# Potica



## IrishLass (Nov 24, 2015)

Lookie what I made yesterday!

Four mini-loaves just baked:






and here's one of them sliced:





This is my second attempt at making Potica. The first time (last year), I made a single 10 x 5 loaf and it actually came out great considering I was flying by the seat of my pants, but yesterday, I wanted to see if I could divide my total dough and filling up into 4 equal portions in order to make 4 mini-loaves (and also for ease of rolling/stretching out)...... and it worked like a peach! I'm so incredibly happy at how they turned out that I could jump for joy!

The recipe I've been using is my tweaked version of the one that was handed down to me from my hubby's family. Potica was a huge tradition in their family, but ever since hubby's great aunt passed away (the last of the really great potica makers in his family), no one has gotten serious about taking up the baton......and after looking at how huge the original recipe is, I can see why. The recipe makes a ton of loaves. I don't even own a table big enough to be able to accommodate the amount of dough that needs to be stretched out for this thing. And when I was given the recipe last year, I was told that it couldn't be reduced...several had tried in the past, but had failed.

Never one to back away from a bread baking challenge, I set out to prove them wrong....and I actually did! Validation came when hubby's mom tried some of my single 10 x 5 loaf last year and said it was just like she remembered, only she felt that the the dough needed to be rolled out just a tad bit thinner. Which is kinda funny, because hubby remembers it differently- he said that he felt that the dough needed to be rolled out just a tad bit thicker. Go figure! LOL

Anyway, here is my tweaked version of the family recipe. This will make one 10" x 5" loaf or four (5.5" x 3") mini-loaves. By the way- I weighed out all my ingredients in grams:

*Dough Ingredients:*

-360g King Arthur AP flour (3 cups)
-120g full-fat sour cream (1/2 cup)
-96g white sugar (1/2 cup)
-1 large egg + 1 yolk (weighed 69g, for what it's worth), save the white for brushing loaves later before baking.
-64g spring water (1/3 c.)
-56g salted butter (1/4 cup), melted and cooled to lukewarm
-7g active dry yeast (i.e., 1 package or 2 ¼ tsp.)
-4g salt (3/4 tsp.)

*Filling Ingredients:*

-227g/8 oz. weight finely ground walnuts (weighed after grinding)
-114g heavy cream (1/2 cup) [have extra on hand in case the filling is too thick]
-96g white caster sugar (1/2 cup) (..or regular sugar. I use caster because it dissolves quicker)
-85g raw honey (1/4 cup)
-113g/4oz weight ground raisins (weighed after grinding)
-2 large eggs, separated
-6g vanilla extract (1 tsp.)
-2 tsp. cinnamon
-1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

* Just a quick note about the large eggs that I use. For what it's worth, the average weight of each is 48g on my scale, with the weight of a single yolk being 16g and the average weight of a single white being 32g. *

**A note regarding how I grind my walnuts: I like the texture of the walnuts to be so fine that they are as soft and fluffy as goose down, because it helps to not have chunks of nuts when spreading the filling on the stretched-out-as-thin-as-paper dough (to prevent tearing it). In order for me to do that, I use either my Pampered Chef rotary grinder with the fine blade, or my Pampered Chef micro-planer with the fine blade and accompanying finger protector. I truly don't mean to sound like an advertisement for Pampered Chef or anything, but that's what I happen to have in my house and that's what works incredibly awesome for giving my walnuts the proper texture described above. If you have anything similar, please use it by all means. Such tools work great at grinding walnuts to a really fine texture.

***A note about how I grind my raisins. The best and easiest way I've found to grind them to the right texture that I like for this is to put them through a meat grinder. I happen to have a meat grinding attachment for my stand mixer, which works _wonderful_, but last year, I didn't have the attachment, and so I basically chopped the beegeebees out of my raisins by hand with a knife....which worked, but was a little annoying because of how much extra time it took, and also because of how sticky raisins are......which is why I bought the grinder attachment.....well, that, and it also came with a cookie press accessory. I've yet to actually use it for grinding meat. lol

Directions to follow in the next post......


IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Nov 24, 2015)

*Prep For Dough* (I do the following the day before): *1)* Weigh, then sift the flour into a small mixing bowl. Add yeast, salt sugar to it, then whisk to combine. Cover and set aside on counter. *2)* Weigh sour cream in prep bowl, cover, set aside in fridge. *3)* Beat the egg and yolk for the dough in a prep bowl, cover and set aside in fridge. *4)* Set leftover egg white in a small bowl in the fridge for later. *5)* Weigh butter in prep bowl and set aside on counter. *6)* Weigh water in prep bowl. Set aside on counter. 

*Prep For Filling *(I also do the day before): *A)* Grind the walnuts and set aside covered in fridge. *B)* Soak raisins in hot water for about 5 to 10 minutes, drain, then mince in a meat grinder with 4.5 mm blade (or chop very fine with a knife). Cover and set aside in fridge.

*Baking Day Prep:* *1)* Remove all the set-aside ingredients from fridge to bring to room temperature. *2)* Remove the 2 eggs for the filling from fridge to come to room temp. *3)* Prepare work surface. When making the bigger 10 x 5 loaf, I drape a clean bed-sheet over my card table and secure it taught in place at each corner leg with cooking twine. Then I sprinkle it lightly with flour......when I made the mini-loafs yesterday, I just used my naked (no cloth) marble pastry slab instead, lightly floured. It actually worked great, and it was just the right size for the job, too (16" x 20").

*Dough Ingredient Instructions:* *A)* Melt the butter and cool to lukewarm. *B)* Whisk all the liquid ingredients for the dough together in a bowl (including the melted butter), then pour them into the flour mixture and stir to fully combine with a Danish dough whisk or large spoon. *C)* Dough will be too sticky to knead by hand without being tempted to add too much flour, so machine-knead the dough for about 12 minutes or until it pulls away nicely from the bowl. It will be soft and floppy when handled. *D)* As best you can, form dough into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until double (about 1.5 to 2 hours). As dough is rising, prep the filling:

*For The Filling*: *1)* Separate the 2 now room temp. eggs, placing the whites in a small mixing bowl, and placing the yolks in a small prep bowl, covered and set aside on counter. *2)* Beat egg whites with electric mixer until stiff peaks form (should take about 3 minutes or so), set aside; *3)* Whisk the egg yolks and set aside; *4)* Combine the cream, caster sugar, honey and vanilla in a small pot and heat & stir just until smooth and cohesive, then remove from heat and transfer into a large mixing bowl. *5)* Whisk in the cinnamon, cardamom and ground raisins. *6)* Stir in the finely ground walnuts *7)* If/When cooled down enough, add the beaten egg yolks; *8 )* Lastly, fold in the beaten egg whites. The mixture should be thick, but easily spreadable- somewhat like thick, pourable cupcake batter. If it’s too stiff, it may tear the dough, so add more cream to it until it’s just right. Cover and set aside.

*Meanwhile, back to the dough*: *A)* If making a 10 x 5 loaf: When dough has doubled, gently deflate it, place it on the floured sheet, and roll out to 21” wide. Then roll it lengthwise with your pin, and also stretch it out with your fingertips placed underneath the middle of the dough, working outwards towards the edges to as long as you are able to lengthwise (without tearing it) in order to end up with a paper-thin thickness. It should be so thin/transparent that you can see the printed words on a page or recipe card through it. If the dough fights back at any time as you are rolling/stretching it, lightly cover with plastic wrap, walk away for about 10 minutes so that it can rest, and then resume. You may have to do this more than once. Just remember to keep the width of the dough at 21”. The length can be as long as you need it to be. *B)* When the dough is thin/transparent enough to see printed words through it, it’s time to spread on the filling. Using a spoon, strategically place dollops of the filling all over the surface of dough. This will help you to be able to spread the filling out more easily and evenly. *C)* Using a cake/frosting spreader (which I've found to work the best for this task), gently and evenly spread the filling out to within 1/2” of the edges. *D)* Now it’s time to roll the dough up. We will be rolling up each of the short 21” ends towards the center of the dough so that the 2 rolled-up coils meet each other halfway. To begin, untie all the twine holding the sheet in place. *E)* Starting at one of the 21” ends, lift the sheet up on that side to aid you in rolling up the dough towards the center, pricking the dough intermittently along the length of the coil with a chopstick as you roll (to discourage air pockets). Once you reach the center, stop, then do the same to the other 21” end. *F)* Once the 2 coils have met in the middle, pinch either of the open ends of the coils to seal, then fold up each of the coiled ends toward each other at the center so that they slightly overlap each other to form a 10” log. *G)* Pinch any open ends sealed, then gently flip the dough over and place into a greased 10” x 5” bread pan to proof, lightly covered, for 1 hour. *H)* Preheat the oven to 350F while the bread is proofing.

