Instructions: MAKOVNJACA Dough:
Allow the yeast to rise in one quarter cup of warm milk until doubled in size. Sift the flour into a deep bowl. Make a well in the center and place the yeast in the well. Add the remaining milk, sugar, egg yolks, lemon rind, vanilla, butter and salt. Mix together well and beat with a wooden spoon until blisters begin to form on the dough. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in bulk.

Divide the dough into two sections. Roll each section out very thin, brush with melted butter and fill with poppy seed filling. Roll like a savijaca* by filling the edge of the table-cloth on which the dough was rolled out. Place the two sections of MAKOVNJACA on a well greased baking sheet and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for another half hour. Brush the rolls with a well beaten egg white and bake at 350 F for about an hour until they become golden. Cool before slicing and serving.

OREHNJACA Filling:
Pour the scalded milk over the walnuts. Combine with the remaining ingredients and allow to cool before spreading over the dough. Fill with the walnut filling. Bake according to the directions for MAKOVNJACA.

NOTES : We have heard this Croatian bread called Potica (pronounced Po-tee-sa, and also called Kolachi, Povitica, Nutbread, Orahnjaca or Povanica. But in the village that Emily and my family come from, Gerovo, in Gorski Kotar, we call it Povitica. There is even a commercial baker in Kansas City that markets the bread as "Strawberry Hill Povitica". (Strawberry Hill being the region where our ancestors settled at the turn of the century.) What do you call it where your ancestors came from? What is the origin of the word Povitica? Call me at 913/384-9653 .

Let me just add that this is not a bread but a cake. In fact its a Croatian walnut roll.

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