A recipe for pinca, which will bathe your house with the citrus note and salty scent of the Mediterranean
Pinca is a sweet bread Croatians traditionally make for Easter. This bread originates from the Venetian Republic when eating pastries and cakes was a luxury.
• 1,5 kilos of flour,
• 360 ml of warm milk,
• 5 tablespoons of fresh yeast,
• 15 tablespoons of butter,
• 20 tablespoons of sugar,
• 8 egg yolks,
• 2 vanilla sugars,
• pinch of salt,
• lemon or orange peel.
Put yeast, few tablespoons of lukewarm milk, and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a bowl. Mix it all up to activate the yeast. Crumbled yeast blend with a little bit of sugar, heated flour, and lukewarm water. Cover the yeast with the clean kitchen rag and put it away to a warm spot so it can rise. Warm up the rest of the flour and crumble it with the butter. Make a dent in flour and fill it with sugar, egg yolks, vanilla sugar, salt, lemon or orange peel, and risen yeast. Add a little bit of warm milk if it is needed.
More Croatian Easter Traditions
Shape the dough firmly, then leave it to rise for 4-5 hours. Make four even round shapes from the dough and put them on the baking paper. Keep them covered and place them in a warm until they doubled their size. Cut an x in the middle of the 4 circle-shaped doughs. Bake them in your oven on 180-200°C for about 45 minutes. Take the pinca out after 25 minutes and coat it with egg to give it a golden color.
The smell of freshly baked dough and the citrus aroma filling your kitchen will tell you when it is the perfect time to take your pinca out of the oven. Serve your pinca, gather around the table with your family, and enjoy the fruits of your labor!