I know it’s not Easter, but I really love this recipe. In Croatia families usually among all the other food, because we really like to eat, serve Pinca bread. It’s sweet and soft bread with raisins in it, or if you prefer without them. It’s usually served with cooked Easter eggs, onions, radishes, cooked ham and a salad we all call French salad, even though it has nothing to do with France and maybe more to do with Russia. Easter for my family is just a day when we all get together and have dinner, for me it’s like a Sunday dinner with a lot of food and chaos in the house with my brother’s and sister’s family over.
Just out of curiosity I know that there are many of you reading from all over the world, so if you have a chance tell me what would you serve for a big family dinner? I would really like to explore new recipes from all around the world and maybe prepare some of them for my family to try. 🙂
Back to Pinca bread, it’s light, simple, easy to make and very tasty. You can eat it as it is, or next to smoked ham, maybe a seasonal salad. Hope you try the recipe and enjoy every slice of Pinca bread!
Preparation: 1 h Cook time: 25 min Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 20 g fresh yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 200 ml milk, warm
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 egg yolks
- grated lemon zest
- 80 g butter
- 85 g sugar
- 65 g raisins
- 2 tbsp rum
- 1 egg for spreading
- sugar
How to
- In a small bowl mix together fresh yeast, 1 tbsp of sugar and 100 ml of warm milk and let it rest to double in size. In a second bowl place raisins and pour over 2 tbsp of rum.
- In a large bowl mix together flour and salt. Add yeast that has doubled in size, melted butter, 100 ml of milk, egg yolks, sugar and lemon zest. Mix the ingredients until the dough starts to form. Add raisins and rum and mix together until you get a firm dough. Place the dough in an oiled up bowl and cover with a plastic foil. Let it rest for 2 h.
- Place the dough doubled in size on a floured surface and press it using your hands to let the air in. Divide the dough in half and form two balls. Place the dough on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Spread 1/3 of egg over them and let them rest for one hour. Spread the second third of the egg over the dough and let them rest for another hour in a warm place.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spread the last 1/3 of the egg over the dough and large pieces of sugar on top of them. Using a knife cut a cross on top of the dough. Bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 min. Let the Pinca bread cool down covered with a kitchen rag.
The recipe is the same as the delicious Russian Easter cake called Pasca, but the shape is different. I am curious about the salad that you call French but you think it’s Russian. Is it potato and hard-boiled eggs based?
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It actually consists of hard boiled eggs, pickles, boiled carrots and peas also potatoes in some cases, some people also put cooked ham and cheese, it is all combined with mayonnaise and I always put some lemon juice – that’s what we here call French salad 😀
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That’s what in Russia is called Salad Olivier. It is a traditional New Year Eve salad, but it is also made for any festive occasion.
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Yes that’s it, I really don’t know why we call it French, it can also be bought in the store as “French salad”.. and we also prepare it for New Years Eve, Easter or any other occasion the family comes over – and have to tell you, I really love it!
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Now I am curious why in Russia it’s called Olivier. I’ll research it!
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If you find any info about it, share it with me, I love interesting facts about food especially the dishes I prepare!
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As I suspected, it was created in the 2nd half of 19th century, when Russian aristocracy was obsessed with everything French, including French chefs, and was named after its creator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_salad
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Thanks so much for that fact, so interesting, now I can tell it when ever I make the Salad 🙂
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My pleasure! I don’t think I’ll make it any time soon, so feel free to post it, together with the history.
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Thank you!
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I ran into the same thing with this salad dressing–often with the Russians calling it “French” and the French calling it “Russian.” Just to add to the confusion, the basis of the salad it was used on was often similar to that of a salade niçoise. I’ve got a post with recipes for my versions here: https://twiceastasty.com/2016/12/20/potato/
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Thanks for the link, sounds great! 😀
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Your Pinca bread looks delicious. I love trying different breads. As to your question about cooking for a family dinner – I love to cook a big pot of chilli (chilli con carne). Has to be served with all the trimmings – sour cream, guacamole, grated cheddar and corn chips or great with cornbread too. Always popular with the family and can be cooked in advance!
