Bela Krajina Flatbread (Belokranjska pogača)
Belokranjska pogača is a round leavened bread measuring 3 to 4 cm in height, and sprinkled with coarse salt and caraway. It is never cut, but rather torn along the lines. It was the fourth Slovenian dish to receive the EU protected designation of origin certificate.
The origins of Belokranjska pogača are shrouded in mist, however it is likely that it came about in the 15th or 16th century. This was the time when many 'Uskoks', the word 'Uskok' literally meaning to 'leap over', fled the Turks from Croatia and Serbia and settled in Slovenia in today's Bela Krajina and Dolenjska.
Bogataj, Janez. Taste Slovenia. Ljubljana: Rokus Gifts & National Geographic, 2007.
Recipe
Ingredients:
Dough
500 g flour
4 g instant yeast
200 ml lukewarm water
100 ml warm milk
2 tsp salt
caraway seeds, coarse sea salt
1 egg for the egg wash
Instructions:
Dough
Put flour into a large bowl and sprinkle the salt along the edge.
Mix water and yeast.
Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and knead by hand or using a mixer a little. Add the milk and continue kneading until the dough is soft and elastic.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about 40 minutes).
Making pogača
Heat the oven to 220C (430 F).
Put a baking sheet on a baking pan that fits a disc of diameter about 30 cm.
Take the dough and shape it into a disc of diameter of around 30-35 cm. I used a rolling pin, but you can also do it by hand.
Make one cut in the center and then 3 on each side horizontally and vertically (roughly at a distance 4 cm). There are 7 vertical lines and 7 horizontal lines in the protected Belokranjska pogača.
- Mix egg in a cup and gently brush the pogača with it.
- Sprinkle with coarse salt and caraway seeds.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil if the top starts to burn. Pogača is fully baked when you tap the bottom of the bread and it sounds hollow.
- Pogača is never cut but rather torn along the lines.