*Bake:* *1)* Once proofed, brush the top of the loaf with the set-aside egg white (beaten) and bake at 350F for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 325F, tenting the loaf with foil if need be in order to prevent the top from burning, and cook another 30 minutes. The tops should be nicely brown when done, but not burnt. If the coloring is too light, you can always bake it for a few more minutes un-tented until it has developed a richer color. *2)* When nicely brown, remove pan from the oven and place it on a cooling rack (don’t remove it from the pan yet). *3)* Brush the top of the loaf with butter, and then let the loaf completely cool inside the pan. Whatever you do, do not remove the bread from the pan until it has completely cooled, because the bread will fall apart under it’s own weight when still warm from the oven (ask me how I know!) *4)* Once completely cool, remove from the pan and enjoy. *5)* The bread freezes nicely and can be frozen for months. Just wrap tightly with plastic wrap and then tightly wrap over that with foil before putting in the freezer.

Instructions of mini-loaves to follow in next post.....


IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Nov 24, 2015)

*Optional- To make mini-loaves*: *1)* When the dough has doubled after being kneaded, divide it and also the filling up into equal 4ths by weight. For what it's worth, my mini bread pans are tapered with 5 1/2” in length on top, and 4 3/4” in length on the bottom. That means that the dough for each mini-loaf can be rolled out to about 10” wide and however much as long as they end up being in order to make a thin enough, see-through dough….. *2)* I worked with one portion of dough at a time while the other portions waited inside in the fridge (wrapped in plastic) until their turn. *3)* I rolled each one out in turn on my lightly-floured marble slab (worked great!) and proceeded in the same manner as I do for the big loaf. *4)* When done filling/rolling each mini-loaf in turn, they were placed into their greased mini-pans, covered lightly with plastic wrap, and then marked with the specific time that they were each placed in their pan. *5)* Then they were set aside on the counter so that each could proof 1 hour from the time they were placed in their pans (wrote the individual times down to keep track of the specific time for each loaf). *6)* When each was done proofing according to their individual time, they were brushed with beaten egg white and then took their turns baking @ 350F for 40 minutes, by which time their tops became nicely browned. I did not turn the temp down. I just kept it at 350F the whole time, but tented if things looked like they were getting too brown. From the looks of things, it turns out that 350F for 40 minutes was perfect for these mini-loaves. It took awhile for me to bake these because I had to stagger the baking time of each loaf according to when they were placed in their pans, but all went very well! *7)* As with the bigger loaf, make sure to cool the mini-loaves completely in their pans before removing.

I'll see about posting some of the pics I took last night while making the Potica so you can get an idea of what the process looks like.


IrishLass


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## Rowan (Nov 24, 2015)

Wow, wow and wow. That looks amazing.  I wish I could try some!!


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## luebella (Nov 24, 2015)

OMG.....  Drool


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## shunt2011 (Nov 24, 2015)

Holy cow!! That looks and sounds delish!


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## DeeAnna (Nov 24, 2015)

Oh. I think there's a wonderful aroma wafting out of my computer screen. At least my mouth is watering. Yum....!!!!


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## Relle (Nov 24, 2015)

Yummie, never heard of it.


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## Cactuslily (Nov 24, 2015)

YUM! and THANK YOU for sharing! I love baking bread. I'd never heard of Potica before. It looks delicious and so beautiful!


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## IrishLass (Nov 24, 2015)

Relle said:


> Yummie, never heard of it.


