Grandma’s Potitsa

Submitted by Marsha Anderson

My grandmother made this every year during the holidays. I can’t imagine a Christmas morning without Potitsa, but it is delicious any time of year.

Time required: 30 min + 90 min for baking

Servings: 5 big rolls

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 2 cups scalded Straus Organic Whole Milk
• ¼ Lb. Straus Sweet (unsalted) European-Style Butter
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tsps. Salt
• 2 dry yeast activated in ¼ cup water and 1 tsp sugar
• 2 beaten eggs
• 6-7 cups flour

Filling:

• 2 pounds ground walnuts (I sometimes use the food processor for this, but I have ground them using one of those handheld cheese graters with the really small holes. That takes a while to do, but the consistency is nice).
• 2 cups of half and half – scalded (heat until steam comes up – do not boil)
• ¾ cup honey
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• ½ cup (one stick) melted butter

Directions:

Mix all ingredients for the dough together. Let the dough rise to double in size. Note: The dough should be
soft, not stiff. It should stick to a spoon and be stiff enough to handle but soft enough to roll out very thin.

Mix together the filling ingredients in a large pot on very low heat and stir it often. The mixture will darken
as it cooks. If you make the filling first, you can keep it on very low heat while the dough rises.

Spread out a clean sheet or tablecloth that you don’t mind getting messy over a large table. Lightly flour
the cloth. Roll and stretch the dough so that it covers your table, in as rectangular shape as you can make
it. The dough should be as thin as possible. The dough will be sticky, so use as much flour as you need on
your hands and rolling pin.

Spread the filling in a thin layer on top of the dough, making sure to spread it all the way to the edge.

Roll up the dough, creating one extra-long loaf. Cut this into 5 smaller loaves.

Put the loaves into a greased pan. They will fit tightly, touching each other. A 10” x 15” aluminum pan or a
roasting pan both work well.

Top the loaves with beaten egg. Don’t let them rise.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350º.
Reduce heat to 325º for 30 more minutes.
Reduce heat to 275º for 30 more minutes.

When cool, slice and serve. A pat of Straus butter on top makes it extra delicious!