Book of Days Tales

Today is Statehood Day in Slovenia, marking the date in 1991 when the country declared formal independence from Yugoslavia.  Prior to that moment in history Slovenia had been a state (occasionally with a degree of autonomy) within a succession of empires – Roman Empire, Holy Roman Empire, and Austro Hungarian Empire – briefly part of the State (later Kingdom) of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs from 1918 (much of which was soon controlled by Italy) – annexed by Axis powers during WW II – and folded into the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia post war until 1991. Complete independence as a nation is, therefore, a new and valued status for Slovenes after two thousand years of domination by outside powers.

It should come as no surprise that Slovenia’s cuisine is extremely diverse.  For people who actually care about such things Slovenia is semi-officially divided into 23 distinct gastronomic regions (not to mention the 6 divisions based on class and occupation), and there are 13 indigenous foods and food products protected by the European Union, including Kočevje forest honey produced by a unique sub-species of bee.  Slovenia is also the only country I know of where you can be served wild edible dormouse. So . . . what to pick? what to pick? what to pick? Here is a recipe for Prekmurska gibanica, a now widespread dessert originating from Prekmurje. It is a pie stuffed with poppy seeds, cottage cheese, walnuts, and apples. It is trademarked as a foodstuff which by European law cannot be called Prekmurska gibanica unless the protected recipe is followed to the letter.  So here it is (although I will admit to correcting a few slips in the original English translation  – I thought you might prefer “ground” poppy seeds to “grounded” ones, for example).

Prekmurska gibanica

Basic dough

100 gm sharp wheat flour
100 gm fine wheat flour
100 gm fat or butter or margarine
a pinch of salt or sugar
milk, water or sour cream for kneading

Sift the flour on a wooden board, add salt or sugar, and add also crushed fat. Knead the even dough while adding liquid. Leave it to rest for half an hour in a cold place.

Stretched dough

600 gm fine wheat flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
a pinch of salt
lukewarm water for kneading

Make a hole in the sifted flour in the wooden board, add fat, salt, egg if desired and knead the ingredients while adding liquid. Knead for as long as the dough is even and stretchy. Make a loaf, oil the surface and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Poppy seed filling

200 gm fine ground poppy seeds
80 gm sugar
1 bag of vanilla sugar

Add sugar and vanilla sugar to the ground poppy seeds and stir the mixture well. All the fillings are used in two parts.

Cottage Cheese Filling

1000 gm full fat cottage cheese
100 gm sugar
2 eggs
1 bag of vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt

Crush the cottage cheese with the forks; add eggs, vanilla sugar, sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir the mixture well until it is even and easily spread.

Walnut filling

300 gm ground walnuts
100 gm sugar
1 bag of vanilla sugar

Mix ground walnuts with sugar and vanilla sugar.

Apple filling

1500 gm apples (use the sour types)
120 gm sugar
ground cinnamon

Peel the apples, grate them, add sugar and cinnamon and stir the mixture gently.

Cream Topping

60 dl thick sour cream
4 eggs

Slowly whisk the eggs with the sour cream.

Fatty Topping

150 gm fat or butter or 200 gm margarine

Assembly

Prepare a clay mould “tepsija” (very often round mould, 32-35 cm wide and 7-8 cm high). Cover well the mould with butter and put in a thin layer of the basic dough – named “podplat”, which should cover also the edge of the mould. Stick it with a fork. Roll the rested stretched dough and cover it with oil. Lift the dough and stretch it over the mould so the thicker edge of the dough hangs down. Cut into 8 equal parts in the shape of a mould. On the bottom that is already covered with the basic dough and the layer of stretched dough, spread the first layer of the poppy seed filling, sprinkle with melted margarine and cream topping. Put the second layer of the stretched dough and spread over the cottage cheese filling and sprinkle it with margarine. The third layer follows. Spread it with the walnut filling and sprinkle it with margarine. The fourth layer follows then. Spread it with the apple filling and sprinkle it with margarine. Gibanica is so half way made. Repeat all the fillings again to get 8 uniform layers. Cover the top with the cream topping and margarine. Cut off the thick edges of the stretched dough that are hanging over the mould and form the Gibanica. Stick it with a thin long needle. Bake in the baker’s oven or in the electric oven approx 75 minutes at 175° C. When baked spread the cream on top and leave it to rest a little while. Then cut it into triangles and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.