Potica (traditional Slovenian Holiday Cake) Pt 1

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Yeast: Sprinkle sugar over yeast and add warm water. Let it stand
until twice its original volume. Dough: Mix softened butter, sugar  and
egg yolks until the sugar is well dissolved and mixture is  frothy. Set
aside. Warm up the milk, mix in salt, lemon peel, and  rum, and add to
the butter mixture. Form the dough out of the 4 cups  of flour, yeast,
and milk mixtures. The trick is not to pour in all  the milk mixture
immediately; use about 3/4 to start with, then add  more as the dough
forms. Beat with electric mixer until smooth and  elastic. Then keep
adding flour as needed, and mixing with a wooden  spoon until of
consistency that dough can be handled without  sticking. Place dough on
floured board and knead for about 15  minutes, adding flour as needed
to make a non-sticking dough. Place  dough in a well-greased bowl; turn
dough upside down to grease top.  Cover and let rise in warm place for
about 1-1/2 to 2 hours until  double in bulk. While dough is rising,
prepare filling. Filling: Mix  walnuts and raisins, and grind them
together to keep raisins from  clumping. Combine all dry ingredients.
Warm the cream and honey, and  melt the butter in this mixture. Add
cream mixture to dry ingredients  and mix completely. Fold in beaten
egg whites last. Let filling cool  as you roll out dough. Assembly:
Roll out dough on table covered with  a tablecloth well sprinkled with
flour. Roll out to 1/4" thick, 18" x  24" or bigger. Spread cooled
filling over entire dough evenly. Start  rolling up dough by hand,
jelly roll fashion, stretching dough  slightly with each roll. Start at
an 18" edge and roll in the 24"  direction. Keep side edges as even as
possible. Continue to roll by  raising the cloth edge slowly with both
hands so the dough rolls  itself. Dust away any excess flour on the
outside of the dough with a  pastry brush as you roll. Prick roll with
a toothpick as needed to  eliminate air pockets. With the edge of a
spatula (pancake flipper)  cut off each end of roll to make it the
length needed to fit around  the inside of an angel food cake pan.
Place in well-greased angel  food cake pan or Bundt cake pan, being
sure to arrange the seam where  the roll ended against the center. If
you have a two-piece angel food  cake pan, it is easiest to roll the
loaf onto and around the bottom  plate of the pan, and then lower this
into the body of the pan. Cover  with a cloth and let rise in a warm
place until double in volume.  Bake about 1 hour at 325 degrees. Put
cut-off ends in greased loaf  pans, cover with cloth and let rise in a
warm place until double in  volume, then bake for 30 to 35 minutes at
325 degrees. For a shiny  crust, brush top before baking with 1 egg
beaten with 1 Tablespoon  milk, OR brush top with melted butter when
taken from oven. Let stand  one hour before removing from pan. Loosen
sides and bottom with  knife. Turn onto wire rack to remove, then turn
over again onto  another wire rack to cool right-side up. Once
completely cool, turn  upside-down on a cake plate and sprinkle with
powdered sugar.  Potica (paw tee' tzah) is a traditional Slovenian
holiday cake.  Variations of it are also common in several other
Eastern European  countries. When my Polish house cleaner saw it on the
counter, she  said, 'Oh. Christmas Cake!' Some of my fondest childhood
memories are  of being at my grandmother's house and helping with the
potica, and  then enduring the smell for hours before it was done and
cool enough  to eat. My grandmother came over from the old country when
she was  twenty, and lived in a Slovenian neighborhood in my hometown,
and  could she make a  continued in part 2

A Message from our Provider:

“Your pain touches God’s heart”

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 11562
Calories From Fat: 8110
Total Fat: 937.8g
Cholesterol: 1472.5mg
Sodium: 2526mg
Potassium: 6560.5mg
Carbohydrates: 602g
Fiber: 55g
Sugar: 472.3g
Protein: 294.3g