Walnut Roll

Potica is a traditional Slovenian festive dish or dessert. It is especially popular around Christmas and Easter. I believe Potica is a pride of every Slovenian housewife. And I believe every Slovenian girl should know how to make it. I decided now was the time for me to learn how to make it so I asked my mother for a recipe. She said: “This recipe here never fails! Try this one!” And so I did. I did switch from white to spelt flour and from white sugar to xylitol but otherwise followed her recipe to the word and she was right – it turned out perfectly! Note that the procedure is quite long and should take you about 4 hours (with quite a lot of waiting time) but trust me, it is worth it.

Ingredients:

Dough:

600 g smooth spelt flour (room temperature)

1 tsp Himalayan salt

2 egg yolks

50 g Xylitol

1 tbsp rum

3 dl warm milk

50 g butter

20 g yeast

½ tsp white sugar

Filling:

400 g ground walnuts

100 g butter

2 eggs

200 g Xylitol

2 dl whipping cream

250 g raisins

1 – 2 tbsp rum

 

Instructions:

1. Mix 3 dl warm milk, yeast and ½ tsp white sugar and let yeast rise for a few minutes to activate it.

2. In the meantime, place the salt in a large bowl and sift flour over it. Make a small well in the middle of the flour and add the egg yolks, xylitol, rum and melted butter. Once the yeast has risen, add it to the flour and mix with a spoon until just combined. Knead with your hands for a minute or so and then transfer to a stand mixer and knead for 5-6 minutes.

3. Cover the bowl with the dough and let rise until double in size (about 45 minutes).

4. In the meantime prepare the filling. In a large bowl, mix the butter, egg yolks and xylitol until pale yellow and fluffy. Add the whipping cream and ground walnuts and mix until combined. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the walnut mixture.

5. Cook the raisins and rum on medium heat for about 5 minutes to soak and puff the raisins nicely.

6. Roll the risen dough on a table cloth covered with flour. Flour the cloth really well, otherwise the dough will stick and you will not be able to roll the Potica.

7. Spread the walnut mixture over the rolled dough and sprinkle with raisins. Roll the Potica and transfer it to a buttered baking tray. Puncture it with a thin wooden stick – it will rise better this way. Let rise for 30 – 45 minutes.

8. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Reduce the heat to 180 degrees Celsius before you place your baking tray in the oven.

9. Place your Potica in the oven a bake for 1 hour. After 30 minutes, cover it with baking paper and reduce the heat to 160 degrees Celsius to prevent Potica from burning.

10. Once baked, remove Potica from the oven and let cool for about 30 minutes to 1 hour while still in the baking tray. Transfer it to a cutting board, coat thinly with melted butter and cover with a cloth to allow it to cool down as slowly as possible.