For Dough:

1 cup milk
½ cup sugar + 1 tsp sugar
4 tbsp butter; 1 pkg. yeast
¼ cup warm water
2 to 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt

For Nut Filling:

½ cup butter or margarine
¼ cup sugar
1/8 cup vanilla
3 ½ cups ground pecans (or other nuts)

For Dough:

Sift flour and salt. Set aside.

Scald milk, butter and ½ cup sugar together and let cool. Set aside.

Mix yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar and water together. Let yeast start to bubble. Mix all ingredients together. Insure that milk is cool to prevent killing the yeast.

Knead dough and let rise until doubled in size. Knead again and divide in two. Roll out each loaf to ¼ inch.

For Nut Filling:

Combine all ingredients.

To Finish:

Spread a layer of filling on the dough. Roll dough up and tuck ends under.

Put in a greased bread loaf pan. Repeat with the second loaf.

Let both loaves rise for 1 hour.

Bake at 325°F for 40 minutes.

Potica is a common bread found throughout Eastern Europe. This recipe comes down to me from my great-grandmother, an ethnic Slovenian born in Austria.

Submitted by: JG