Pehtranova Potica

Slovenia's festive rolled cake in its most surprising form: a thin sheet of rich yeast dough spread with a sweet green paste of fresh tarragon, sugar, butter, and soured cream, rolled into a tight spiral and baked, the herb's anise scent perfuming the whole

Origin: Slovenia

From the journey of Tarragon.

Potica is the great festive cake of Slovenia, a rolled and filled yeast cake baked for Christmas, Easter, weddings, and every celebration of importance, and so central to the national identity that it has been granted protected status by the European Union. It is made by spreading a filling across a thin sheet of rich dough, rolling it into a long spiral, and coiling it into a round fluted tin, so that each slice shows the dough wound round and round its filling. The most familiar potica is filled with walnuts, or with honey and curd, but Slovenia also makes a version that astonishes everyone who first meets it: pehtranova potica, the tarragon potica, filled with a sweet green paste of finely chopped fresh tarragon, sugar, butter, and soured cream or curd cheese. The use of tarragon, pehtran, as a sweet flavouring for a celebration cake is almost unique to Slovenia and the neighbouring Alpine and Pannonian lands; everywhere else in Europe the herb is reserved for savoury cooking. The result is extraordinary and delicious, the herb's sweet anise fragrance perfuming the whole cake, and it makes pehtranova potica one of the genuine curiosities and treasures of the European baking tradition.

Ingredients

Dough

500 g plain flour
7 g fast-action dried yeast
200 ml warm milk
80 g caster sugar
80 g butter, softened
2 egg yolks
0.5 tsp salt

Tarragon Filling

1 large bunch fresh tarragon, leaves picked and very finely chopped (about 6 tbsp)
100 g caster sugar, for the filling
80 g butter, softened
100 g soured cream or curd cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten

To Finish

1 egg, beaten, to glaze

Method

Make the dough: warm the milk and dissolve the yeast and a spoonful of the sugar in it. Leave until frothy. Mix into the flour with the remaining sugar, the softened butter, egg yolks, and salt, and knead to a soft, smooth, elastic dough, 8 to 10 minutes. Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Make the filling: beat the softened butter with the sugar until pale, then beat in the soured cream and the egg. Stir in the very finely chopped tarragon to a soft, spreadable green paste.
Roll the risen dough out on a floured cloth into a large, thin rectangle, as thin as you can without tearing, ideally around 3mm. Spread the tarragon filling evenly over the whole surface, leaving a small border.
Roll the dough up tightly from a long edge into a long, even cylinder, using the cloth to help. Lay it seam-side down and coil it into a buttered round fluted potica tin or a deep cake tin. Cover and leave to rise for 30 to 40 minutes.
Heat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C). Brush the potica with beaten egg and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until deep golden and cooked through (a skewer should come out clean). Cover with foil if it browns too fast.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out and cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and slice to show the spirals of green tarragon filling.

Notes

Pehtranova potica is a celebration cake and worth the effort; the very thin rolling of the dough is the skill that separates a good potica from a clumsy one. Use French tarragon for the sweetest flavour, and be generous, as the sugar and dairy mellow it. Some Slovenian cooks blanch the tarragon briefly to soften its colour and flavour, or blend it with a little of the dairy to a smooth green paste. The same dough makes the classic walnut potica (orehova potica) with a ground-walnut filling.

The Gastrographer

Name: Pehtranova Potica
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Slovenia
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour; 7 g fast-action dried yeast; 200 ml warm milk; 80 g caster sugar; 80 g butter, softened; 2 egg yolks; 0.5 tsp salt; 1 large bunch fresh tarragon, leaves picked and very finely chopped (about 6 tbsp); 100 g caster sugar, for the filling; 80 g butter, softened; 100 g soured cream or curd cheese; 1 egg, lightly beaten; 1 egg, beaten, to glaze

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control