Poppy Seed Potica

The most common type of poppy in Slovenia is the Common Poppy, Papaverrhoeas. In terms of gastronomy, poppy has been the most notable in the Prekmurje region, where it is an integral ingredient in Prekmurska gibanica and other regional dishes. It is also one of the most popular potica fillings in Slovenia. To learn more about potica, read Is it pizza? No, it’s potica!.

Recipe

Ingredients for a potica baked in a potičnik of diameter around 24 cm:

Dough

• 400 g flour

• 7 g instant yeast

• 80 g butter

• 60 g sugar

• 2 egg yolks

• 170 ml warm milk

• 1 tbsp rum

• zest of 1 lemon

• 1 tsp vanilla paste (can be substituted with vanilla essence)

• a pinch of salt

• 1 egg for the egg wash

Poppy seed Filling

• 400 g poppy seeds

• 650 ml milk

• 1 tsp vanilla paste

• 100 g butter

• 125 g sugar

• 1 egg + 1 egg white

• raisins soaked in rum (optional)

Instructions:

Dough

1. In a bowl, combine flour and yeast.

2. Heat the milk, sugar, and butter in a sauce pan until butter is melted.

3. Add lemon zest, rum and vanilla to the milk mixture and stir well.

4. Once the milk mixture is sufficiently cool, add 2 egg yolks and mix.

5. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and knead by hand or using a mixer until the dough is soft and elastic. It should not stick to your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about 60 minutes).

Filling

1. For the filling, place poppy seeds, sugar, milk and butter to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Cook at medium heat until the poppy seeds are cooked and the mixture is thick (about 30 minutes).

2. Add vanilla paste.

3. Once the poppy seed mixture has cooled down, mix in the egg yolks, and beat the egg whites separately to stiff peaks. Slowly fold the whipped egg whites into the poppy seed mixture. The filling should not be runny, though it not as thick as some other fillings. If it seems too runny, stop adding egg whites and add some bread crumbs or even better, cookie crumbs to make it thicker again.

Making potica

1. Heat the oven to 180C (360 F). Traditionally, potica is baked in a ceramic pan called potičnica. If you have it, fill it up with water and place it into the oven until the water is boiling (this way potica does not dry up too much during baking). If you do not have it, you can use a bundt cake pan. Butter potičnica or a standard bundt cake pan well.

2. Dust the working area with flour. I usually roll out the dough on a tablecloth so it does not cool down too much during rolling.

3. Roll the dough into a 40 cm x 35 cm rectangle (depending on the size of your pan) about 0.5 cm thick. Spread the poppy-seed-filling in an even layer over the dough. If using raisins, sprinkle them over the filling.

4. Roll up the dough by hand, stretching it slightly with each roll. Seal the ends securely by gently pulling dough down to cover ends.
5. Transfer the potica roll to the prepared pan so that the seam is looking upward (this way it will not be visible once potica is taken out of the pan).
6. Prick the potica with a toothpick to eliminate air pockets and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.
7. Gently brush the potica with an egg wash.
8. Bake for an hour. After 30 minutes cover the potica with aluminum foil, so that the top won't brown too much.
9. Leave potica in the mold to cool down before taking it out.
10. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve!