This story is about the saddest fate of more than 4 kg of organic Sicilian lemons frozen to death in my garden during the big chill that hit us this week. In Trieste we have this lovely wind called Bora, silent most of the year, but when it blows it blows! 100, even 120 km/h in the elegant way of a “refolo”. No need for redbull cans here, I guarantee, you can fly without a drink if you are not trained… So the Bora came and with her (wind is a she chez nous) came some snow, lot of ice and temperatures below zero C. No need to tell you that the precious content of my part of this month’s collective buy of organic Sicilian citruses, oranges and lemons, became solid icy rock. What to do next? Oranges, once thawed,  were squeezed, but lemons ….

I decided to take them all in, let them stay in my sink for a while, then I washed them and peeled just the yellow part. I let it  dry out and now I have at least some organic zest for my cakes. The rest was cored, cut in small bites and covered with sugar then cooked for enough time to become a quasi jelly. Now it is in use as a syrup, lovely to mix with water and drink during the day. Just for the taste of it, it does not make you slim, or bright, or smart. But I could not let my lemons go. Plain and simple.

There are many many recipes for the perfect pinca (if you are Slovene) or pinza (if you are Italian) and they are all “the best”. Just ask anyone. But we’ll love to eat a slice of this delicious bake without too much fuss, don’t we? So, here is what you’ll need
1 kg strong white bread flour
1/2 tbs salt
One and a half cube of yeats (about 35/40 gr)
3 dl lukewarm milk
2 eggs and 3 yolks ( it goes a minimum of 4 eggs, 2 and 2, to a maximum of 8)
200 gr sugar
1 sachet vanilla
zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon (untreated)
1 shot of rhum or grappa or (that’s my family tradition) and infusion of anise in hot water or white wine
150 gr butter (I use homemade ghee, it’s festive baking, remember?), melted
1 egg, beaten, to glaze

You can either knead as a slave or use a friendly kitchen robot (I am madly in love with my KitchenAid, but any device that will make the hard kneading work will be welcome). Whatever. But remember: you’ll need time and a warm place to let the dough rest. If you are in a hurry, bake a cheesecake instead.

Mix the fresh yeats with the milk and some flour. Wait till the yeats will do his job.
Sieve the flour and put all the ingredients (be careful to have the eggs, flour and the melted butter at room temperature) in the kneading bowl.

Ok. Now you have to knead and knead and knead, untill the dough does no stick anymore. Refrain from adding more flour. You ( or the robot ) have to work hard!
After this, let the dough stay covered for an hour or so. Knead again and repeat. If you repeat this at least once more, you’ll have a superb pinca. Garantee.
From this batch you can bake 4 smaller pincas or 2 medium or, of course, one really large. The decision is on you. Just form a ball and put it on a greased baketray. Glaze with the beaten egg and cut a cross in the middle of the ball. You can do it with the scissors or with a knife. Bake in a preheated owen at 200 C for 20 minutes and then other half an hour or more at 180 or even 150 C. The pinca has to be soft, nicely brown where coated with the beaten egg. It smells so fine that you have to be very zen not to cut into the still warm bake. But you have to. The pinca is a pinca when all the steam has evaporated.