HOW TO MAKE POVITICA RECIPES

Steps:

• 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.
• 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.
• For the filling, place the butter and milk in a small pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Starting at the long edge of the dough, lift the sheet and gently roll the dough up tightly, like a Swiss roll.
• 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.
• Place the loaf tin inside a clean plastic bag and leave to rise for one hour.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C(fan)/ 350F/Gas 4.
• 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.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• 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.

Steps:

• To activate yeast: In a small bowl, stir 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon flour, and the yeast into 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 (about 180 F or 82 C), stirring constantly so that a film does not form on the top of the milk. It should be hot enough to scald you, but not boiling. Allow to cool slightly, until it is about 110 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix the scalded milk, 3/4 cup sugar, and the salt until combined. Add the beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter, and 2 cups of flour. Blend thoroughly and slowly add remaining flour, mixing well until the dough just starts to clean the bowl. Don't add too much flour at this point — the dough should still be fairly wet and sticky. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until it is smooth and does not stick. It may not be necessary to use all 8 cups of flour. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces (they will each weight about 1 1/4 pounds). Place dough in 4 lightly oiled bowls, 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. While the dough rises, 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 eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough. To roll and assemble the dough: Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire workspace 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 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Spoon 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of melted butter on top. 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. When you think it the dough is thin enough, try to get it a little thinner. It should be so think 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. Repeat with remaining three loaves. Brush the top of each loaf with a mixture of 1/2 cup of cold, strong coffee and 2 tablespoons sugar. If you prefer, you can also use egg whites in place of this. Cover pans lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap from dough and place into the preheated 350-degree F oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes. Turn down the oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done. Check the bread every 30 minutes to ensure that the bread is not getting too brown. Cover the loaves with aluminum foil if needed. Remove bread from oven and brush with melted butter. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 20 to 30 minutes.