Story Number 5: The Smell of Bread, Proja and Uštipci

Marija Štefanac (née Kovačević) was born in Slunj, on December 1, 1930. She worked in the school kitchen for a while and she was also a miller. She sang in the church choir for 80 years.

“In the old days, women did not have a job; they would only work at home,” Marija says and continues, “Women did everything; digging, feeding of the pigs, caring for the cows. In addition to all that work and taking care of the children, some women were even millers. Nothing was difficult and we managed to do everything. That was how it was, it could not be any different and we adjusted to it. It was hard. We had to unload the bags from the wagons, carry or drag them and unload them into the feeding hopper. And then again drag the bag of flour to the wagon with the help of the millers (customers). It was not easy work, especially for women. The milling stones needed to be flattened and sharpened, there was a lot of work, it was not simple. My husband had a job. When our children were small, I was at home doing the milling. The children had to go to school and helped with the milling a little. We managed everything.”

“There was a lot of work with the clothes washing,” Marija says. “We washed the clothes in a type of barrel called koš. It was wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. It had carefully drilled holed on the sides and on top, where it was connected to the glava (wooden barrier) or šlajs (sluice gate) i.e. shutter, it had an opening through which water flowed in. As the water flowed in, it would start to rotate. The clothes inside would spin, the holes let air in. Everything inside would catch on those holes and draw fibres out of everything being washed such as biljac (a type of home spun woollen shawl, which was quite coarse and heavy) and suklenka (thick woollen socks). Things inside the koš would be rinsed and take on the nice smell of the water. The other way of washing clothes was using a washboard. Before scrubbing, the laundry, such as sheets and kitchen towels, needed to be steamed. First the laundry was scrubbed on the washboard and washed with soap in warm water. Then it would be put into a parlo (a type of barrel with a hole in the bottom). After that, lye and ash were poured on top. Then it was doused first with tepid water, then hot water and boiling water in the end. That process was repeated four to five times and then the laundry was left to soak overnight. In the morning, the liquid called luščija was drained and the laundry was rinsed in clean water. Then it was put to dry. It was soft and smelled incredibly nice,” Marija says and adds that she worked in the school kitchen. She stopped working there for a while because she had children. “I had no one who would look after them while I was at work. I went back to the school kitchen when my children were old enough,” Marija says with melancholy.

Proja, Rye Bread and White Bread – In a Traditional Way

“The kitchen was the woman’s domain. In the old days, we ate proja the most,” Marija says. “Proja consists of all types of grain – wheat, corn, barley, millet, rye and a special mixture of them. There has to be six types of grain, but wheat and corn are the most important. The other ones are needed as well. You mix it all together. You put a little bit of salt into the mixture and pour in boiled water. You do not put any yeast. You knead the dough by hand. It lasts a long time because you should add a little bit of water at a time and you knead it until it is the right consistency. When the dough is as dense as it should be, you make a loaf of it by hand and in the end, you put the proja to bake. Proja bakes for three hours; it depends on how thick it is and in the old days, we made thick proja. Nowadays people make thin proja, so that it is similar to pogača. That is not proja.

We always had rye bread on the table as well, and in addition to rye flour, we would put wheat flour. Rye bread is kneaded into a denser dough, the same as wheat one,” Marija says and adds that they had white flour bread as well. “That takes work too. But that bread has a smell and taste that you remember forever. In the old days, this is how we made bread; you put flour into a bowl (half a kilogram or a kilogram, as you wish), then you put yeast and salt and add tepid or warm water until it reaches a good kneading consistency. You can also press it a bit harder. After that, you leave it to rise. Next you take it out onto the table or board, knead it again and put it into the baking pan, spread some grease on top and let it prove. When it is done proving, you cut it in half and put it to bake. Every housewife also made masnica, uštipci and žličnjaci, a type of dumplings you shape with a spoon (žlica means spoon in Croatian). You put lard in them; we did not have any butter. You put a little bit of lard, salt, sugar, eggs and yeast. You make a thick batter from this. And you spoon it into the lard to fry it.

We made uštipci and masnica the most. We mostly made uštipci from bread, but sometimes we made those with cream, eggs and yeast. Those were better, but usually they were made from bread. Masnica consists of some yeast (not a lot), some oil (not too much). I do not even put eggs. You put tepid water into the mixture and knead a soft dough. Then you let it rest for a while. After that you stretch it, put fresh cheese or cream or whatever you have, you beat some eggs and put it on top of the dough. You roll it and put it to bake.”

Marija says times were tough. However, even though she has reached a ripe old age, Marija gladly remembers the happy times, tamburice and singing songs, especially when she attended prelo of any kind. “It was the same in Slunj and Rastoke, we visited each other and socialized. There were all kinds of songs back then. Even now we still sing a song called Golubice bijela što si nevesela…”