Nana’s Potica recipe – a Slovenian nut roll traditionally served at Easter and Christmas, or any family gathering. Make this dessert to give as gifts or for holiday dinner parties. Grandma makes the best potica!
My Nana was an awesome baker.
When I would visit her in summers growing up, I would spend hours leafing through her cookbooks with dreams of owning my own bakery when I grew up.
Little did either of us know that my fascination would instead turn into a food blog one day.
I’m actually trying to imaginetrying to explain what a blog is to my Nana. I’m not sure she even understood whata computer is!
I know I’mso lucky to have these memories of her since most people never even know their great-grandparents, let alone get to spend time with them in the kitchen.
My Nana passed away a couple weeks ago. She would have turned 99 years old this summer. Maybe her baking had something to do with her long life?
I’ll believe it.
I’ve sharedher Easter bread recipe on here before, and another recipe she would make for the holiday is this sweet potica (pronounced po-teet-sah).
A traditional Slovenian nut roll traditionally made for Easter and Christmas.
Making her potica recipe seemed like a perfect way to honor Nana.
The yeast dough is refrigerated (trust me, this helps), then rolled out and a sweet walnut filling is scooped on top. Then rolled tightly.
Try not to overstuff the filling before rolling – if you have leftover you can always add it as a topping.
I made 4 loaves out of my batch, which is why they are smaller circles than you might have seen in potica before.
If you separate the dough into only 2 larger loaves then you’ll get more of the “swirls”.
You’ll just need a larger area to roll out the dough initially, but they will obviously be thicker rolls resulting in more layers.
Everyone in my family loves this bread.
One time my aunt TRIPLEDthe recipe, and still had to make more for Easter brunch because everyone was eating it up.
I hope you’re proud, Nana. Love you.
Need more Easter recipe ideas? Check out this list of 40+ vegetarian Easter mains, sides, and desserts.
Yield: 2 loaves
Nana's Potica
Nana's Potica recipe - a Slovenian nut roll traditionally served at Easter and Christmas.
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Rise time2 hours
Total Time3 hours15 minutes
Ingredients
For the bread:
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast, (2 packets)
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks, (save the egg whites for the filling)
1 cup sour cream
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (plus more for rolling out as needed)
For the walnut filling:
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 lb ground walnuts
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
In a small bowl, add the yeast and water and mix together to make a paste. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add salt, egg yolks, sour cream, and start adding the flour 1 cup at a time until combined.
Add the proofed yeast (should be bubbly) to the flour mixture and combine. Dough will be sticky.
Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight (see note*)
Remove dough from fridge and separate into 2 balls (***see notes)
Roll out each ball into rectangles (about 1/4 of an inch works well), adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking.
Mix together all ingredients for nut filling and spread evenly over dough, leaving a little room near the edges so it doesn't overflow when rolled.
Roll tightly.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Let rise for 1 hour (will rise more in the oven if the dough has been refrigerated for a longer time)
Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until browned.
Notes
I tried this recipe by refrigerating the dough only briefly (30 minutes to an hour) and also overnight. If you are in a hurry, it will still turn out mostly the same by refrigerating briefly but the longer time will help the dough be more manageable when you need to roll it out from my experience.
*Calories are for 1/12 of a loaf based on 2 loaves.
**This nut roll can be served hot or cooled - whichever your preference! Kind of like a cookie. I prefer room temperature.
***I made 4 loaves out of my batch, which is why they are smaller circles than you might have seen in potica before. If you separate the dough into only 2 larger loaves then you'll get more of the "swirls". You'll just need a larger area to roll out the dough initially, but they will obviously be thicker rolls resulting in more layers.
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Nutrition information is calculated automatically by an online tool at Nutritionix. It is not always accurate. Please use your own tools to check if you rely on this information.
Babka may be the most well-known, but it is not the only twisted or braided bread from Eastern Europe. Povitica, an Easter bread from Slovenia and Croatia, is a similar enriched bread rolled with a walnut filling. Compared to babka, potivica is rolled much thinner and has an elaborate pattern of tight spirals.
The Slovenian holidays smell of Potica. Potica is ranked number one in Slovenian traditional holiday pastries. It is made from folded and rolled out yeast dough and filled with various fillings. Slovenian housekeepers are happy to bake it even outside the holiday season to pamper their loved ones.
Potica consists of a rolled pastry made of leavened paper-thin dough filled with any of a great variety of fillings, but most often with walnut filling. The most characteristic poticas are made with ground walnut, tarragon, quark, hazelnut or poppy seed, salted ones even with cracklings or bacon, and other fillings.
Once received, your povitica will remain soft and fresh for up to a week on your countertop. If you're aiming for a bit longer, keep each loaf cool in your refrigerator for up to two weeks. If you have the will power, you can freeze your Povitica for up to three months.
Like many Jewish-American specialties, babka originated in Eastern Europe – Poland and Ukraine in particular – in the early 1800s. As a way to use extra challah dough, Jews there would roll up the dough with cinnamon or fruit jam and bake it alongside the challah.
Grandma pronounced it “po-va-TEET-sa.” Others know this Eastern European pastry as potica, kolachi, gubana or bejgli. But you don't have to learn Croatian to enjoy this delicious tradition — just call it “povi” for short!
Slovenian desserts are just as diverse as the towns and villages they originated in. However, some traditional recipes have won over the hearts of all generations across Slovenia. The most famous one is definitely potica; there is Bled cream cake, and there are štruklji, which can even be eaten as the main dish.
Potica was first mentioned as early as the 16th century. Today, it is considered a symbol of Slovenian cuisine, a traditional guaranteed speciality that is undergoing a protection procedure under the auspices of the European Commission.
Nut rolls are known also by many specific regional names, including: orechovník in Slovak; makowiec in Polish; potica, povitica, gibanica, orahnjača/orehnjača in Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian (walnut variant, makovnjača for variant with poppy seed, in Croatia can also be made with carob); kalács and bejgli in Hungarian; ...
Dough cracks or splits - If your nut rolls split open while baking, there may be too much filling or the dough was too dry or didn't rise. It may not look good, but it should taste fine!
Yes, you can keep the dough in a ketchup bottle, provided you use wheat flour, not maida. The fermentation process is a little slower so you will have to leave it out overnight (or at least 10-12 hours) and do the same the next day. Also, make sure that you leave out the whole wheat flour in the dough.
You can freeze the entire, baked loaf of Povitica bread. Let it cool completely, then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in an airtight container or ziplock bag and freeze for up to 2 months. You can also freeze individual slices in the same way.
Nut rolls are known also by many specific regional names, including: orechovník in Slovak; makowiec in Polish; potica, povitica, gibanica, orahnjača/orehnjača in Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian (walnut variant, makovnjača for variant with poppy seed, in Croatia can also be made with carob); kalács and bejgli in Hungarian; ...
Pronounced Pov-e-Tee-za, this Eastern European sweet bread and cousin to the better known babka, is traditionally served at Christmas, but makes a delicious tea time treat at any time of the year.
Povitica may remind you of babka, another filled and twisted bread from Eastern Europe. Babka most likely originates from Ukraine or Poland and modern babkas tend to be richer than povitica. Povitica dough is rolled much thinner than babka, sometimes so thin you can read a piece of paper through the dough.
Traditionally, paska is baked in a large round decorated on the top with symbols, including crosses, flowers, braids, wheat, or other designs representing aspects of Orthodox and Eastern Catholic faith. Babka is traditionally baked to be tall and cylindrical.
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