Pogacha Bread

By
Barbara Rolek
Barbara Rolek
Barbara Rolek is a former chef who became a cooking school instructor and award-winning food writer.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 02/25/22
Pogacha bread

The Spruce

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 60 mins
Total: 75 mins
Servings: 4 to 6 servings
Yield: 1 loaf
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
654 Calories
27g Fat
88g Carbs
14g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories 654
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 27g 34%
Saturated Fat 10g 51%
Cholesterol 77mg 26%
Sodium 399mg 17%
Total Carbohydrate 88g 32%
Dietary Fiber 3g 11%
Total Sugars 8g
Protein 14g
Vitamin C 0mg 2%
Calcium 111mg 9%
Iron 5mg 28%
Potassium 237mg 5%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Pogacha, also spelled pogača, is a bread that Serbians, Croatians, Macedonians and other Balkans, Turks, and Hungarians all claim as their own. It is similar to Italian or Vienna bread in texture and flavor—soft crust, fine crumb—and there are as many recipes for it as there are shapes, although round is traditional. All are rustic breads made with white or whole-wheat flour or a combination of the two. Some have a potato or cabbage filling and herbs or seeds like dill and sesame mixed in with the flour.

This one-rise recipe produces a round loaf. Compare it to fasting pogacha, a recipe that contains no eggs, milk, or butter and is suitable for consumption during Christian Orthodox Great Lent, a time of fasting and strict dietary requirements.

Ingredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for Pogacha
    The Spruce

  2. Scald milk and add butter. Allow cooling to lukewarm temperature. Add yeast and sugar and stir until dissolved.

    Scald milk
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  3. Measure 5 cups flour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add milk mixture, sour cream, oil, egg, and salt. Mix well.

    Measure 5 cups flour into mixer bowl
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  4. Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium-low for about 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.

    Switch to the dough hook
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  5. Turn out into a large greased bowl. Flip dough to grease both sides, cover and let rise until doubled. You can use a microwave oven for faster rising.

    Turn out into a large greased bowl
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  6. Heat oven to 350 F. Punch down dough and place in a 10-inch-round greased pan with high sides (about 3 inches) or hand-shape into a 10-inch-round loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

    Punch down dough
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  7. Using a sharp knife or a scoring lame, score the top of dough 3 times. Some make an "X" on top.

    Score dough
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  8. Bake about 1 hour or until the instant-read thermometer registers 190 F.

    Bake for 1 hour
    The Spruce 

  9. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.

    Baked pogacha on a wire rack
    The Spruce

  10. Serve with butter or ajvar (a roasted pepper-eggplant spread) and kajmak (a homemade unaged cheese spread).

Recipe Variations

  • As you can imagine, every cook makes pogacha their own way, so they can be found in different textures, flavors, sizes, and heights. Some have a crumbly scone-like texture, while others are more like tender white bread.
  • In Bulgaria, where the bread is known as pogačice, it is more of a puff pastry affair and often served hot as an appetizer filled with sour cream or curd cheese or Bulgarian feta cheese. This is also popular in Turkey.
  • In Hungary, for example, pogácsa are made from either short dough or yeast dough. There are dozens of shapes and sizes; round is the most traditional.
  • A multitude of add-ins can be found either in the dough or on it: fresh cheese, aged cheese, pork cracklings, sautéed cabbage, pepper, paprika, garlic, red onion, caraway, or sesame, sunflower or poppy seeds.