A couple of weeks ago, fresh from the launch of her new cookbook “The Balkan Kitchen”, I spent a day surrounded by the smells of freshly baked bread in the kitchen of food writer Irina Janakievska in London, where she showed me how to bake a celebration Poğaça. She has very kindly offered to share this beautiful recipe with us, which she has written up especially for our Journal (below).

She is also sharing with us two additional recipes, which are from her cookbook - Milibrod, and her Grandmother’s savoury cake.

Irina is a Macedonian-British writer and recipe developer. She was born in Skopje, North Macedonia (then one of the republics of former Yugoslavia). She grew up in Kuwait from the late 1980’s onwards, moving to London in 2001 to study before commencing a career in corporate law.

After her much-loved grandmother passed away suddenly, Irina clung onto all the memories she could find of her. Returning to her grandmother’s home she began leafing through the pages of her copy of the “Great National Cookbook of Yugoslavia” from 1956. She discovered the recipes and notes her grandmother had carefully marked out to celebrate Irina’s arrival in the world. Irina decided to take the goal of this cookbook, to celebrate and explore the culture, history and heritage of the Balkans through food, something which unites people, and began to write her blog “the Balkan Kitchen” (you can find it here http://balkankitchen.co.uk/). This work has evolved over the last few years, culminating in her most recent endeavour, the Balkan Kitchen cookbook – recipes and stories from the heart of the Balkans.

After leaving a successful career in corporate law behind her in 2020, Irina trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine, making the transition to writing and recipe developing full time.

One of her favourite flours to bake with is our organic stoneground white, which she loves because it falls somewhere in between a plain and a very strong flour, perfect for some of the types of crumb she wants to achieve. Other favourites of hers include buckwheat, semolina, millet, maize, plain white, self-raising, and the Shipton Mill No. 1 flour. If she can source it, she also uses the famous Klas Sarajevo flour.

While we chatted, she effortlessly pieced together this spectacular bread which you see below, while simultaneously testing a new recipe for pekarski kifli (hopefully coming to her blog soon, keep your eyes peeled). After a day of baking and shooting, we sat down for a lunch of Imam Bayildi, an aubergine and tomato dish (you can find on page 126 of her cookbook). Irina explained that according to legend, it once made an imam (holy man) faint – either, she said, because the dish was so delicious, or because of how much expensive olive oil his wife had used to make it (bayildi means “fainted”).

She paired it with a dip made from roasted aubergines, yoghurt, feta, garlic, olive oil and smoked pepper salt – in her words, “kind of a combination of Levantine baba ghanoush, Turkish yoğurtlu patlıcan (aubergines yoghurt, garlic, olive oil and herbs) and North Macedonian malidzano (usually an aubergine and pepper spread) - the word from Italian for aubergines – melanzane”. If you are cooking for friends or someone you want to impress and are looking for inspiration, this combination of her Imam Bayildi recipe, fresh bread and dip makes for a beautiful combination.

I left with bags full of fresh bread, and Tupperware groaning with leftovers. Thank you Irina, for welcoming me into your kitchen and such fantastic hospitality.

Moving on to Irina’s recipes, below is the special recipe for our Journal, the celebration poğaça, along with her cookbook recipes for Milibrod and her Grandmother’s savoury cake.

CELEBRATION POGAČA

This is a celebration tear and share bread, one often prepared for Balkan slava (the celebration of a family’s patron saint). Poğaça, etymologically an adaptation of Italian focaccia - is an umbrella term for a wide variety of breads prepared from various types of flour using various techniques all over the Balkans. Poğaça can be anything from a simple unleavened loaf to very elaborately decorated one. This particular shaping technique is sometimes referred to as cornet (ice-cream cone) poğaça and it falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum in terms of poğaça difficulty levels. It certainly makes for a rather special centre-piece on the table as part of a celebratory feast. Serve alongside salads, mezzes, olives, spreads, cured or smoked meats and cheeses.

Ingredients

20g fast-action dry yeast

1 tbsp caster sugar

250g lukewarm milk

100g sunflower oil

2 eggs

500g Shipton Mill Finest Bakers White Bread Flour No.1, plus extra for dusting

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

125g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 tbsp black or white sesame seeds, or nigella seeds, or a mix

In a small bowl, mix the yeast, sugar, and milk, then set aside for five to 10 minutes, until frothy. Then add the oil and one of the eggs, and mix well to combine. 

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Pour in the wet ingredients then mix with a fork or a spatula until combined into a raggy dough. Tip out the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface and knead for approximately 5-7 minutes until a smooth and soft dough forms. 

