Croatian Hrvatski Easter Bread Recipe - Sirnica (seer-nit-za) with lemon and egg

Sirnica is such an old recipe, people debate as to how it got its unusual name. Sir in Croatian does not mean gentleman, but "cheese". My best guess is that it is shaped like a traditional round of cheese, because there is no cheese in the recipe. People sometimes add it, though not commonly (I have never tried it, but you never know!).

The recipe is light, eggy, with citrus, vanilla, rum and other wonderful flavorings. This recipe makes eight sirnica's - they can be baked four at a time on a square shaped cookie sheet. At any time of year, but especially Springtime, this recipe can be found in bakeries and people's homes. In Dalmatia, people bake Sirnica on Great Saturday, the day before Easter. The tradition is that during Lent no one eats sweets. The day before Easter they are freshly baked then brought to the church, where the priest gives them a special blessing!

Although Sirnica is not difficult to make, you will be working your schedule around it for most of a day. There are two options - leave the dough to rise before going to bed, getting up once to punch it down - or wait 'til morning and have it in the oven by the afternoon. (This is how I like to do it.....)

Ingredients

16 fresh eggs (10 eggs plus six egg yolks, in other words, remove six egg whites), 250 grams butter or margarine, 5 lbs pkg. or 2 kilo pkg. all purpose flour, 1 lb. package cake flour, milk, 1/2 cup vegetable or sunflower oil, 1 lb. sugar, 2 rounded Tablespoons vanilla extract, a generous pinch of salt, Sirnica flavoring (Pear Brandy, Rum, and Cherry Brandy are all good additions - approximately 1 T each). Lemon and Orange Rind (at least one piece of each variety). Recipe for the Sugar Topping is listed below. You will need about 20 sugar cubes and another two eggs.

Regarding Yeast: 8 pieces of cubed fresh yeast, if available, is the best option. If not, use 16 envelopes of the powdered variety.

Let's Begin!

I like to start on Saturday morning around 8 am. This ensures that the Sirnica, if everything goes as planned, will be in the oven no later than 2 or - at the very latest - 3 p.m.

Timeframe - +/-

8 am start mixing.

9 am leave it to rise (if not before)

11:30 - punch down the dough

12:30 - punch it down again and shape the loaves.

1:30 - The loaves should be risen by now...Prepare to bake

2:00 - bake!

Baking time is 30 minutes. 20 minutes, put on the topping, then another 10 minutes, so each batch will take around 40 minutes maximum to execute. Unless you have two ovens, the baking process (another 40 minutes) must be repeated. If you have to be in church by 5 p.m., this leaves you plenty of time to place the cooled down sirnica loaf into a decorative basket with festive hard - cooked Easter eggs and get yourself fixed up. That means, put on some lipstick and a fresh blouse.

Ready, Set, Go!

In a plastic bowl, combine the yeast with a glass of warm milk and let it rise. Once it starts bubbling, add a scoop of flour and keep it covered to the side.

On the stove, warm up the margarine or butter slowly combined with a glass of milk. When completely melted and cooled down, add the half-cup of liquid oil.

Now, in a separate large bowl, combine the pound of sugar and the eggs, flavorings, vanilla, lemon and orange rind. Blend together a good 10 minutes until the mixture is homogeneous. When the butter+milk+oil mixture is fully cooled, add it to this bowl.

Now add half of the flour, but slowly. Keep mixing to ensure that there are no lumps. Add the yeast mixture on top.

Continue mixing the remainder of the flour, using dough hooks if you have them. If not, take off your rings, wash your hands and mix by hand. Add extra flour if needed, making sure the dough is not sticky and has a degree of "bounce" to it. The cake flour is added at the end. It has a slightly finer consistency and helps to "finish off" the dough. Don't lick your fingers. Add flour to your fingers, add it to the bowl and then go wash up.

Put the entire mixture into an extra-large bowl. If you make an "imaginary hug" in front of you, that is the approximate size that your bowl needs to be. Put the bowl full of sirnica dough in a warm place, like on the washing machine or near the TV, and cover it with blankets, a jeans jacket - whatever - to help it rise faster.

If you started at 8 am, the dough should probably be risen by around 11:30. Punch it down and let it rise again, carefully covering with blankets like before. In another hour or so, you will be shaping the dough into eight loaves.

A note about the loaves. Better smaller than too big. If they are large to begin with, once they rise, they will be too huge to fit onto the cookie sheet, and then there is a problem that the dough isn't fully baked in the middle. I've found that a diameter of eight inches is about right for the sirnica loaves. They finish in a half hour, which means the sugar won't burn the the middle will be baked through. When they come out of the oven they are invariably larger than when they went in :).

The photo above is more or less the shape you are aiming for.

As you can see, this version looks like a three leaf clover, which is also OK.

At this point you will need a sheet for a single bed, preferably white and cottony. Using a scale to ensure consistency, take a chunk of flour and shape it into a circle, pushing the dough to the center of each loaf with your fingers.

Arrange the sheet lengthwise, then fold in half. With the sheet make wells for eight sirnica loaves. The top portion of the sheet will cover the loaves. Put a blanket on top and let them rise (this should take another hour or so).

If the loaves feel "light" they are probably ready to bake.

Heat the oven.  I bake at 180 degree Celzius.  The Fahrenheit equivalent is 350 degrees.

Like always, grease your cookie sheet.  Place on the middle rack in the oven.  Better to bake four at a time and have a great result.  The other four Sirnica's can wait their turn in the "sheet"!

Around each of the four sirnicas, I put a strip of foil.  The four sirnicas will probably touch or almost touch each other.  The foil strip helps them keep their shape.  On top of each sirnica, with a clean pair of scissors I cut three "crosses" which has religious symbolism.  It also helps to hold the sugar topping in place :)  When the oven is fully heated, put the uncovered sirnicas into the oven and look at the clock.

In 20 minutes, you will need to coat them.  First, remove the foil strips - their job is done.  Now, using a pastry brush, brush on the egg mixture and crumble on the sugar topping.  Again, note the time when you return them to the oven.  Only ten minutes more - and remove!

Now place the remaining sirnica's into the oven with foil strips, like before.

Sirnica needs to be cooled down before eating, it adds to the flavor.  Technically speaking, sirnica should not be eaten until Easter!  But that rule can be bent, especially with such wonderful smells coming out of the kitchen.....

In a small bowl, combine 1 egg and one egg yolk. Mix well, Add a drop or two of water for consistency. Using a pastry brush or the back of a Tablespoon, spread it all over the top of the sirnica. Now you need to crush some sugar cubes for an attractive topping. There are several ways to do this. A knife is one way. Another is to wrap a handful of sugar cubes in a clean dishtowel and crush them using a rock or a hammer. The basic idea is to smash them into smaller pieces and sprinkle the mixture on top of the egg.

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