You Create: Povitica

I have seen loaves of Povitica several times, but they are quite costly and I've never been willing to part with that much money to purchase a loaf. This week I decided I'd see what it would take to bake a loaf.

It turns out it isn't quite as hard as I thought it would be. It is time consuming only in that you have to be available to punch it down or work with it every 60-90 minutes for several hours. There is some more cost over many types of bread in the amount of nuts it requires.

I took the recipe from here, but I altered it. What fun is baking if you don't make it your own? (Changes--more water* and flour in the dough, heated the milk and butter together for the dough), changed the amount of nuts and added brown sugar in place of some of the granulated in the filling, and baked in loaf pans.)

Here's my version:
dough:
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter
4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water*
9 cups of flour (divided)

filling:
1 can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 lb. of finely ground pecans
4 eggs, beaten
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of cocoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Heat the milk and butter for 60 seconds in the microwave. Mix that together with the sugar, salt, and eggs. Add 4 cups of flour and mix. Work in enough of the rest of the flour to keep it from being sticky. Knead the bread for a few minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and allow to double in a warm area (about 60-90 minutes.)

Punch the dough down and cover again to double.

During this time, make the filling. Mix the sugars, evaporated milk and butter in a large pan and heat until the butter melts. Add in the ground walnuts and stir. Then mix in the 4 beaten eggs, stirring constantly as the mixture comes to a boil, allow to boil for 1 minute and then remove from the heat. Mix in the spices. Allow to cool.

Divide the dough by three. Roll them out one at a time, into thin sheets and cover with 1/3 of the filling. Roll up and place in grease loaf pans.

Cover and allow to rise another hour in pans.

Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 40 minutes.

* Honestly the change in the water amount (the original recipe called of only 1/2 cup) was an unintentional change, I made a copying error, so I simply made up for that with extra flour and it turned out very well this way.