Povitica { A Eastern European Dessert Bread }

I have joined Daring Kitchen from this month on...I am always keen on learning anything new and baking is my current passion....So what better way to roll up my sleeves and get all set to bake a challenging recipe....

The daring baker's October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of the Gingered whisk....Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat....

  Povitica (poh-vee-TEET-sah ) is  sweat or savory yeast bread of Croatian origin....It is typically served at special occasions like weddings, birthdays and holidays....A sweetened dough is made which is rolled paper thin and slathered with a filling and then rolled again and baked...Although walnut is the most traditional filling, other fillings can also be used like peaches, apple, apple and raisins, chocolate, strawberry jam etc....The end result is a beautifully patterned slices when cut....

The original recipe made 4 loaves of bread, but as I was baking it for the first time, I was a little apprehensive.....But Jenni was very generous to provide a halved recipe and even a quartered recipe...Quartered recipe made one loaf , so I was a happy girl....Even if something goes wrong with the first loaf, i'll still have my chance....

All you need is

To activate the yeast

Sugar-1\2 tsp
All purpose flour-1\4 tsp
Warm water- 2tbsp
Dry yeast-11\2 tsp

For the dough

Whole milk-1\2 cup
Sugar-3 tbsp
Egg-1
Salt-3\4 tsp
Unsalted butter-1 tbsp {melted }
All purpose flour-2 cups {sifted }

Topping

Milk-2 tbsp

Filling ingredients

Ground walnuts-13\4 cups
Whole milk-1\4 cup
Unsalted butter-1\4 cup
Egg yolk-1{beaten }
Vanilla extract-1\4 tsp
Sugar-1\2cup
Unsweetened cocoa powder-1\4 tsp
Cinnamon powder-1\4 tsp

Method of preparation

To activate yeast

In a small bowl, stir together sugar, flour and yeast into warm water and cover and keep aside for 5 minutes

To make the dough

In a pan, heat the milk just below the boiling point
Keep stirring
Cool a bit
In a bowl, mix milk with sugar and salt
Add egg, yeast mixture, melted butter and 1\4 cups of flour
Mix nicely and continue adding flour till a soft dough is formed
Turn the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 3- 4 minutes
Keep the dough in a covered oiled bowl for one and half hours in a warm place , till it doubles in size

To make the filling

Ground the walnuts in a blender
Mix , ground walnuts, sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon powder
Heat milk and butter to boiling
Add in the walnut mixture
Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly

To roll and assemble the dough

Spread a plastic sheet on top of the working surface
Sprinkle little flour on the sheet
Roll the dough on this sheet, as thin as you can without tearing the dough {I teared mine at a few places :-( }
Spread 1 tbsp of butter on the rolled dough
Spread the filling on the rolled dough evenly
Lift the edge of the dough and roll it gently into a long roll
Place the dough roll into the greased pan in the shape of a U
Brush the top with milk
Cover the pan with a plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes
Pre heat the oven to350 degrees
After 15 minutes, remove the plastic wrap from the pan and bake the bread for 15 minutes at 350 degrees
Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake for another 40-45 minutes
Remove bread from the oven and brush with melted butter
Let it rest in the pan for 20 minutes
Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack

And yipee.....Here comes a beautifully baked loaf with a surprise inside.....When the slices of this loaf were cut, there were beautiful patterns inside.....The bread was very soft to eat and the flavor of the filling was phenomenal......So it was a day well spent.....

Lining to YeastSpotting