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Swirled Povitica loaves on a white cooling rack.
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5 from 3 votes

Croatian Povitica

Croation Povitica is a European bread which is typically filled with a walnut and cinnamon filling, made with a sweet dough, it has an unssuming exterior but inside is filled with swirls and loops.
Course Baking
Cuisine European
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Rising Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours 30 minutes
Servings 16 slices
Calories 422kcal

Ingredients

To activate the yeast

For the dough

Fillings:

    Apple cinnamon filling

    Blackberry Cream Cheese Filling

    Chocolate Orange Filling

    • 200 g chocolate spread half a jar
    • 1 tsp orange extract

    Instructions

    Fillings

      Apple and Cinnamon Filling

      • Put the butter, apples, light brown sugar and cinnamon in a small saucepan.
        90 g butter, 3 apples, 65 g light brown sugar, 3 tbsp cinnamon
      • Cook on a low to medium heat, until the apples are soft, which will take 5-10 minutes.

      Blackberry Cream Cheese Filling

      • Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl until soft.
        280 g Philadelphia cream cheese, 5 tsp caster sugar (superfine sugar), 5 tbsp blackberry jam

      Chocolate Orange Filling

      • Put the chocolate spread in a bowl, add the orange extract and mix well until soft.
        200 g chocolate spread, 1 tsp orange extract

      Making the Dough

      • Put the ingredients to activate the yeast listed above in a small bowl, cover it and leave for 5 minutes. Bubbles should form.
        1 tsp caster sugar (superfine sugar), 0.5 tsp plain flour (all-purpose flour), 60 ml water, 1 sachet yeast
      • Heat the milk in a jug in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes until very hot but not boiling. Leave it to cool for a few minutes.
        240 ml milk
      • Take a large bowl, and add the cooled milk, sugar and salt. Mix them together until dissolved.
        85 g caster sugar (superfine sugar), 1 tsp salt
      • Next add the two beaten eggs, the yeast and water etc from step one, the melted butter, and about a quarter of the flour.
        2 medium eggs, 60 g unsalted butter, 560 g plain flour (all-purpose flour)
      • Mix the ingredients together well, and slowly mix in the rest of the flour. The dough should start coming away from the sides of the bowl.
      • Place the dough on your floured worktop, and knead it. Add a little flour bit by bit, until the dough is no longer sticky.
      • Knead it until smooth and elastic.
      • Split the dough until two equal parts. I weighed mine to ensure they were the same size.
      • Place each one in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and place in a warm place to rise for 1.5 hours. It should double in size.

      Rolling Out

      • Spread a clean tea/dish towel on your work surface and sprinkle it with a little flour to stop the dough sticking to it.
      • Split the dough in half. Leave one half in the bowl. Put the other half of the dough down and roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. I made mine the size of my large tea towel.
      • At this point you can spoon on some melted butter if needed, or just stretch by hand without the butter until the dough is thin and opaque.

      Add Fillings and Roll

      • Take one of the fillings you made previously (3 options are given above or use your own combination).
      • Spoon your chosen filling over the dough until evenly covered. Get it as close to the long edge as possible.
      • Lift the edge of the tea towel and roll the dough a bit like a Swiss roll along the long edge. If it sticks, gently pull it off the tea towel.
      • Take the long roll of dough and put it in your oiled loaf tin in a U shape, with the ends coiling in on itself.
      • Repeat all the steps above for the 2nd loaf using the other half of the dough from the second bowl, with your chosen filling.

      Baking

      • Brush the loaf (bake them separately as they are ready, and add the second one when prepared, keeping a note of the times) with a little milk, then bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees, then turn down to 150 degrees and bake for a further 45 minutes.
      • If the loaf goes too brown during baking, cover the top with some foil. Make sure the dough is fully cooked before removing it from the oven. To check, tap the bottom of the loaf, it should sound hollow. Or check with a food thermometer like a Thermapen.
      • Allow the loaves to cool in the loaf tins.
      • When cutting the bread, turn it upside down to prevent it falling apart.
      • When sliced, you should reveal pretty swirling patterns inside your bread.

      Nutrition

      Calories: 422kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 266mg | Potassium: 197mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 546IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 3mg