 
You're not alone. Until a couple of years ago, _I_ had never heard of it either. lol As a matter of fact, I don't think I would ever have heard about it if it wasn't for a family get-together where hubby's relatives were talking about how much they missed having Potica at Christmas, and that's when I learned all about it. I went home and Googled it, and it turns out it's a really big thing amongst certain cultures, much like pierogis and galumpkis are to the Polish side of my family. 

I'm just so happy to be able to do this for them......and that I can accomplish it on a much smaller scale. lol


IrishLass


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## Dahila (Nov 24, 2015)

triple drooooooool


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## lsg (Nov 24, 2015)

That looks delicious!


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## annalee2003 (Nov 24, 2015)

That looks absolutely delicious! I've just started making my own bread from scratch this year, and so far it's been such a fun adventure. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! I may have to try it out sometime.


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## IrishLass (Nov 24, 2015)

Here are the pics I promised:

This is how thin I rolled out my dough. You can clearly see the pattern on the marble slab underneath:






This is how I dollop my filling over the dough:






Beginning to spread with my cake/frosting spatula. When done spreading, there are no bare spots like you see in the pic, and the filling is spread out to within 1/2" of the edges all around:






This is what it looks like once each short end is rolled up to meet in the middle:





To be continued in the next post.....


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## IrishLass (Nov 24, 2015)

Folding the first end of my scroll up towards the middle (You can see my holes where I pricked through the dough with my chopstick):






Folding the second end up towards the middle to overlap the first end:






Then I flip it over and set it in my pan, folded-side down:






IrishLass


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## mazimazi (Nov 25, 2015)

Potica!!!!
We make this in my country all the time - I come from Slovenia. Where does your hubby's familiy originate from?
Walnut is classic, but I perfer tarragon - amazing! The dough in the same, filiing is made of heavy cream or sour cream, sugar, eggs (not sure about this one) and tarragon. Mmmmm, I'm getting hungry!


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## mazimazi (Nov 25, 2015)

And a recipe, if you wish to try:
http://www.slovenia.info/en/Dishes-and-Recipes/Tarragon-potica.htm?recepti=9849&lng=2
My mom usually make one with poppy seed filling, my mother-in-law makes the best tarragon potica ever! Or a coconut one, although this is not a traditional one.


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## IrishLass (Nov 25, 2015)

mazimazi said:


> Potica!!!!
> We make this in my country all the time - I come from Slovenia. Where does your hubby's familiy originate from?


 
Hubby's family comes from the part of the Tyrol area that used to belong to Austria, but was annexed by Italy after WWI. 



mazimazi said:


> Walnut is classic, but I perfer tarragon - amazing! The dough in the same, filiing is made of heavy cream or sour cream, sugar, eggs (not sure about this one) and tarragon. Mmmmm, I'm getting hungry!


 
Oooh, the tarragon one sounds interesting! And the coconut one sounds delicious! Now that I'm starting to get the hang of making it, I just might branch out and try making different flavors. My mind is now racing with an idea to make 4 mini-loaves that each flavored differently. lol


IrishLass


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## Arimara (Nov 25, 2015)

That looks like my kind of bread. I just can't make it because my munchkin has some bad allergies to nuts (I love walnuts).


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## IrishLass (Dec 12, 2016)

Inspired by Navigator9's thread on ABin5/no-knead Brioche, I'm trying my hand at making my Potica recipe the no-knead way. I just mixed up a triple batch of my dough ingredients and will pull off hunks of it over the next five days so that I can make several loaves of Potica as time permits though-out the week. From the few loaves that I made last year, word got around, and now _everyone _wants Potica from me!  I'll let y'all know how it works out.


IrishLass


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## Scooter (Dec 12, 2016)

Thanks for the recipe! I had never baked bread until I saw a no-knead video on this forum, now twenty-five loaves later.... 

Maybe I will work up to this too. Your recipe reminds me of both Mardi Gras King Cake, as well as babka. I wonder if they all go back to some common ancestor.

