As the Spring’s big holiday approaches—Easter—it’s ‘potica time in Pueblo. And Mary Provost, a legend in the city for her potica, is making sure she’s ready for the rush.
For the uninitiated—non-Pueblo types—potica, pronounced po-teetz-uh, is a dessert that originated in eastern Europe. No surprise, it came to Pueblo along with scores of late 19th and early 20th century immigrants. They came with the promise of opportunity in a new land and helped build the city.
These Slovenians, along with Poles, Czechs, and other immigrants found work in the coal mines that dot the land south and west of the city. Many others found work in Pueblo’s steel mill where the coal mined nearby fueled the furnaces. Their traditions and foods remain alive today in Pueblo, a true melting pot of ethnicities.
“Easter, along with Christmas,” said Provost, “is one of the two biggest days of the year” for her blue ribbon potica. While she tightly guards her “top secret” recipe, potica is rolled pastry made of leavened paper-thin dough. Baklava, Provost said, is a comparable dessert. Like the Greek baklava, potica’s prime ingredients are walnuts, honey and cinnamon. Each potica is both similar and unique.
“You need good honey and walnuts,” Provost advises in order to make good potica. “I make a sweet dough,” she said, sharing just a small sliver of her recipe. Another tiny hint is her technique. “When you roll it, it has to be thin,” and the filling, she said, “has to be plentiful.”
Provost recently spoke after the lunch rush at her family-owned bakery. Zoelsmann’s Bakery has satisfied the sweet tooth of Puebloans since 1898. Provost, now retired from Pueblo’s District 70 food service, has owned the place for the last fifteen years.
And while filling Easter orders for potica will keep her busy, Provost and her staff—which includes family members—will also be making and serving all sorts of other things.
The bakery’s website, Zoelsmanns.com, is a journey to a gastronomical wonderland. If you visit, you would do well to budget extra time just to read the menu.
The menu lists breads, 16 varieties, seven different fruit pies, a dozen cookie choices, meats, including capicola, Genoa salami, Italian sausage and prosciutto, eleven cheese varieties from Provolone to Asiago. Then, there are the Zoelsmanns’ ‘specialties,’ which, of course, include Provost’s ‘top secret’ potica. Another popular menu item and a Pueblo lunch staple, the Zoelsmanns Dutch Lunch, a platter of meats and cheeses.
Provost and the crew take Sunday and Monday off. Store hours from Tuesday to Saturday are 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. But with Easter just days away, Provost, who handles the potica, will spend a good portion of her time measuring, chopping, and rolling the dough to fill potica orders.
“For Easter, we’ll make a good couple of hundred loaves,” she said. “But I keep it on the shelf year round.” Her customers are almost exclusively local, but word has gotten out.
“We also get a lot of Denver people who travel down (for potica),” she said. “I have one gentleman who takes twenty or thirty loaves and takes it back.” Provost said another customer, “a Denver realtor once bought a hundred loaves and gave it to her clients.”
A single batch, from start to finish, will take Provost “about five hours.” She said the recipe is all memory. It’s a matter of ‘pinches, dashes and little bits of this and little bits of that.’ “If I get a measuring cup,” she chuckles, “it won’t turn out right.”
Because of Pueblo and southern Colorado’s eastern European pockets, there are a number of places around Pueblo that also sell potica. But, said the veteran baker, “Not to be arrogant, but nobody’s comes close.”
While Zoelsmanns stocks potica year-round, Provost shared a secret. She makes a specialty batch that not everyone gets. “I make a ‘potica end’,” one that’s “trimmed and uniform.” You might call it ‘private stock.’ But no matter what you buy, she said, “You’re going to like it.” It’s repeat customers that give her that confidence.
Provost shared the story of a ‘regular’ who bought potica from another store. It did not ‘meet the moment.’ “She said she had to return it because it was terrible,” adding, “I can’t compare yours to anyone’s. You have the best.”
Zoelsmanns also caters. If you plan a visit, Zoelsmanns Bakery is at 912 E. Abriendo.
