4.9 from 141 votes
Croatian Easter Bread (Pinca)
Croatian Easter Bread, or Pinca, is a lightly sweetened yeast bread enriched with raisins soaked in rum, citrus zest, and vanilla sugar. The dough is kneaded long for elasticity, allowed to rise twice, then shaped into balls scored with a cross on top and brushed with egg yolk for a shiny crust. The finished bread is soft with a slightly dense crumb and aromatic with citrus and warm spices, traditionally served during Easter celebrations.
Prep Time
35 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Additional Time
2 hrs
Total Time
3 hrs 10 mins
Servings:
30
slices
Course:
Breakfast, Brunch
Cuisine:
Croatian
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp dried yeast
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2.5 tbsp sunflower oil
- 8 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar
- 2 egg
- 3 tbsp rum
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 3 egg yolk
- orange zest or lemon zest
Instructions
- Soak the raisins in the rum for one hour.
- In a large bowl, gently mix the flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla sugar.
- Activate the yeast with some warm milk and one teaspoon of sugar. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Combine the dried ingredients with the rest of the warm milk, oil, lemon zest, egg yolks, and yeast mixture, and mix gently.
- Transfer the dough to a flat surface and knead for at least 10 minutes. Transfer back to the bowl, cover, and let rise to double its size, around 1-2 hours.
- Remove the excess rum from the raisins and add them to the dough together with some melted butter.
- When the dough has doubled in size, put it on a flat surface and knead for 10 more minutes.
- Divide the dough into equal parts, as many as you want, roll them to form a ball and transfer to an baking pan lined with baking paper. Leave for one hour to double in size. Then, using a knife, finely cut the top in the shape if a cross. Brush with egg yolk, but avoid brushing over the cut cross.
- Preheat the oven to 320°F/160° C and bake for about 25-35 minutes until golden. Let them cool before serving!
Cup of Yum