Traditional customs and festivals all over the world are always associated with certain colours, dances, songs or rituals. Yet when we think of a festive day, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the specific tastes that we associate with it. Each area has its own culinary traditions and a typical combination of aromas, scents, colours and shapes of food that remind us of the traditional values, family and community from which we originate. To visit an area also means to explore its customs and taste its typical foods.
Pinca – traditional Easter bread.
To experience Lošinj and learn more about our way of life, cuisine and customs, you should definitely try our traditional Easter sweet bread, which we call pinca. It is a simple leavened dough enriched with the aromas that Lošinj housewives had at their disposal in the past: lemon and orange. So simple yet so tasty and delicious, pinca symbolises the joy of a family get-together, the escape from our daily duties, and the enjoyment of the tastes, colours and fragrances that make festive days so special.
Since Lošinj is distinguished by its particularly mild climate, Easter is usually a time when one can sit on a terrace and enjoy the view of the blue sea and the taste of fresh vegetables. Therefore, we invite you to visit our island and sample our pinca to see for yourself how the Mediterranean sun in the spring blends together with the fragrance of lemon and orange. You can find the recipe for traditional pinca further below in this blog post.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
• 1 kg flour
• 150 g fresh yeast
• 250 g sugar
• 150 g seed oil
• 5 eggs (2 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks)
• 1 cup (2 dcl) warm milk
• a pinch of rum
• grated zest of 1 orange
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• a pinch of salt
• 1 egg (for brushing)
Lošinj lemon – the zest of an unsprayed lemon is the most important ingredient in Easter ‘pinca’.
Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Stir with little bit of flour. Cover, let rise for 15 minutes.
In a separate bowl beat eggs with sugar, oil, salt, rum, grated orange and lemon zest.
Sift flour into a large bowl. Make a “well” in the middle. Add foamed yeast and other ingredients into flour mixture. Knead the dough, cover and let rise for 30-60 minutes.
Knead the dough again, form it into a ball shape and put in cake tin (grease the tin or use backing paper). Let rise until it nearly doubles in size again. With a pair of kitchen scissors, make three intersecting cuts that meet at the center. The cuts should be quite deep (at least halfway through the loaf) to allow the dough to rise up from the center and form the traditional crests on the loaf.
Preheat oven to 170 oC. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Brush with the beaten egg over top while still warm.
Brush the ‘pinca’ with the beaten egg while still warm to make the crust smooth and shiny.
Tips and tricks for best results:
Mix the ingredients mixture (eggs, sugar, oil, salt, rum, orange, lemon) over warm water on low heat and stir until creamy and smooth (but be careful not to cook the eggs).
When leaving dough to rise for second time, let sit for 4-5 hours in a warm place.
Pinza is typically cut into three parts representing the Holy Trinity.
Warmness is the most important “ingredient”, so involve the whole family in making your sweetest Easter bread.
Happy Easter!
Source: Slatki blog