Prekmurska gibanica

As you have probably figured out from my previous blog posts, my country has quite a few traditional dishes that are desserts. One of them is called prekmurska gibanica, and they actually literally translated it into English - OverMura moving cake. Let me explain: OverMura because Mura is a river that divides the country in two parts (well, roughly), and prekmurska gibanica is famous in the part on the other side of the river, hence the OverMura part.

And why moving cake? Simply because this sweet treat is quite a hassle to make and requires a lot of running around. But nevertheless, the final result is more than worth the hard work that you have to put into the preparation of the Prekmurska gibanica.

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I present you... your new favourite dessert. Just look at all these layers!

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 400 grams of flour (all purpose flour works just fine)
• 500 millilitres of lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons of olive or canola oil
• A pinch of salt

For the poppy seeds stuffing:

• 250 grams of poppy seeds
• 100 milliliters of hot milk
• 100 grams of sugar (I usually use brown sugar)
• Cinnamon

For the cottage cheese stuffing:

• 500 grams of cottage cheese
• 100 millilitres of sour cream
• Two eggs
• One teaspoon of vanilla extract
• A cup of raisins, soaked in rum
• 200 grams of sugar

For the walnut stuffing:

• 300 grams of grinded walnuts
• 120 grams of brown sugar
• A pinch of cinnamon
• One grated apple

Preparation

As you can see from above, the recipe is divided into four different parts, and unless you have other people to help you, you will have to prepare them one by one. Like I said, it is a lot of work, but once you taste the final result, you will forget about it.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, water, salt and oil. The results are best if you knead the dough with your hands and not use a mixer. Once the dough texture is even, cover the bowl with a cloth and let it stand for approximately half an hour. After half an hour, roll out the dough and let it stand.

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This is how the dough for prekmurska gibanica should look like.

Then, grind the poppy seeds and pour the hot milk over them, then mix well. Add cinnamon and sugar and let the mixture cool down.

Take another medium sized bowl and mix cottage cheese, eggs, sour cream, raisins, vanilla extract and sugar.

Then, it is time for the last stuffing - the walnut stuffing. In a bowl, mix grated apples, grinded walnuts, sugar and cinnamon.

Take a baking tray and spray it with oil so the dough does not stick to it while baking. Then, take the dough that you previously rolled out, and cut it into six equal parts. Put the first part on the baking tray and spread the poppy seeds stuffing on top of it, then add another layer of dough.

This time, spread the cottage cheese stuffing on that layer, and add another layer of dough on top. On this layer, spread the walnut and apple stuffing, and cover with another layer of dough. Then, cover the top layer with sour cream and bake everything for one hour at 180 degrees Celsius.

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The final result that pays off for all the hard work.

Storage and serving suggestions

Once prekmurska gibanica is baked, you can cut it up and eat it, and there is usually no special way to serve it. I usually like to sprinkle some powdered sugar on top for a sweeter taste. You can store prekmurska gibanica in a plastic Tupperware container, or you can just cover it with aluminium foil. Enjoy!

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You can also make prekmurska gibanica in a jar. It looks even more fabulous, but it is also more difficult to make.

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