Poppy Seed Walnut Potica – this Eastern European nut roll features a flaky pastry and delicious poppy seed filling. Serve with coffee for a delicious treat!

I’m blessed to come from a multi-ethnic background with a Mexican mother, Polish father and Greek stepfather, just to name a few of my culinary influences.

Yesterday I went into the kitchen with my dad who showed me how to make his mother’s famous potica.

My grandmother passed before I was born, but it’s neat to think I still carry on her heritage!

Now what is potica? [Pronounced petite-za, like pizza.]

It goes by many names depending on the country: nut roll, povitica, potica, etc. But it’s a thin yeast dough, usually spread with a nut filling, then rolled up and baked.

We like to call it “coffee cake” since it’s a slightly Americanized version of potica and tastes great with a cup of coffee!

The version we made yesterday was Poppy Seed Walnut Potica. I also have a Chocolate Potica posted as well.

Being an American girl, my grandma used convenient Py-O-My coffee cake mix for the dough.

It’s very hard to find now and the original dough recipe has been lost to the ages.

We’ve been using a substitute that, while good, could still use some tweaking.

The important part is that your dough is soft so it can be rolled very thin.

We ended up mixing the dough by hand, but if you want to use a stand mixer you can do so with the paddle attachment.

Dad likes to grind his nuts the old-fashioned way because he says crushing the nuts squeezes the oils out and gives better flavor, but you can do this in a food processor or by putting them in a ziploc bag and crushing them with a rolling pin.

The dough gets rolled very thin and then spread with the filling.

The recipe below will make 2 rolls. If you want to be very precise, the dough for each cake should weigh 14oz and there will be some dough left over (still working on the baker’s formula).

The rolls will proof, bake and then glazed while still warm.

Even with the icing the cake is not very sweet.

Poppy Seed-Walnut Potica

Ingredients for dough:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast, or 1 packet
• 1 cup milk, warmed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Ingredients for filling:

• 2 cups of walnut halves or pieces
• 1 can of poppy seed filling
• 1/2 cup milk
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Ingredients for glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

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Poppy Seed Walnut Potica

Yield: 16 servings

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Rise Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Poppy Seed Walnut Potica - this Eastern European nut rolls features a flaky pastry and delicious poppy seed filling. Serve with coffee for a delicious treat!

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Ingredients

For the dough:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast, or 1 packet
• 1 cup milk, warmed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For the filling:

• 2 cups of walnut halves or pieces
• 1 can of poppy seed filling
• 1/2 cup milk
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

For the glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Combine the milk and yeast in large bowl. When it begins to foam, add remaining ingredients except for the flour, mixing until thoroughly combined.
2. Add the flour in increments, adjusting as needed to create a sticky dough. Put dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and proof until doubled in size, about 1 or 1 1/2 hours.
3. While the dough is rising, grind or finely chop the walnuts. Mix with poppy seed filling, milk and butter; set aside.
4. Grease 2 pie pans and set aside.

To assemble:

1. On a floured work surface, punch down dough and roll out in an oblong shape until very thin, but not translucent, about 16×16 inches.
2. Spread dough with filling, roll up and place in pie pans creating a circle shape by pinching ends together.
3. Cover and proof about 30-40 minutes. Rolls should rise, but not be doubled in size.
4. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes (longer if using a tin pie pan, less for glass).
5. For the frosting, combine all the glaze ingredients, mixing until smooth. Allow potica to cool just slightly before icing.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 342Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 50mgSodium: 163mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 2gSugar: 13gProtein: 7g

Nutritional information provided is an estimate only. Please consult the labels of ingredients you use for more accurate results.

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