Roll up with this Croatian sweet walnut bread (orahnjača)

No matter which way you cut it, this walnut roll creates plenty of reasons to celebrate.

Serve walnut roll (orahnjača) sliced with tea or coffee. Source: Belinda Luksic

You could set your watch by mum making orehnjača, what we called walnut roll. Other families might spend Christmas Eve wrapping presents and watching Carols by Candlelight. In our house, mum spent it zesting lemons, crushing walnuts, mixing dough, proofing, kneading and rolling, and then baking, baking, baking. 

Most of this happened when I was happily tucked up in bed, so for years, the walnut roll appeared on Christmas morning as magically as Santa's stocking fillers.  

This sweet bread with a walnut swirl takes its cue from the Hungarian beigli. It has a dough made from yeast that's rolled thin, slathered in a sweet walnut paste, rolled up tightly and baked. Where the Hungarian beigli is heavy-handed on the bread, Croatians push the boat out and overload the filling. Its glossy surface and bread-like texture remind me of a viennoiserie.

Spread the walnut filling over the dough. Source: Belinda Luksic

Having made it once, I can attest to it being a labour of love. This might explain why it's traditionally made only twice a year – at Christmas and Easter. In recent years, this sweet bread has also come to symbolise mum's devotion to my dad, a love affair that spans more than 60 years.

A dance in Sydney's southwest was their meet-cute. Six months later, mum was fluent in Croatian and sporting a diamond engagement ring. By the time my brothers and I were born, she had moved onto tormenting our taste buds, I mean, mastering the rustic Croatian dishes my father loved: fažol soup with smoked pork neck and kidney beans; cabbage rolls in a paprika-rich roux and fish head brodet, a meal so traumatic to my young child's taste, sight and smell that yes (YES!!), I'm still banging on about it. 

The walnut roll was part of this newfound repertoire, a dish my dad adored, but one that left my young child's tastebuds craving something more sugary sweet. When Christmas lunch rolled around, and the pavlova and trifle appeared, it was a no-brainer what would be on my plate. Spoiler alert: it wasn't the orehnjača. These days, mum continues to make it exclusively for my dad.

You could set your watch by mum making orehnjača, what we called walnut roll.

It's my first year making it. I have a copy of the recipe, taken from a Croatian cookbook mum found in the '60s in a small bookshop in Sydney. "One of the ones on Pitt Street that was so tiny and crowded you couldn't move," she remembers.

It was, she says, fortuitous. Given this cookbook also contained the recipe for fish head soup, I'm not sure I agree. But it did give her the confidence to cook dad's favourite dishes without relying on my Croatian grandmother who, as my mum says, "put in a bit of this and a bit of that without measuring" and was hard to follow.

Bake until dark brown and your kitchen smells like yeast. Source: Belinda Luksic

I use a small cake of fresh yeast and get to work. There are plenty of quirky instructions. I'm to warm the flour after sifting it and beat the dough by hand or spoon. I end up bashing it like a punching bag, wondering at the strength of my diminutive mother. Mum uses dry yeast, but the wet yeast seems to rise quickly and makes for softer bread.  

The lack of a food processor calls for some resourcefulness. I crush the walnuts with a mallet, throw small handfuls in the blender, and finish the final niggly bits by hand. It doesn't hurt. I end up with a super smooth and creamy filling - and top marks from my dad.

Like most Croatian desserts, the walnut roll has a good slurp of rakija and the citrusy goodness of lemon zest. Some recipes call for raisins, but in my humble opinion, these are the devil's spawn – and at Christmas, what would the baby Jesus think of that?

 

Love the story? Follow the author here: Instagram @belindaluksic. Photography by Belinda Luksic. Styling by Belinda Luksic. Food preparation by Belinda Luksic.

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Walnut roll (orehnjača)

Serves 20

Ingredients 

• ⅓ small yeast cake
• 1 ⅓ cup milk
• 4 cups plain flour
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• ⅔ cup butter
• 1 egg
• Pinch salt
• Lemon zest

Filling

• 680 g ground walnuts
• 450 g sugar
• ¼ cup butter, melted
• 3 tbsp rum (or Slivovica)
• ¾ cup milk

Method

1. Dissolve crumbled yeast in lukewarm milk. 
2. Add 1 teaspoon of flour and sugar and let stand in a warm place to ferment.  
3. In a large bowl, beat together egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow.
4. Add melted butter and mix until combined.
5. Sift flour with a pinch of salt in a separate bowl and warm.
6. Add to the egg mix with grated lemon rind and yeast.
7. Stir in enough milk to make a soft dough.
8. Beat well by hand or a large wooden spoon until bubbles form in the dough.
9. Cover and let stand in a warm place to rise.
10. Make the filling by mixing together walnut, sugar, melted butter and rum (or Slivovica). Add boiling milk and stir until combined. Divide into three parts.
11. Preheat oven to 180°C.
12. When the dough has risen, turn out onto a floured surface and divide it into three parts.
13. Roll each piece into a paper-thin rectangle (the longer sides should correspond to the baking pan).
14. Spread a third of the filling evenly over the sheet, roll tightly and place in a buttered baking pan.
15. Continue with the other two pieces of dough.
16. Cover the rolls and let stand for 15 minutes.
17. Brush with lightly beaten egg and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the crust is dark brown.
18. Remove from the baking pan and let it cool before cutting into slices.

Note: 

• Walnut roll will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.