Transfer to a clean, large bowl dusted with a little flour. Cover tightly with reusable food wrap or a clean damp tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove for 1 – 1.5 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Next tip out the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface and divide it into 8 equal parts. Roll each into a tight ball. Dust your surface and a rolling pin lightly with flour then roll out each dough ball into 20cm-diameter discs. Lay one of the discs and brush it with butter. Stack another disc on top, and brush this with butter also. Continue stacking all the discs, brushing each with butter. Do not brush the final disc. Dust your work surface and your rolling pin with flour again. First using your fingertips, gently stretch out the dough into a larger circle, around 30cm diameter. Then, with your rolling pin carefully roll out the dough into a large circle (around 50cm diameter).

With a pastry cutter (or sharp knife), cut a 3cm border all the way around the outer edge of the dough circle. Separate the border and cut it in three – you should end up with three strips of dough. Brush them with butter, then roll them up so they look like roses, tucking the end underneath. Set these ‘pastry roses’ aside on a lightly floured work surface.

For the remaining dough circle, brush it all over with butter, then cut it into 8 wedges. Starting with the long edge of a wedge, start to roll it, like a croissant, tucking the tip of the wedge at the base. Repeat with all the wedges. Then cut each crescent roll down the middle, crosswise, so you have a little pastry cone.

Line the base of a round baking dish or springform tin (around 28 to 30cm) with baking parchment and butter the sides well. Start arranging the cones (wide end at the edge of the baking dish, thin ends facing the centre of the baking dish) evenly around the baking dish so they look like petals. Place the 3 pastry roses in the middle - it is fine if they overlap the thin ends of the pastry cones.

Lightly beat the remaining egg, and with a pastry brush, brush the arranged pastry gently. Sprinkle with the seeds. Set aside to prove a second time for around 40 minutes or until the pastry has risen enough so there are no gaps between the pastry cones and roses.

Heat the oven to 200C (fan). Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C (fan) and continue to bake, rotating the baking dish around to ensure an even bake, for a further 15-20 minutes or until the top and base are both golden brown and cooked through.  Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool in the baking dish for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm on a large plate or serving board.

Process shots below:

 

 

 

Rolling the dough into eight equal sized balls

 

Rolling out each ball into 20cm discs

 

 

Stacking the discs and brushing with butter

 

 

 

 

 

The three strips of dough in the pan, rolled up to look like roses, and the remaining dough being shaped into “croissant” shapes.

Placing the half-croissant shaped dough pieces in the pan, and then placing the three dough “roses” on top. Sprinkling with the seeds.

 

All above process photos, and the finished Poğaça above, copyright Tess Lister

 

Photo of the Imam Bayildi and Irina’s dip, by Tess Lister

 

The Balkan Kitchen Recipe Extracts

MILIBROD

Milibrod is a type of sweet yeasted bread that in the Balkans is typically eaten at Easter. The name is likely derived from the German milchbrot, though in composition it is closer to Austrian streizel and Jewish challah. In North Macedonia it is also known as kozinjak and is often flavoured with sultanas (golden raisins), raisins or other dried fruits. There are so many variations of sweet yeasted breads across the Balkans. They can be baked like as a loaf, plaited or rolled (like the potica on page 76) and filled with various fillings – walnuts and poppy seeds being the most popular, but also jam, pekmez, marmalade, any other ground nuts or chocolate. In Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina it is called povitica if rolled. When rolled and filled with walnuts, it is variously known as orehnjača, orahnjača and orahovnjaca. With poppy seeds, it becomes a makovnjača. Rolled, it is also often called štrudla.

This recipe for the dough comes from my godmother, Zore Bukleska. It is so versatile that I make it quite often, not just around Easter. This technique of twisting and making small knots is a little on the tricky side, but well worth the effort.

Makes 8 buns

INGREDIENTS

7g (1/4 oz) fast-action dried yeast 25 g (1 oz) caster (superfine) sugar 125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) lukewarm whole (full-fat) milk, plus extra for brushing

275 g (93/4 oz/scant 21/4 cups) Shipton Mill Finest Bakers White Bread Flour No. 1, plus extra for dusting

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 medium egg, lightly beaten

25 g (1 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

FOR THE POPPY SEED FILLING

150 g (51/2 oz/scant 1 cup) poppy seeds, ground

100 g (31/2 oz/scant 1/2 cup) vanilla or caster sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
50 g (13/4 oz/scant 1/3 cup) raisins
150 ml (5 fl oz/scant 2/3 cup) hot milk 1 teaspoon lemon zest

FOR THE APRICOT GLAZE

2 tablespoons Apricot Đzem
(see page 247, or use shop-bought)

2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoons water

METHOD

In a small bowl, mix together the yeast, sugar and milk, then set aside for 5–10 minutes until frothy.

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture, egg and butter and then use a spatula to mix and bring the dough together, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you do. Tip out the dough onto
a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes until it comes together in a smooth, elastic dough that springs back when touched. Alternatively, if you have a stand mixer, combine as above and beat the mixture first on a low speed until the flour is incorporated and then on
a medium speed for 10–12 minutes, pausing to scrape down the sides, until the dough comes together.

