Povitica Croatian Walnut Sweet Bread

I loved hearing stories about my my grandmother Anna Radenic Briglovich.

She and my grandfather Frank (Franjo Brigljevic) Briglovich came to this country as married young teenagers from Velika Gorica Croatia. My father was the youngest of 13 children.

 

My father used to talk about how good of a cook his mom was, how sometimes the pot on the stove looked almost as tall as she was, and how particular she was in the kitchen. She would pin and net her hair , make sure everything was spotless before starting to cook or bake.

He said that when she made Povitica it was a real Croatian treat.

I have always loved to cook and bake and I am a very good cook. From Ol school recipes to new ones. But this one is going to be a real challenge.

 

I never met my grandmother Briglovich unfortunately and I am making this for Easter this year and it will be a few trial runs for me.

I have never made this before and who knows I may never make it again haha.

I always cheated and just bought it from StrawberryHill they are fabulous and oh my the flavors they have….

 

God Bless my grandmother for always cooking from scratch for her family it is very time consuming,.

 

The main most important things to remember is Roll it out big and thin.

 

And make sure you bake it low temp and for the time specified otherwise the middle will be undercooked and not edible.

 

Since my grandmother didn’t have a recipe for this I am using the one from the Great British Bake Off

Povitica. Pov-e-Tee-z

 

Equipment Needed

Equipment and preparation: for this recipe you will need a clean, flat single bed sheet and a 1kg/2lb loaf tin.

A chopper

A large area to work on

Ingredients

Ingredients

For the dough

300g/10½oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

40g/1½oz caster sugar

7g salt

10g/⅓oz fast-action yeast

30g/1oz unsalted butter, melted

1 large free-range egg, beaten

½ vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out

150ml/5½fl oz whole milk, warmed

For the filling

60g/2¼oz unsalted butter

4 tbsp whole milk

280g/10oz walnut pieces

½ vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out

100g/3½oz caster sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 free-range egg yolk, beaten

To assemble

15g/½oz butter, melted

1 free-range egg white, beaten

100g/3½oz icing sugar

 

Method

1 For the dough, tip the flour and sugar into the bowl of a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the salt into one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the melted butter, egg, vanilla seeds and warm milk and begin mixing on a slow speed. When the dough starts to come together, mix for a further 5-8 minutes on a medium speed until the dough is soft, smooth and stretchy.

2 Tip the dough into a lightly oiled mixing bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise until at least doubled in size – about one hour. Butter a 1kg/2lb loaf tin.

3 For the filling, place the butter and milk in a small pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat.

4 Place the walnuts, vanilla seeds, sugar and cocoa powder into the bowl of a food processor and blend to a sandy powder. Add the egg yolk, milk and butter mixture and pulse to combine. Set aside.

5 To assemble, spread a clean bed sheet over a kitchen table and dust with flour. Turn the risen dough out onto the sheet and roll out the dough into a large 50x30cm/20x12in rectangle. Brush the surface with 15g/½oz melted butter.

6 Dust your hands with flour and ease them underneath the dough. Using the backs of your hands, stretch the dough out from the centre until very thin and translucent (you should be able to see the sheet through the dough). The rectangle should measure approximately 1metrex60cm/40x24in.

7 Taking care not to tear the dough, spread the filling over the dough until evenly covered. If the filling has been standing for a long time and is too thick, add a little warm milk to loosen it.

8 Starting at the long edge of the dough, lift the sheet and gently roll the dough up tightly, like a Swiss roll.

9 Carefully lift the dough and place one end in the bottom corner of the greased loaf tin. Ease the roll into the base of the tin to form a long ‘U’ shape, then double back laying the roll over the first ‘U’ shape to form a second ‘U’ shape on top.

10 Place the loaf tin inside a clean plastic bag and leave to rise for one hour.

11 Preheat the oven to 180C/160C(fan)/ 350F/Gas 4.

12 Brush the dough with beaten egg white and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 150C/130C(fan)/300F/Gas 3 and bake for a further 45 minutes, or until golden-brown. Cover with foil if the top begins to darken too much.

13 Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

14 Mix the icing sugar with a few drops of cold water to make a runny icing and drizzle it over the povitica. Slice and enjoy.

 

I got the recipe from PBS Recipe Povitica The Great British Bake Off

Tips

Using a bed sheet makes it easier to roll the very thin dough. Clean the sheet well before use or use a large piece of cotton.

Allow enough time to bake do not cut time short or middle could be doughy…yuck

Thankfully I finally saw the method on The Great British Bake Off show on PBS which explains why my first one didn’t turn out well at all.

It was rolled out way to thick….and it looked nothing like it should have ….

Here is a link of their recipe and a video on their end results and how it should look.

The Great British Bake Off – PBS

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/povitica_92623/amp

You Tube