Potica (Coffee Cake with Walnut Filling)

I think this recipe is from Susan. She made this years ago for one of the holidays and it was delicious. Finely ground walnuts sweetened with honey or sugar is the traditional filling and that's why many people refer to these pastries as nut rolls. Nut roll’s place of origin is Central Europe and go by many different names and variations there. Grandma Fickelscherer had a recipe for Nut Roll that I believe she used to make for the holidays.

Potica (po-TEET-za) is a rolled-up cake made with a very thin yeast dough, and filled with a sweet walnut filling. Or at any rate that’s its most common form in and around Slovenia. But that’s not to say that nut paste is the beginning and end of potica. Potica’s name derives from a Slovenian word meaning “to wrap up” or “to roll up”, and in that region of the world they wrap and/or roll quite a few different things. Poppyseed paste, for example. Also cooked apples, sweet farmer’s cheese, honey, raisin filling, cooked cherries, chocolate filling…and those are just the sweet varieties. Tarragon and egg potica is an old Slovenian classic. Chive and egg is another, but by far the most interesting of the savory bunch is a crackling and bacon potica that was traditionally made in the winter (pig slaughtering season), meant to be eaten warm and washed down with plenty of beer.

All of which is not to say that potica is a strictly Slovenian food. It may well have originated there, but it’s been enjoyed all throughout Central Europe, from Turkey up to Poland, Germany to Eastern Russia for going on 200 years.

Strawberry Hill Povitica located in Lenexa, Kansas and well known for their potica, features seasonal flavors like cranberry for fall and winter and blueberry cream cheese for Mother's Day, in addition to the English walnut, cream cheese, strawberry cream cheese, chocolate chip cream cheese, raisin walnut, and apple cinnamon.

FMM: We made this for Thanksgiving and it was quite good, maybe not as good as Susan's. I wasn't able to stretch the dough to quite the right size, although the nut filling still showed through where the dough split a bit when baking. I thought it could use just a bit more filling as it was very thin. I made a snail shaped loaf per the instructions below, although I saw one on the Internet that was made in a bundt pan that I would like to try next time. I added a thin icing once it was cool.

Mix together the 1 1/2 cup flour and the yeast.

Heat the milk, sugar, margarine, and salt to 115° F. and add to the flour and yeast mixture.

Add the egg and beat 3 minutes. Add the 2 cups of flour and beat well. [I added only about 1 3/4 cup. Dough seemed to be a bit dry]

Knead until the dough becomes smooth. Let rise until double in bulk (about 1 hour).

Meanwhile, prepare the Walnut Filling. Mix all ingrediets together and set aside.

Once risen, punch down the dough. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness (about 25" x 10"). Stretch gently working from center to edges, pulling very thin, to about 30" x 20". Spread with walnut filling. Starting at the long side, roll up like jelly roll. Pinch edge to seal.

Place one end in center of greased sheet. Coil dough in snail-shape spiral, seal end.

Cover, let rise til double (about 45 minutes). [Brush with egg beaten with 1 tsp cold water - gives the pastry a nice shine] Bake 30 - 35 minutes at 350° F. Cool. Decorate with thin icing and nuts, and candies cherries if desired.

Makes 1 coffee cake