Trading Post: Potica a traditional Bohemian-Slovenian dessert

After a request for a recipe for the nut bread called potica, the Trading Post heard from many bakers, some who have family recipes and others who found recipes in cookbooks.

Potica (po-teet-sa) is a Bohemian-Slovenian dessert of yeast dough filled with ground nuts and cinnamon. It seems to have a variety of spellings and pronunciations, but it's pretty darn tasty, whatever it's called.

Here are a couple of the recipes.

The first is from Marilyn Jonnie Haycraft of Springfield, Ill., who says it is an original recipe from Slovenia. The second comes from Heather Wicks, who got the recipe from "The New American Cooking" (Knopf, 2005), a cookbook by Joan Nathan.

Nathan writes that potica was brought to Minnesota's Iron Range by miners from Croatia, and it remains popular at Christmas, weddings and other celebrations in the Hibbing, Minn., area. Nathan's recipe uses puff pastry (rather than strudel dough that traditionally is stretched so thin you can see through it), making it a little easier for the home baker.

Jonnie's Potica

2 packages dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 cup butter or margarine

½ cup milk

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 egg yolks, beaten

2 ½ cups flour

Cinnamon-walnut filling:

1 ½ cups finely ground walnuts or pecans

3 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup milk

3 teaspoons honey

3 egg whites

1 teaspoon cold water

1 cup sugar

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Set aside.

Combine butter, milk, sugar and salt. Heat over low heat till butter is melted and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm; add egg yolks and yeast mixture to butter mixture. Mix well and stir in flour. (Dough will be like thick pancake batter.) Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

To make filling, combine nuts, the 3 teaspoons of sugar and cinnamon. Stir in milk and honey. Heat in microwave until hot (1 ½ minutes); stir and cool.

Combine egg whites and water; beat until frothy. Gradually add 1 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Stir and fold into the walnut mixture.

Divide dough in half. Store second half in refrigerator while working first half.

Roll half into 24-inch square on a floured surface. Dough will be very thin. Spread half of the cinnamon-walnut filling on dough and roll up jellyroll fashion. Place in well greased 10-inch tube pan.

Repeat process with remaining dough and place on top of roll in tube pan. Use sharp knife to cut through both rolls in several places, cutting to the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove from pan while warm. Bread can be frozen.

Makes 1 loaf.

Joan Nathan's Potica

3 cups walnuts

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 large egg

4 tablespoons light or heavy cream

2 sheets (about 17.3 ounces) prepared puff pastry dough

1 egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-11-inch jelly-roll pan.

To prepare the filling, put the walnuts in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add both sugars, the honey, cinnamon, egg, and 3 tablespoons of the cream, and pulse a few times, until the mixture is the consistency of a chunky paste.

Flour a table or other flat surface and roll out 1 sheet of puff pastry dough to form a 12-by-16-inch rectangle. Smear half the filling all over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border all around.

Starting at the narrower 12-inch end, roll up the puff pastry like a jelly roll, tightly but gently tucking in the sides as you roll. Place the dough in the baking pan. Repeat with the second sheet and the remainder of the filling.

Mix the egg yolk with the remaining tablespoon of cream and brush the glaze over the potica. Bake in oven about 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and transfer to serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 2 loaves.

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A reader is seeking a recipe for pie made with dried apricots. If you have such a recipe, please send it to the Trading Post.

The Trading Post runs every other week and is compiled by Kathryn Rem. Send recipes and recipe requests to the Trading Post, The State Journal-Register, P.O. Box 219, Springfield, IL 62705, fax to 788-1551 or e-mail food@sj-r.com. Please include your name, city and daytime phone number.