Komiška Pogača (Croatian Filled Bread)

Komiška pogača is a classic Croatian bread from the island of Vis that is filled with a herbed tomato sauce and anchovies. This dish boasts classic Mediterranean flavors!

Croatian islands hide many wonders – from breathtaking views and nature to beautiful culture, tradition, and architecture.

Some islands are so isolated that you can almost feel ancient spirits wandering through those old-classic Dalmatian houses and cobbled streets. The air is filled with peace or in Croatian – fjaka.

Those islands hide more than one secret, and they have amazing, traditional, and authentic cuisine.

The Croatian island of Vis

One of the most beautiful islands with untouched nature is the island of Vis.

Vis is known for its stunning beauties, amazing hospitality, peaceful life, and – incredible traditional cuisine.

Due to that, we are going to talk about a delicious dish from the small town of Komiža called komiška pogača.

But before getting into all the details, it is important to know that the island of Vis has 2 similar recipes for this dish.

The town of Vis is on the northeast side of the island and there, people prepare viška pogača. On the other side of the island, where you find the town of Komiža, the people prepare komiška pogača.

It is important not to mix those two recipes since there is a bit of difference in the ingredients, but we will get into all those details a bit later, so you know the story behind those two recipes with intertwined history.

Gastronomic history of the island Vis

The Greeks the first town on this island, Vis.

Greeks brought their own culture, gastronomy, and traditions, which then inspired the inhabitants of the island to create something new – new traditions and new recipes.

One of the new pieces of history and gastronomy was the recipe for pogača.

The Greek influence led the inhabitants of the island to play more with different ingredients and seasonings. As a result, they started to make pogača with onion, salted fish, and oil. In some culinary variations they added parsley, wild marjoram, cheese, olives, and fresh tomatoes.

Those were the first recipes for the island’s famous pogača.

Throughout history, inhabitants of the island were using simple ingredients to make delicious dishes enriched with flavors and aromas. Even though all the recipes and dishes may be simple and quite easy to do, they truly present an amazing gastronomy tradition of the island.

Two variations on this Croatian bread

Komiška pogača (ko-mi-scha po-ga-cha) is an old classic dish that beautifully presents those typical ingredients of the island and the Mediterranean.

The recipe for this Croatian bread is quite simple and easy. The main ingredients are homemade dough, salted anchovies, tomato juice, onions, and olive oil.

All those ingredients beautifully combine during baking, so all the flavors and aromas truly present the most beautiful nuances of the Mediterranean.

Now, since we have already mentioned viška pogača, the only difference between those two recipes is the usage of tomatoes. Each recipe is delicious in its own way. And once you taste both, it is really hard to decide which one is better.

But why decide, let us just enjoy all the flavors!

Komiška pogača is an aromatic dish that is made with simple, everyday, and accessible ingredients. Ingredients which were quite important in the past. Since the island is really isolated, people needed to find simple recipes with the ingredients they already had or could get a hold of, such as fish.

In those days, komiška pogača was just komiška during the summer because only in those couple of months, people had fresh tomatoes. For the rest of the year, people prepared classic viška pogača.

But the moment canned tomatoes came to be, komiška pogača, along with viška pogača, became a trademark of the island!

What to know and how to prepare the Croatian bread pogača

Komiška pogača is really easy to make and prepare. It does not require a long list of ingredients, nor a lot of time to make, knead and bake.

And in case you do not have tomato juice, you can always omit it and make viška pogača! It is great to have that alternative version, because hey, anyone can forget to buy tomato juice!

The most important thing while making this Croatian bread is the dough.

Once you get that nice and firm ball, it is important to cover it with the cloth and let it rest for an hour or two. I know waiting is not everyone’s favorite while trying to make some delicious dish, but it is definitely worth it!

After that, divide the dough into 2 balls. Then roll each out thinly, around 5 millimeters (slightly over 1/8 of an inch).

Also, make sure to remove the bones from the anchovies before you use them in the dish.

Okay, these are all the pointers before making the dish, now let’s go into kneading, filling, and baking!