This is the official recipe (translated from Catalan) for pa de Sant Jordi, a bread made in bakeries throughout Barcelona every April 23, La Diada de Sant Jordi.

Although there are a few different ways to make the bread, this recipe makes about 12 rolls, which can be eaten alone or with toppings. Slice them in half for a unique sandwich bread. (See related post.)

(Recipe courtesy of Eduard Crespo of La Fleca Balmes bakery in Barcelona.)

Steps

1. Make the pasta mare starter dough, at least 12 to 24 hours in advance: Dissolve the yeast in the water. Stir the salt and flour together in a large bowl and make a hole in the center. Pour the yeast/water mixture into the hole and stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened.
2. Turn your glob of starter dough (which might still be quite floury and dryish at this point) onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 10 minutes, until the dough feels stretchy. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp dishcloth, leaving the bowl in a warm place. Go do something else for the next 12 to 24 hours. Make the rest of the doughs the next day.
3. Make Pastada 1 (sobresada dough): Dissolve the yeast in the water. Stir the salt and flour together in a large bowl and make a hole in the center. Put the sobresada and the pasta mare in the middle of the hole and pour the yeast/water mixture on top. Stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough feels stretchy. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp dishcloth, leaving the bowl in a warm place.
4. Make Pastada 2 (cheese dough): Dissolve the yeast in the water. Stir the salt and flour together in a large bowl and make a hole in the center. Put the cheese and the pasta mare in the middle of the hole and pour the yeast/water mixture on top. Stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough feels stretchy. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp dishcloth, leaving the bowl in a warm place.
5. Make Pastada 3 (walnut dough): Dissolve the yeast in the water. Stir the salt, sugar, and flour together in a large bowl and make a hole in the center. Put the butter, the walnuts, and the pasta mare in the middle of the hole and pour the yeast/water mixture on top. Stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough feels stretchy. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp dishcloth, leaving the bowl in a warm place.
6. Wait 1 hour, while your doughs rise.
7. Assemble the bread: Put your sobresada dough onto a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a rectangular shape. The dough should be about ⅛-inch thick. Don’t be afraid to use your hands a bit to stretch it into a rectangle. Set it aside. Now take your cheese dough and roll it out into a rectangle. This rectangle should be the same length as the sobresada rectangle, but a few inches wider. Cut your sobresada-dough rectangle lengthwise into 4 equal strips.
8. Cut your cheese-dough rectangle lengthwise into 5 equal strips (the strips should equal the widths of the strips of sobresada dough). Starting with the cheese dough, stack the strips on top of each other, alternating a cheese dough with a sausage dough to make stripes. In the end, you will have a cheese dough on both the bottom and top of your stack.
9. Now roll your walnut dough into a rectangle. This rectangle should be the same length as your stack of alternating dough strips, and wide enough to wrap around the entire stack.
10. Place your stack of alternating dough strips in the middle of the walnut-dough rectangle and wrap the rectangle around the stack. Place the “log” of dough so that the seam of the walnut dough is facing down. Leave it to rise, covered loosely with plastic wrap, for another half hour or so.
11. Slice the “log” of dough into smaller slabs, as though you were slicing bread (each slice can be an inch or two wide, depending on your preference). Place each piece down flat, so that the stripes are visible. If the dough got a bit squashed in the cutting process, use your hands to re-form each piece into a more attractive oval-ish shape.
12. Cover your slabs of dough loosely with plastic wrap and let them rise for another hour. (This is the LAST rise, I promise!)
13. About half an hour before baking, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. When it is time to bake, put a pan of water in the bottom of your oven. Put the rolls on a large baking sheet (you may have to do a couple of batches), and bake until the outside of the walnut dough is a medium golden brown (about 20 to 35 minutes).