By Nik, founder of 東歐嚴選｜kefir.link and former chef · Updated 2 November 2026
Pogača is the round, golden loaf that Balkan cooks bake for weddings, holidays and special guests, and it is torn by hand rather than sliced. This one is a soft yeast bread made with milk kefir, which gives the crumb a mild, gentle sourness. Tear it once it has cooled and serve it with soft cheese or a cheese spread.
A hearth bread with many relatives
The name goes back to the Latin for bread baked on the hearth, and the first pogače were baked in the ashes of the fire before ovens took over. Some were unleavened and some were raised, so the word now covers a whole family. Croatia has a sweet Easter version, Serbia a Christmas loaf, and on the island of Vis it is a savoury pie filled with anchovies or salted fish, onion and tomato. The loaf here is the everyday savoury kind, raised with yeast.
Torn by hand, never cut
In Bulgaria, families make pogača for weddings, birthdays, religious holidays and special guests. In Slovenia's Bela krajina region, visitors are welcomed with a freshly baked pogača and wine; nobody cuts it, and the lines scored across the top make it easy to tear. Serbian cooks wrap the hot loaf in a kitchen cloth as soon as it leaves the pan, then break it by hand once it has cooled. It is eaten plain, with cheese or with jam, and Macedonian cooks serve it warm with kaymak, a thick clotted cream, as a starter.
What kefir and oil do in the dough
Kefir is thick, slightly fizzy and mildly sour, and in bread it leaves a hint of that sourness. The rising is done by the yeast, which turns sugars, mostly from the flour, into carbon dioxide along with acids and alcohol that add flavour. Oil makes the crumb tender by holding back gluten. The dough is meant to be very soft and sticky, and a drier dough rises less, so resist adding extra flour. The crumb keeps setting as the loaf cools, which is why tearing it too soon can leave the inside gummy.
Balkan kefir round bread (Pogača)
Ingredients
Dough and glaze
- 400 g all-purpose flour Extra for lightly dusting the work surface.
- 200 g plain milk kefir Unsweetened and unstrained; bring to room temperature.
- 150 ml plain water Lukewarm.
- 7 g instant yeast Weigh out 7 g rather than relying on the packet size.
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1½ tsp salt
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil Extra for greasing the work surface and pan.
- 1 egg Separate the egg: white for the dough, yolk for the glaze.
- 1 tbsp milk For mixing with the egg yolk.
You will need
- Mixing bowls
- Electric mixer with dough hooks
- 26 cm round baking pan
- Pastry brush
- Plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel
- Oven
- Digital food thermometer
Instructions
Make the loaf
- Stir the yeast and sugar into the lukewarm water.
- Using the dough hooks, mix 200 g of the flour with the yeast mixture and kefir in a mixing bowl.
- Using the dough hooks, mix in the remaining 200 g flour, salt, egg white and 5 tbsp oil until the dough is smooth and elastic. It will still be very soft and sticky.
- Knead the dough briefly on a lightly floured work surface, then move it to a lightly oiled area and knead for 2 minutes.
- Press the dough into a lightly oiled 26 cm round pan, spreading it evenly all the way to the edges.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes, or longer if needed, until visibly puffed.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) while the dough rises.
- Remove the plastic wrap. With a sharp knife, score a shallow grid of lines across the top about 4 cm apart, then brush the dough with the egg yolk beaten with the milk.
- Bake for about 35 minutes, until the top is firm, the top, sides and base are golden brown, and the centre reaches about 88°C (190°F). Continue baking if the centre is not ready; loosely cover the top with foil if it is already well browned.
- Turn the loaf out immediately and wrap it in a clean kitchen towel to cool for at least 30 minutes. Give it longer if needed to cool completely before tearing it into pieces.
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