Coconut Potica

Coconut potica is a relative newcomer as far as poticas go, but it is extremely popular these days. I recommend making a coconut and a walnut potica and serving them together for contrast; walnut potica with the standard yellowish dough and coconut potica with dark cocoa dough make for an impressive combination. To learn more about potica, read Is it pizza? No, it’s potica!.

Recipe

Ingredients for 1 potica baked in a potičnik of diameter of about 28 cm:

Dough

• 600 g flour

• 18 g instant yeast

• 50 g cocoa powder

• 100 g butter

• 100 g sugar

• 300 ml milk

• 3 egg yolks

• a pinch of salt

• 1 egg for the egg wash

Coconut Filling

• 400 g desiccated unsweetened coconut*

• 500 ml heavy whipping cream

• 200 g sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla essence

• 3 eggs + 1 egg white

*Coconut should be very dry (see picture below). When I lived in the US, I sometimes got shredded coconut, which, depending on a brand, could be quite moist. If that is the case, the recipe should be adjusted so that the filling is not too runny.

Instructions:

Dough

1. In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and yeast. Mix well.

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

3. If the mixture is hot, wait for it to cool. Once cool, add 3 egg yolks and mix.

4. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and knead by hand or using a mixer until the dough is soft and elastic, for about 15 minutes. It should not stick to your hands. If you have made potica before, be aware that this dough is not as soft as the standard potica dough and that's ok.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about an hour).

Filling

The texture of the desiccated coconut that I use.

1. Put heavy cream into a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, add sugar, and bring to a boil.

2. Add desiccated coconut and vanilla.

3. Once the mixture cools down a bit, add the egg yolks and stir.

4. Beat 4 egg whites to stiff peaks. Slowly fold the whipped egg white into the coconut mixture. Depending on the type of coconut flour that you use, you might not want to add all the whipped egg whites.

Making potica

1. Heat the oven to 18o C (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 90 cm x 35 cm rectangle about 0.5 cm thick.

4. Spread the filling in an even layer over the dough.

5. Roll up the dough by hand, stretching it slightly with each roll.

6. Seal the ends securely by gently pulling dough down to cover ends.

7. 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).

8. Prick the potica with a toothpick to eliminate air pockets and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

9. Gently brush the potica with an egg wash, which you make by just beating one egg until smooth.

10. Bake the potica for about an hour. After 30 minutes cover the potica with aluminum foil, so that the top won't brown too much.

11. Leave potica in the mold to cool down before taking it out.

12. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, slice, and serve!