Place the dough into a clean bowl and cover tightly. Either prove in the refrigerator overnight (or for at least 8 hours), or leave in a warm place to prove for 11/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. If you prove it in the refrigerator, take the dough out of the fridge at least an hour before use so that it comes back to room temperature, otherwise it will be difficult to roll out.

Meanwhile, make the poppy seed filling. Put the poppy seeds, sugar, vanilla, raisins, milk and lemon zest into a small saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 8–10 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture has visibly thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Once the dough has risen, tip out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, gently roll it out into a roughly
48 x 32 cm (19 x 121/2 inch) rectangle. Spread the filling evenly over the dough with a spatula or palette knife. With the longest edge closest to you, fold over one third of the rectangle into the centre (as if closing a book) – you should have one third of the rectangle and filling still exposed. Fold over the other side of the rectangle so that no filling is exposed. With a knife, cut
the dough widthwise into eight even strips. Take each dough strip and gently stretch and twist it around 3–4 times. Pinch one end of the strip together with the other (so you have a little circle) and twist it into a figure of eight. Repeat with the rest.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (400°F). Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment and place the knots on the prepared baking sheet. With a pastry brush, brush each gently with a little milk. Set aside to rest for about 30 minutes.

Once rested, bake in the oven for 20–24 minutes, or until the buns are dark golden brown and hollow- sounding when tapped on the base.

While the knots are baking, prepare the glaze by heating the jam, lemon juice and water in a small
saucepan over a medium heat for 1–2 minutes until the glaze is the consistency of runny honey. At this stage you can, if you prefer, sieve it (to remove any chunkier bits of apricot jam) but this is not necessary. Brush the knots with the glaze as soon as they come out of the oven, then place them on a wire rack to cool.

Photo copyright Liz Seabrook

 

GRANDMA’S SAVOURY CAKE

This is the last recipe my grandma wrote down for me. In April 2011, as I was leaving for the airport to fly back to London, she pressed the piece of paper in my hand. Shortly after, she passed away suddenly. On the back of the recipe she had written: ‘Grandma loves you. Don’t be scared, I’m sure you will succeed.’ I have always felt, and will always feel, that she was writing me more than just a recipe for savoury cake, but rather her last piece of advice to me – her recipe for the rest of my life.

This recipe is really a variant of the Balkan cornbread known variously
as proja or projanica (in Serbia, Croatia and North Macedonia) or proha or uljevak in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of variants of it across the Balkans, especially from areas across the region famous for growing local varieties of corn, such as the Sulova corn from Albania’s south- eastern regions (which is used to make pispili, a corn and spinach bread)
or Kosovo white corn (which is used to make leqenik, which is similar to pispili). Many recipes are simply cornbread flavoured with local cheeses, but they can be more elaborate and enriched with various alliums and greens (especially courgettes/zucchini, spinach, nettles or leeks). Cornbread can be a meal
on its own, accompanied by a variety of fresh salads, meze, preserves, pickles or serving boards of suvomesnati (dried, smoked or cured meats) and cheeses. Or, it is simply eaten in lieu of bread.

Serves 8-10

INGREDIENTS

125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing

1–2 boiled or steamed carrots (about 75 g/21/2 oz), finely chopped

1 sweet long green or red pepper (about 75 g/21/2 oz), finely chopped (or 1–2 celery stalks)

100 g (31/2 oz) smoked ham, finely chopped

100 g (31/2 oz) white cheese (or feta), crumbled

20 g (3/4 oz) fresh parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped

275 g (93/4 oz/scant 21/4 cups) Shipton Mill Organic Self-Raising White Flour, plus extra for dusting

3 medium eggs

150 ml (5 fl oz/scant 2/3 cup) kefir 100 g (31/2 oz/2/3 cup) Shipton Mill Gluten-Free Organic Maize Flour

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 190°C fan (400°F). Grease a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin (pan) with a little oil, then coat in flour and tip out any excess or line with baking parchment.

Place the chopped carrots, pepper, ham, cheese and parsley in a medium bowl and mix well. Add 3 tablespoons of the self-raising flour to the savoury mixture and mix well to coat everything in flour.

Crack the eggs in a separate large bowl. Using an electric whisk, whisk the eggs for 2–3 minutes on high speed until they are well aerated, have doubled in size and are pale and frothy. Add the kefir and oil and mix for 15–30 seconds to combine. Sift the rest of the flour, the cornmeal, salt
and a good grind of black pepper into the wet mixture and fold it in with
a spatula. Next, fold in the vegetable mixture, ensuring that it is well distributed but do not overwork it. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and distribute it evenly, making sure there are no air pockets, then bake in the oven for 60–75 minutes, turning around halfway through, until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10–15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

Note

This mixture also works well as savoury muffins. Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases and bake at 180°C fan (400°F) for 30–35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. This keeps well in an airtight container
at room temperature for up to 2 days; after a day, warm it in the microwave for 10–15 seconds to freshen it up.

Photo copyright Liz Seabrook