Homemade Macedonian Pogacha (Extremally Soft, Traditional Cheese Bread)!

Today I am going to attempt to show you how to make a Traditional Macedonian/Bulkan cheese bread called Pogacha!

I'm not from Macedonia myself but my partner is, and during covid I wanted to make her something to remind her of home (We live in Canada)

This bread is generally served at special events, however since I learnt how to make it, its a common requests at most parties or BBQ's I attend!

The bread is very soft, Slightly cheesy (Not overpowering) and one of my favorite things to bake! And simple too once you know how.

For the Dough:

450g of White Flour

20g of Fresh Yeast OR 1 Packet of dry yeast OR (Recommended) 10g of Pizza Yeast

1 teaspoon of Salt

1 teaspoon of Sugar

2 eggs, 1 egg White (We will use the egg yolk at the end)

100ml of milk (1-3% , Room temperature)

3 tablespoons of plain yoghurt (Room temperature)

3 tablespoons of olive oil (Vegetable oil can be used as well)

For the filling:

50g of non-salted butter or marge (Room temperature, Needs to be brush-able)

200g of hard Feta Cheese

80g of any orange cheddar cheese (optional)

2 handfuls of fresh spinach (optional)

For the top coating:

1 egg yolk (The one from earlier!)

1 handful of sesame seeds

a little additional butter for the tin!

Required Instruments:

A large bowl for mixing

Rolling Pin

A round cake tin (26cm, 6cm high)

Saran/Plastic Wrap (Cleanfilm)

Wash Those hands!!! As my mother would always shout at me, Sure we have heard it a ton the past 2 years as well but still, we are not serving out spikey little viruses here, Just some good old Macedonian Pogacha! Once they are good and clean lets gather our ingredients for the Dough!

Lets grab the dough ingredients You have the list up there, Don't make me repeat myself! (Also another motherly phrase)

First we want to put all the dry ingredients together, So that is the 450g of Flour, 10g of Yeast, 1tsp of Salt and 1tsp of Sugar. Put them all into a large mixing bowl and give them a good old mix with a spoon for 30 seconds (Or your hands, Your choice!)

Next!

We want to add the wet ingredients, Make a little crater in the dough mix and add 100ml of Lukewarm Milk (Blitz it in the microwave for 20 seconds if cold) 3Tbls of Plain Yogurt (Also microwave if cold) The 2.5 Egg's and oil can go in as they are! And yes, I said 2.5 eggs! You only want 2 eggs, and one additional egg white. The yolk is going to be kept for later! At this stage I am still mixing with a strong spoon, However you can use your hands. Mix well for 3-5 minutes, until the whole dough mixture comes together.

Next we want to tip the mixture out onto a clean surface, This could be your kitchen side, or as I am using, a Large chopping board. The mixtures is quite wet and is not great for wooden sides!

At this point we want to get our hands in there and start combining it all into one large ball, You want to squeeze, Hit, pull, twist, bend BOP-IT...... Oops! I mean Knead it into a nice smooth ball of dough. You will find that because the mixture is still quite wet its going to stick to EVERYTHING, You need to add medium pinches of flour until the ball of dough can be rolled, without sticking to your hands. We want it tacky! This will take roughly 10 minutes.

Once you have a nice smooth ball of dough, we want to clean the bowl we used before (Or use a clean one, you heathen), Wipe the sides of it with some oil and then place the dough in there. Then get some Clear film and put some oil on that too. Lay it over the top nice and tight like.

Finally! Find somewhere warm to store your dough to proof, This can be a proofing oven, Closet, Boiler cupboard, Any place warm, Even a 3d printers heated bed at 40c! You want to leave this between 1.5h to 2 hours.

Your dough should have risen to be somewhat like the image above, I am using a very large mixing bowl and had left it for 2 hours. Smaller bowls may get stuck to the top. The next step? Lets ready the ingredients for the filling! . Oh! and wash your hands!