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It sounds very delicious, my brother’s family loves chilli con carne, I actually haven’t prepared it in quite some time, I think I’m going to give it a try – thank you very much for the idea!
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Love the crispy look!
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Thank so much, it is very delicious !
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Ohh wow this looks gorgeous! 🙂 thank you for sharing the recipe, I can’t wait to try it 😄
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Thank you very much, hope you’ll like it!
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I love the combination of sweet and salty. Your Pinca bread and smoked ham is a perfect combination for me 😉
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You should certainly try it then, I love the combination!
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Never heard of this bread but it sounds wonderful. I don’t make a lot of homemade bread but when I do I like to try “new and different” recipes.
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This certainly is something different and delicious, hope you’ll like it 🙂
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Looks delicious–I’d probably eat it by itself, since I am such a bread lover! 🙂
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It is really tasty, I hope you try it and enjoy!
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Looks yummy! Love sweet yeast bread and the addition of raisins.
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Thank you so much!
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Your welcome:)
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The bread looks fantastic and what an interesting bread recipe! Saved to my “must do” list! 🙂
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Thank you so much, hope you’ll like it! 🙂
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I’m making bread today, and this looks delicious!!
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Thank you! 🙂
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🙂
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Hi Kreso! This is such an inviting loaf! Wishing I had it on our table for breakfast this morning. Looking at your first comment– We lived in Spain for years and there was plenty of “Ensaladilla Rusa” (Russian Salad) made with potatoes, mayonnaise, peas, carrots, egg and roasted red pepper. Sounds related to your French Salad– And– we live back in California now and when our family is all together for a big meal, we often grill a tri tip beef roast on the grill with lots o pepper and garlic– or we eat Mexican food–a favorite here. Hope you enjoy lots of Sunday meals ahead with your family…
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Thank you so much for you generous comment! It’s probably very similar to French salad if not the same, it’s just a name 🙂 The tri tip beef roast on the grill sounds fantastic, I’m so hungry right now, but I’m always hungry ! I also hope that there would be a lot more Sunday meals with my family, especially delicious ones!
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yep, agree– big family meals are the best!
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What a lovely roll! I love hearing what everyone else makes, too! When we do Easter, it’s almost always a ham or if we are splurgy, a leg of lamb.
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Sounds tasty and thanks for your lovely comment!
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Lemon zest and rum? That sounds amazing!! I must try a gluten free version of it 🙂
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Thank you very much! 🙂
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Reblogged this on On the Road Cooking.
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Thanks!
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Never heard of this bread before but it looks delicious! It kinda looks like French brioche?
For Easter Day in the U.K. We would normally have a roast dinner and it would normally be roast lamb
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Here in Croatia just a few days before Easter you can find this bread in every store and bakery, it’s sweet and very light, maybe has some similarity to French brioche but different 😊
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Reblogged this on Duncan's World and commented:
going to try this
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This bread looks amazing! I will definitely try the recipe this weekend! I’m from the US – I live in the Midwest now but am from Southern California originally. In the summer, we usually grill meats, corn on the cob and other veges on the grill and serve with potato salad, green salad and fresh rolls. In the winter, we would make something more hearty and warming like lasagna or some kind of beef stew, enchiladas or shepherds pie. I love to make soups like roasted Butternut squash soup or asparagus soup, maybe French onion. We kind of ‘steal’ cuisine from other cultures and mix and match to make up ‘American’ cuisine!
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Everything sounds very delicious, thanks so much for sharing and nice to meet you Tanya! 😀 Nevertheless I would love to serve all of those dishes to my family 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by!
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Gorgeous! I haven’t had this bread since I visited Croatia years ago–it was made for me outside the Easter season so I could try it. I’ve primarily moved on to sourdough in my bread making, but I’m going to have to grab some yeast again and give this a go.
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Thanks so much, glad you liked it, now at Easter time you can buy it everywhere in Croatia 🙂
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