sugar and lukewarm milk. After it has rose enough, roll it until it is finger thick. Then spread the filling made out of double cream, sugar, eggs, and fried bread crumbs (use butter and cool it down a bit). Sprinkle with chopped tarragon leaves. Roll tightly. Put Tarragon Potica into a greased baking pan and leave to rise. Bake in the electric oven at approx 150 °C for 1 hour.

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