From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Poteca is a Slovenian buttery yeast-based pastry that is filled with ground walnuts or poppy seeds and prepared for holidays and special festive occasions such as weddings. Christmas is celebrated throughout Slovenia, though it is a simple affair whose focus remains church and family. Traditionally, the few gifts that are exchanged are food and candy for the children, but a festive table is set for both the Christmas and Easter holiday and Poteca, which is an original Slovenian specialty, will be served at both celebrations. It is considered to be a ritual blessing food and it has appeared on Slovenian tables since the 15th century. Needless-to-say, there are hundreds of recipes for this specialty bread, and, like many folks, I was hesitant to try any of them because the bread looked too complicated to try. This year I bit the bullet and decided to include it with our New Year's Day breakfast. Actually, along with a pineapple juice concoction that is better not discussed, it was our breakfast, and, hopefully, without sounding too full of myself, it turned out to be delicious. I settled on a recipe I found in a special Taste of Home publication called The Best Holiday Recipes and it did not disappoint, though it was not without challenges. This a really more a cake than a bread and while it is made with lots of yeast it rises very little. After the prescribed period of refrigeration, the dough remained brick-like, though it had come together in a cohesive mass. I had a moment of doubt and almost threw it out, but I decided to let the dough sit for about 30 minutes before I divided and rolled it. I must admit that I was not able to achieve the 20 x 20-inch square suggested in the recipe, but I was able to coax mine into an almost 16-inch square that I arbitrarily declared good enough. The rest of the instructions were easy to follow and I actually got both rings into the pan and an hour later had a Poteca that my family loved. It was not beautiful, but it was surprisingly tasty and much more like a cake than a bread. I urge any of you who have the time to give this very special coffee cake a try. It is delicious, and, yes, it had my socks going up and down. Here is the recipe for those of you enjoy a challenge.
