Povitica-Daring Bakers October 2011

October 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Jenni from The Gingered Whisk. Jenni challenge everyone to make povitica.
Povitica is traditional Eastern European dessert bread that is traditionally served during the holiday season. I Croatia where I live it is called orehnjača.
I was really satisfied with this challenge. I haven t made this kind of dessert for some while. The original recipe was quite big so I made just quarter batch.

RECIPE: 

To activate the Yeast:

½ teaspoon  sugar
¼ teaspoon   flour
2 tablespoons warm water
1½ teaspoons  dry yeast

Dough:

120 ml whole milk

43 g sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 egg

30 g butter, melted

280 g flour 

Filling:

280 g ground walnuts

60 ml milk

60 g butter
1 egg yolk beaten
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

115 g sugar
¼ teaspoon cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

To Activate Yeast:

In a small bowl, stir sugar, flour, and the yeast into 0.5 dl warm water and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 5 minutes.

To Make the Dough:

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk up to just below boiling, stirring constantly so that a film does not form on the top of the milk. You want it hot enough to scald you, but not boiling. Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, mix the milk, sugar, and the salt until combined.Add the beaten egg, yeast mixture, melted butter, and flour. Blend thoroughly. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and does not stick.Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with a layer of plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let rise an hour and a half in a warm place, until doubled in size.

To Make the Filling:

In a large bowl mix together the ground walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa. Heat the milk and butter to boiling. Pour the liquid over the nut/sugar mixture. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough. If the mixture thickens, add a small amount of warm milk.

To Roll and Assemble the Dough:

Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire table so that it is covered. Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons to a handful of flour (use flour sparingly) Place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until it measures roughly  25  cm by 30 cm in diameter.  Using the tops of your hands, stretch dough out from the center until the dough is thin and uniformly opaque. You can also use your rolling pin, if you prefer.As you work, continually pick up the dough from the table, not only to help in stretching it out, but also to make sure that it isn’t sticking.
22. When you think it the dough is thin enough, try to get it a little thinner. It should be so thin that you can see the color and perhaps the pattern of the sheet underneath.Spoon filling evenly over dough until covered.Lift the edge of the cloth and gently roll the dough like a jelly roll.Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently lift it up and place it into a greased loaf pan in the shape of a “U”, with the ends meeting in the middle. You want to coil the dough around itself, as this will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced.Brush the top of each loaf with beaten egg white.Cover pans lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes.Preheat oven to moderate 180°C. Remove plastic wrap from dough and place into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes.Turn down the oven temperature to 150°C and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done.Remove bread from oven and brush with melted butter.It is recommended that the best way to cut Povitica loaves into slices is by turning the loaf upside down and slicing with a serrated knife.

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