Pogacha (Po-Gotcha) - Celebratory Bread

Photo: Diethood

Ingredients

8 cups all purpose flour

25 grams dry yeast (3 ½ envelopes of "Fleischmann’s ¼ oz. Active Dry Yeast" packages)

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons + 1/4 teaspos of sugar, for the dough

4 tablespooons + 1/4 teasps of oil, for the dough

1 1/2 tablespoons of sesame seeds, dried

1 tablespoon oil, used for sesame seeds to stick

Preparation

Combine yeast, sugar, salt and 1/2 cup lukewarm water in small bowl - let stand 15 minutes.

Put the flour in a large bowl; make a well in the flour and add oil and yeast mixture. Mix until dough leaves sides of bowl. Add additional flour if dough is too sticky.

Divide dough into 6 to 8 balls (personal preference). Inside of a round, 8 inch baking pan, put the dough balls one next to another, forming a flower; leave the dough to double in size – about 20 to 30 minutes.

Smooth oil over each ball of dough and arrange the sesame seeds on top of each ball.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour.

Cool on wire racks.

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About

This is a celebratory bread that Macedonians (and other Balkan peoples) use to celebrate weddings, Saints patron days, baptisms, etc. I made this a few days ago for the reason that it was my grandmother's Saint's Day, St. Dimitri.

Note: I didn't use sesame seeds this time because my one year old loves this bread, but I am afraid that she might choke on a seed. :)