The 200g of Feta needs to be crushed if its not already, I find this easiest todo with a fork or my hands, And the 80g of orange cheddar needs to be grated. The 50g of butter should be sliced so it melts easier, but don't melt it just yet. The spinach (which I am forgoing for this Pogacha since I ran out) Should be washed, dried and chopped up into smaller pieces.

Flour your surface and ger ready to do some more beating on that dough, You need to get all the air out and that can be done by pushing, folding, punching, (no bopping this time), After kneading it for about 5-10 minutes you will need to separate it into four equal balls! The next part I find easiest todo with two chopping boards.

Now the assembly starts, As per the image, The first part is to roll out one of our four dough balls into a rectangle, a little smaller than the chopping board. Now melt the 50g of butter. you need to butter the top of this one.

Once buttered all over, Add 1/3 of the feta, cheddar and spinach

Next, Do the same for next ball Roll it out but this time butter the top, Place it on top of the first one, butter side down! And then butter it again on its new top! Add the 1/3 more of cheese and spinach.

3rd ball, repeat the same steps as the 2nd ball, butter both sides whist placing it on top, put cheese and spinach.

For the 4th ball! Butter the top, place the top down on your stack of cheese and dough! But DONT butter the top of it. Instead start to pinch around the edges and just give it a very slight compress on top all over , You should end up with something looking like a sad delicious square of dough and cheese

Grab a little more butter, (Is a little more really a little when we have slathered it everywhere? let me know!) and get your round tin all lathered up, the bottom and edges need to be done to stop it sticking

Next, Make 6 slices on the top of our square dough stack, somewhat equal but we are not dishing out points here for neatness, Once cut you need to pick up one long strip, Twist it on both ends opposite directions, until you have a tight little twist, and place it in the pan, you need todo this going from the middle outwards for each strip

You may need some prodding and poking to get it in there, but it will fit! Check the images if I am making no sense at all!

We now have our pretty Pogacha, but its missing something, Egg wash! Lets get our lone egg yolk from earlier and mix it up, I am optionally adding a tiny splash of milk to mine just to make it go a littler further, once the egg wash is mixed start applying it to the top of the Pogacha.

Next we want to grab a handful of sesame seeds and throw those bad boys all over. Almost there!

Get some more Clear film (or re-use the old one), put a little more oil on it and cover, Stick in the warm place for another hour, You will start to see it poking out the top when its near ready to bake. It feels like a long wait, and it is! But its worth it!

If you are that impatient, When you see it reach the top of the tin you can start pre-heating the oven to 180C (350F)

Note: Cooking time may vary based on the type of oven you are using so make sure you keep an eye on it!

Hopefully you have your oven pre-heating to the mentioned 180c/350f!

Remove the plastic wrap from the top of the Pogacha, place it on the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven. Set a timer for 25 minutes!

And wait.....

And wait....

Aaaaand....

After 25 minutes check on the Pogacha, If the top has browned like my image you can place some baking sheet over the top to stop it getting any browner, if not keep an eye on it and place some on there IF needed.

And wait.....

After 35 minutes you can stick a knife in the middle and check to see if you find any wet ingredients still on the knife, If you do, leave it in longer, if you don't, pull it out!, I would set it on the side for 10 minutes before cutting it as when its piping hot its a little too soft to cut. Remove the tin and serve!

Viola, You now have your own traditional home made Pogacha! There is enough there to feed about 8 people a standard slice, 4 people a large slice, or 2 people half each(I can do math!) It will last about 2 days once cooked. I hope that you enjoy it and that it comes out great for you as it has done nearly every time for me! Its always requested at any BBQ I will be frequenting or any event I might be attending and once tasted, might be requested of you too!

Q: Why does your bread look more grainy than mine?

A: I ran out of plain white flower and needed some to stop it sticking towards the end of the kneading!

Q: Why did you not use the spinach?

A: I only had frozen spinach to hand and its much better to use a handful or two of fresh spinach!

Q: Can you make me some Pogacha?

A: No! Tis my precious! And now you can make it yourself by following the above!

If you have any questions at all please put them in the comments I will answer them as fast as possible.