Poppy Seed Roll (Makowiec)

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This is a Holiday version of a classic Polish desert. It is richer than every day version and is typically prepared for Christmas and Easter. It requires a few extra steps, but its preparation is not significantly longer.

Recipe

The filling can be prepared a couple of days ahead of baking, and kept in a fridge.

Ingredients for filling

400 g14 oz1poppy seed, rinsed
1 L34 fl.ozmilk
150 g5.5 ozbutter
3/4 cuphoney
to tastevanilla extract or crushed vanilla beans
100 g3.5 ozchopped hazelnuts and/or almonds
150 g5.5 ozraisins
1/2 cupcandied orange peel (see the recipe)
2egg yolks
2beaten egg whites, soft peaks
2-3 tbsprum or cognac

Directions

  1. Place poppy seed in a pot and add boiling milk.
  2. Boil on low heat for approximately 30 min. The boiling should be very gentle or milk will evaporate. If to much evaporates, add more boiling milk.
  3. Strain the poppy seed while still hot through a fine sieve big enough to hold it all. Move to a bowl and cover so it does not dry out while cooling.
  4. Once coll enough to handle, grind the poppy seed 3 times using meat grinder.
  5. In a pot, gently melt the butter, add honey, hazelnuts, almonds, crushed vanilla (or extract), and candied orange peel.
  6. Add poppy seed, mix everything well, and fry at low heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
  7. Cover tightly and leave it to cool completely.
  8. You will complete the preparation at the time of baking the poppy seed roll.

Ingredients for dough

900 g2 lball purpose flour
300 g 10.5 ozsugar
300 g10.5 ozbutter
4egg yolks
2whole egg
250 ml8.5 fl ozmilk
80 g3 ozfresh yeast2
1/8 tspsalt

Directions

  1. Crumble yeast into luke-warm milk.
  2. In a stand mixer mix sugar and butter using flat beater until well combined.
  3. In portions, while mixing add eggs, egg yolks, salt, and yeast in milk.
  4. At the end, add flour and continue mixing until combined.
  5. Switch the to the hook attachment, and knead the dough until it becomes smooth and does not stick to hand (about 8-10 minutes). Make sure to scrape the walls, so all ingredients are combined. At the end form a ball on the bottom of the bowl.
  6. Cover the bowl tightly with cling wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in size.
  7. Before the dough rises fully, finish preparation of the poppy seed filling:
    • add egg yolks and rim and mix
    • Optionally, add 50 g of crumbled yeast. This is supposed to prevent the dough from rising at a different rate than the filling and not adhering during baking.
    • add beaten egg whites and mix gently.
  8. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C)
  9. Transfer the dough onto the pastry board dusted with flour. Divide into two equal parts.
  10. Roll out one part forming approximately a square about 1/5 inch thick.
  11. Spread half of the poppy seed filling on top of the dough leaving about 1/2 inch on three of the sides and 1 inch on the fourth.
  12. Roll the dough with filling from the opposite side of the wider margin. Just before you seal the wider margin, brush it with lightly beaten egg white for better sealing.
  13. Pinch the ends of the roll and form them into nicely rounded shape.
  14. Roll the formed loaf onto a sheet of baking paper so that the seam is on the bottom.
  15. Repeat the steps 9-13 with the other part of the dough and filling. Move both loafs with the baking paper onto a baking sheet
  16. Alternatively, you can bake the poppy seed rolls in elongated baking pans about 12×4″/30x10cm. In such case you may need to prepare 3 or even four loafs, to make sure they fit. They should fill no more than 3/4 of the pans. That is what I did with mine in the picture above.
  17. Let the formed poppy seed rolls rise in a warm place for about half an hour. This is important: if they do not rise enough they may crack on top and sides.
  18. Brush the tops of the rolls with lightly beaten egg whites or whole eggs to get a nice brown shine on top..
  19. Bake on the middle rack of the oven at 350°F (177°C) for about 40 minutes. It is ready when the top is light golden brown. You can also check doneness using a skewer: When you stick it into the roll it should come out without unbaked dough sticking to it.
  20. For better presentation, you can brush glaze on top of the rolls. I like the glaze made with addition of candied orange peel cut into small cubes.

Footnotes

  1. I am showing amounts in both metric and US units if the amounts need to be accurately measured. If I am showing only one measure, e.g. 3/4 cup, it will make no difference whether you use american cup (8 oz) or European (250 mL). ↩︎
  2. For holiday baking I generally prefer to use fresh yeast, as they are easy to use: just crumble them and add to your other ingredients. However, in Canada they are available only in Polish stores and some bakeries. For 80 g of fresh yeast you can use 2.5 tbsp of active dry or quick rise yeast. The main difference is how you prepare (or not) the dry yeast. Quick rise yeast can be added directly to your mix of dry ingredients (flour, sugar, etc.) so they are as easy to use as fresh yeast. The Active Dry Yeast, contrary to what the name suggests, need to be activated. Generally you need to sprinkle them into some warm (100-110°F/38-42°C) water or milk with addition of a little sugar, then wait until they start to foam. At this point they are ready to be added to your dough. For this recipe you can use all of the milk to sprinkle the yeast into, and add one tsp of sugar. ↩︎

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