Scooter


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## Omneya (Dec 12, 2016)

*OMG I want some! That looks so yummy*


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## IrishLass (Dec 12, 2016)

Scooter said:
			
		

> Thanks for the recipe! I had never baked bread until I saw a no-knead video on this forum, now twenty-five loaves later....
> 
> Maybe I will work up to this too. Your recipe reminds me of both Mardi Gras King Cake, as well as babka. I wonder if they all go back to some common ancestor.
> 
> Scooter


 
I've never had King Cake or babka before, but after doing a search, they all seem to be very close cousins of each other, if not outright siblings. The dough ingredients are pretty much the same in all three, and they are all rolled and filled, but it seems the place where they part ways is in how are thin each are rolled, what kind of filling is used, and how each are shaped. Very interesting! 

I'm also looking into making a gluten-free version of my potica for my SIL who gets stomach pains every time she eats anything with gluten in it. I found this one on the internet. It looks quite promising: http://slovenianroots.blogspot.com/2015/12/new-for-2015-gluten-free-potica-with.html



			
				Omneya said:
			
		

> *OMG I want some! That looks so yummy*


 
I want some, too! I've been so busy making them for others that I haven't yet made one for myself this year.  


IrishLass


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## BeesKnees (Dec 13, 2016)

Oh, Irish Lass, you are going to send me down another rabbit hole if I'm not careful.  You seem like you could be a very bad influence....but if I'm not hungry I shouldn't care so much, right? lol


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## Soapmaker145 (Dec 13, 2016)

Wow!!! It looks very professional.  Lucky people on your Christmas list.

Thanks for sharing the recipe and the pics.  I added it to the to-make list.


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## cmzaha (Dec 13, 2016)

Thankyou for the recipe. The dough recipe is very close to one I used to make called Planchinta, which came from an Aunt of my hubby but somehow I seemed to have lost the recipe, and she is gone. It was made with either poppy seed or walnut filling made into logs. Problem is I cannot afford to make it for weight reasons, in other words I have gained to many extra pounds since retirement. I remember one time I made 4 rolls, during my still skinny days, by the time my hubby got home from work there was 1 left. LOL, he thought I had given them away....nope ate them  these were about 12"x 4"


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## IrishLass (Dec 13, 2016)

cmzaha said:


> Thankyou for the recipe. The dough recipe is very close to one I used to make called Planchinta, which came from an Aunt of my hubby but somehow I seemed to have lost the recipe, and she is gone. It was made with either poppy seed or walnut filling made into logs. Problem is I cannot afford to make it for weight reasons, in other words I have gained to many extra pounds since retirement. I remember one time I made 4 rolls, during my still skinny days, by the time my hubby got home from work there was 1 left. LOL, he thought I had given them away....nope ate them  these were about 12"x 4"


 
I had never ever heard of Planchinta before, so I just had to have myself a Google. Most of the ones I saw were stuffed round bread (much like stuffed quesedillas or pitas or pancakes), but then I saw one that seemed to fit your description. Is this what you used to make?: http://www.grabandgorecipes.com/vertuta-moldovian-savory-strudel-placinte-placinta/ 




> I remember one time I made 4 rolls, during my still skinny days, by the time my hubby got home from work there was 1 left. LOL, he thought I had given them away....nope ate them  these were about 12"x 4"


 



IrishLass


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## navigator9 (Dec 14, 2016)

OMG, I'm with Dee, I swear I can smell it! What is it about yeasted dough that makes it smell so irresistible? And not only do they smell good, they're beautiful to look at. If I weren't in "dog mode", and already so way behind on my cookie baking, I'd give this a try. I'm anxious to hear how it comes out using the ABin 5 recipe for brioche. And I agree with you about measuring your ingredients by weight...it makes all the difference. Especially with flour. I originally made the brioche dough by weight, and it was perfect. Then I made it again, with the scoop and level method, and the results were nowhere near as tender, and I know it's because there was too much flour. Weighing is best!


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## IrishLass (Dec 15, 2016)

Well, I must say that the no-knead method works great with this dough!

I just got done baking up the last of the triple batch of dough that I made earlier in the week.

Pictured below is what I made with it today. On the left is an 8" potica; the two in the middle are 5" chocolate babkas with a crumb topping; and the one on the right is an 8" chocolate babka with crumb topping (thank you Scooter for pointing me to babka!). The babkas are fresh from the oven and still too hot to remove from their pans.







My house smells chocolatey good!


