The Potica recipe used at the Italian Bakery came from a woman named Mary Janezich, who back in the early years of this century, thought her recipe might find a place in the bakery of her Italian son-in-law, Geno Marcaccini. Geno and his brother, Guido, agreed, and Potica is now the bakery's most popular item. In those days, Potica was known to the immigrants as "povitica," or "orehnjaca."

When Joe and Bette Prebonich bought the bakery from the Marcaccini brothers, they added another recipe. Joe's Croatian mother liked her walnut Potica made with raisins. And so, the bakery offers both walnut and walnut-raisin Potica. Both recipes were lovingly honed in the kitchens of women who learned the craft before immigrating to America, and neither will ever be changed.

Potica is a tedious and time-consuming project. It can't be rolled by machine--it has to be rolled by hand, pulled and stretched. By the time it is finished, the dough covers a large kitchen table, laid out and ready for the special mix of nuts, pure creamy butter, honey, whole eggs, pure vanilla, natural spices and NO PRESERVATIVES. Rolled into a spiral and shaped like a loaf, it is baked a long time, slowly, in pans made specially for the Italian Bakery.

Like many old world recipes, Potica is difficult to make, so it was traditionally served only for special occasions. Today, however, you can enjoy Potica anytime, because we make it for you in our family bakery, using only pure, natural ingredients.

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