Cookbook:Prekmurska Gibanica

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes | Cuisine of Slovenia

Prekmurska Gibanica is a cake similar to Strudel, with poppy seeds, curd cheese, walnuts and apples. It is a national specialty of Slovenia.

Ingredients

• A fireproof earthenware baking mould (preferably round, diameter 32 to 35 cm, height 7 to 9 cm).
• To pour on: 70 cl sour cream and 2 eggs or 3 egg yolks, mixed well
• To sprinkle on: 250 g butter

Strudel dough

• 500 g flour
• 40 g sunflower seed oil
• 20 to 30 cl lukewarm water
• salt

Short pastry dough (base)

• 150 g flour
• 100 g fat (butter or margarine)
• 1 egg yolk, 50 g icing sugar
• 1 pack of vanilla sugar

Walnut filling

• 250 g ground walnuts
• 80 g sugar, some cinnamon
• grated lemon peel

Curd cheese filling

• 1000 g full-fat curd cheese
• 1 egg
• 80 g raisins
• 100 g sugar
• salt
• 1 pack vanilla sugar

Poppy seed filling

• 150 g ground poppy seeds
• 80 g sugar
• some cinnamon
• grated lemon peel

Apple filling

• 1 kg apples
• 100 g sugar
• some cinnamon

Procedure

Strudel dough

1. Sift the flour onto a working surface, make a well in the middle, add a pinch of salt, oil and water, mix everything together and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
2. Shape the dough into a ball, coat with oil, cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes on a floured board.

Short pastry dough

1. Sift the flour onto a working surface, press a well in the middle, add knobs of butter, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla sugar, and knead together quickly.

Walnut filling

1. Thoroughly mix ground walnuts, sugar, vanilla sugar and cinnamon.

Curd cheese filling

1. Mash the curd cheese, thoroughly mix the egg, vanilla sugar, sugar, some salt and grated lemon peel until the filling spreads nicely.
2. Add washed raisins that have been softened in rum.

Poppy seed filling

1. Thoroughly mix ground poppy seeds, sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon and grated lemon peel.

Apple filling

1. Peel the apples, slice them and mix them with sugar and cinnamon.

Procedure

1. Grease the baking mould well, roll out the short pastry dough and line the base of the baking mould with it, then prick it gently with a fork.
2. Stretch the strudel dough and coat it with oil.
3. Pull it thinly over the baking mould so that the thick edges hang down over the mould. Cut off the edges to make 8 equal-sized sheets of strudel dough.
4. Place the first sheet of strudel dough on the short pastry dough, coat with poppy seed filling and sprinkle with butter and the sour cream mixture.
5. Then place the second sheet of strudel pastry on top, coat with curd cheese filling and sprinkle with butter and the sour cream mixture.
6. Cover with the next sheet of strudel dough, coat with walnut filling and again sprinkle with butter and the sour cream mixture.
7. Coat the fourth sheet of strudel dough with the apple filling and sprinkle with butter and the sour cream mixture. The Gibanica is now half-assembled.
8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 until you end up with 8 uniform layers.
9. Finally, cover with a sheet of strudel dough and pull it over the edge of the baking mould, then sprinkle with butter and cream.
10. Prick the Gibanica with a long needle again. Bake in a pre-heated oven or bread oven at 175°C for about 75 minutes.
11. Coat with sour cream and allow it to cool a little
12. Cut into triangles, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Notes, tips and variations

• You can also assemble the individual layers of the Prekmurska Gibanica in a different order. The only important point is that moist (curd cheese, apple) and drier (poppy seed, walnut) fillings should alternate.