Chocolate Walnut Povitica

If you’re in Slovenia or Croatia around Christmas time, you might find this intricate breakfast bread served up with your morning beverage. The dough is a bit tricky to work with, but it’s a fun project for when you have some extra time at home, with tasty, dairy-free results. Chocolate walnut povitica FTW!

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Ingredients

Dough:
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp brown sugar
1/3 cup hottest tap water
2 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup soy milk
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg white

Filling:
1/4 soy milk
1/4 coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 egg yolk =

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Directions

Prepare the dough and filling. In a small non-metal bowl, mix the yeast, hot water, and 1 tsp brown sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes to let the yeast bloom. In a large metal bowl, mix the flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and salt. Add the yeast mixture to the flour, along with the soy milk, coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Mix well into a ball of dough. Knead for about 8 minutes until the dough is nice and soft with a smooth and stretchy consistency. Cover the dough in the metal bowl and leave it to rise for an hour in a warm place.

In a separate bowl, mix all the filling ingredients together into a thick syrup.

After the dough has risen, put it on a well-floured board and roll it out to a very thin rectangle, as thin and wide as you can without tearing it. Spread the filling over top to evenly cover it, then roll the dough up tightly over the filling to make a long log. Lift it up carefully and put it into a greased loaf tin, folding it over a time or two to make it fit in the pan – this will also create nice patterns later when you cut into it. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for an hour in a warm dry place.

Brush the risen dough with the egg white. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes, then without opening the oven door, drop the temperature to 300F. Bake for another 45 minutes, covering the top with foil if it gets too brown.

Cool your chocolate walnut povitica in the tin, then slice it up to serve as is or dusted with powdered sugar. It’s very tasty dunked in soy milk too. Enjoy!