IrishLass


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## Scooter (Dec 15, 2016)

IrishLass said:


> the two in the middle are 5" chocolate babkas with a crumb topping; and the one on the right is an 8" chocolate babka with crumb topping (thank you Scooter for pointing me to babka!). The babkas are fresh from the oven and still too hot to remove from their pans.



O.M.G. Those look great. If I ever learned to do that I would never leave my house. I would just be baking and eating all day long. lol.

Scooter


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## IrishLass (Dec 20, 2016)

Oh my goodness- I just read Susie's Pretzel Crack thread and had a brainstorm: to make a chocolate babka, but instead of sprinkling the loaf with the streusel crumb topping before baking, I'm going to brush the top of the loaf with the lye wash that I use when making laugenbretzels and laugencroissants, then sprinkle with kosher salt before baking!!! Thankfully, I have a 100% stainless steel bread pan that I can do this with. Oh yeahhhhhhh! Laugenbabka here we come!!!!





IrishLass


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## navigator9 (Dec 26, 2016)

IrishLass said:


> Well, I must say that the no-knead method works great with this dough!
> 
> I just got done baking up the last of the triple batch of dough that I made earlier in the week.
> 
> ...



Wow, those look incredible!!! And yes, there's nothing like the smell of yeasted dough baking to make your house smell amazing. I'm glad to hear the dough worked well for you too. I was really disappointed when I found the recipe for the chocolate brioche, only to find that all the recipes for brioche dough said it was nearly impossible without a stand mixer, which I don't have. So I was a little leery when I saw the AB in 5 brioche recipe, thinking well how good could it be, this brioche stuff sounds kind of fancy and difficult, and this recipe just sounds too easy. I was happy to discover that it's not only easy, but delish, so tender and light. 

I have a great babka recipe, but I'm anxious to try one with the brioche dough. I've saved a few versions that sound interesting, so if you're still in baking mode, you may want to take a look for some inspiration. There's just so many ways to use this dough! 

http://milk-and.blogspot.com/2015/10/chocolate-hazelnut-cinnamon-babka.html

http://baked-theblog.com/hazelnut-vanilla-bean-babka/

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-sti...-the-kitchn-218012?crlt.pid=camp.uBEeva6LI4gu

And I'd like to try some cinnamon rolls with this filling...pistachio, dark chocolate and orange zest. OMG, it makes my mouth water just to type it! LOL

http://joythebaker.com/2013/12/bonkers-awesome-pistachio-orange-and-dark-chocolate-cinnamon-rolls/

Please have a big slice of each of your creations for me. :grin:


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## Scooter (Dec 26, 2016)

That sounds incredible!



IrishLass said:


> Oh my goodness- I just read Susie's Pretzel Crack thread and had a brainstorm: to make a chocolate babka, but instead of sprinkling the loaf with the streusel crumb topping before baking, I'm going to brush the top of the loaf with the lye wash that I use when making laugenbretzels and laugencroissants, then sprinkle with kosher salt before baking!!! Thankfully, I have a 100% stainless steel bread pan that I can do this with. Oh yeahhhhhhh! Laugenbabka here we come!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## navigator9 (Dec 27, 2016)

Oooooo...how about doughnuts with the brioche dough? I keep running across more ideas for ways to use it. This could be dangerous! :crazy:
http://www.hintofvanillablog.com/home/2015/01/brioche-doughnuts-with-brown-butter.html

And I just found these. https://addmorebutter.com/2015/06/23/salted-caramel-doughnuts/ I swear I'm not looking for them...honest!


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## IrishLass (Dec 27, 2016)

You are very naughty, Navigator! My mouth is watering and I'm now chomping at the bit to try out the chocolate/pistachio/orange filling (what an awesome sounding combo!) Don't even get me started on the cream-filled doughnuts. Gah!!!!


IrishLass


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## navigator9 (Dec 27, 2016)

IrishLass said:


> You are very naughty, Navigator! My mouth is watering and I'm now chomping at the bit to try out the chocolate/pistachio/orange filling (what an awesome sounding combo!) Don't even get me started on the cream-filled doughnuts. Gah!!!!
> 
> 
> IrishLass



Oh always happy to be an enabler! LOL That easy brioche dough makes so many naughty things possible, doesn't it?


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