No. 48 - Croatia - Povitica - 2 Cups 1 Girl

"Ok I need a cup. Is this a cup? How much is a cup exactly? This is a mug. And this tea cup looks ridiculously small. A cup is 128g of sugar [Google]. How do I know how much is 128g of sugar? Well this is a 200g packet of walnuts. 128g of sugar is how many teaspoons? 1 teaspoon is 5g [Google]. But not of sugar, of flour. Ok, lets start again. How much is in a pint glass, we definitely have one of those. Or is this actually a pint glass? Maybe this is 500ml? A can like? No, it’s definitely a pint glass. You definitely get a pint of Guinness. Well I think 1 pint is 556ml? 1 pint is 473ml [Google]. That’s not right. Oh no wait, that’s a US pint. Are they different? Must be. 1 imperial pint is 568.261ml [Google]. Thats more like it. I'm afraid we are going to have to use maths. This here pint glass (Guinness) is our KNOWN quantity. But we don’t need 1 pint, we need 1 cup. So, if 1 pint is 568ml and 1 (US) cup is 236.588ml [Google] then 1 pint (568ml) divided by 1 cup (237ml) equals 2.4. 1 pint divided by 1 cup equals 2.4. So 2.4 times 1 cup equals 1 pint.

We need a cup that when filled 2.4 times, fits perfectly into this pint glass. 

 

Mug. Too Big.

Other mug. Too Big

Teacup. Too small.

Jam jar. Too Big.

Teacup again. Too Small.

There must be something around here that's a cup.

This isnt fun any more. I don’t care, I’m just going to use the fecking teacup."

 

 This folks, is what happens when after you embark on what appears to be like as intimidatly complex and ambitious recipe that you haven’t even been able to read to the end off and you realise that your weighing scales is out of order (battery gone, suprising let me assure you) and you have previously sacraficed your only measuring jug in some wanton arts and crafts persuit.

The key to baking, we are told, is to be absolutely accurate. To be a successful baker all one must be able to do is follow instructions to the letter and have the dicipline to measure ingredients to the exact gm.

It’s all Bollox. Any cup will do.
(But if in doubt, a pint glass should fill your cup roughly 2.5 times)

Povitica (Walnut Chocolate Bread)

Don't let my ranting put you off. The making of this bread was not nearly as difficult as finding a cup. It's like a brioche filled will Nutella made from walnuts instead of hazelnuts but not as sweet.
There are quite a few steps but there is absolutely nothing taxing about this recipe. If you have a few hours to spare give it a go. It's very impressive even if I do say so myself. Cutting into it is extremely satisfying and the bread itself extremely forgiving.

To activate the Yeast:

½ tsp sugar

¼ tsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp warm water

1½ tsp dry yeast

Dough:

½ Cup milk

3 tbsp sugar

¾ tsp salt

1 large egg

1/2 vanilla bean, scraped of seeds

1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 egg white and granulated sugar to brush and scatter on top

Walnut Filling:

1¾ cups walnuts, ground

¼ cup milk

¼ Cup  unsalted butter

1 egg yolk, beaten with fork

½ vanilla bean, scraped

½ Cup  sugar

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Dough:

In a small bowl, stir sugar, flour, and the yeast into warm water and cover with plastic wrap.
Allow to stand for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile in a cup, heat the milk up in the microwave so that it is hot but not boiling. In a large bowl, mix the milk, sugar, and the salt until combined. Add the beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter, and a couple of tablespoons of cups of flour. Blend thoroughly and slowly add remaining flour, mixing well until the dough starts to clean the bowl. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and does not stick. Place dough in a bowl, cover loosely with a layer of plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let rise an hour and a half in a warm place, until doubled or tripled in size. Get on with making the filling. 

Filling:
Heat the milk and butter in the microwave until the butter has melted. Throw all of the filling ingredients (above) into a blender and blend until you get a spreadable consistency. You may need to add more milk. 


Assembly:
Place the dough on a lightly floured table and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until it is as big as you think it will stretch. Then stretch it some more. Brush 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of melted butter on top. Spread your walnut mix out so that it covers the entire sheet of dough. Carefully or whatever way you can manage, roll up the dough so that you get one long sausage. If you can, knot the dough so that it forms a figure of 8. This is not necessarily essential but makes you feel like a master baker. Place your loaf in a greased bread tin. Brush with beaten egg and scatter with granulated sugar.  Cover and allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes. 

Bake in a 180°C oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 150°C and bake for a further 30 - 40 minutes until the bread is cooked. Leave to cool in it's tin to prevent it from collapsing. 

Finally it's time to cut a slice to see what the hell it is on the inside!