Poppy seed roll is a very popular pastry in Ukraine and I’m really glad to share one of Ukrainian recipes for this amazing bakery. Topped with powdered sugar and flavored with vanilla, this poppy seed roll smells fantastic. The buttery soft yeast dough stuffed with a thick, rich poppy seed mass and roasted to a perfect golden brown color, makes this roll tasty-looking and appealing.
Less talking, more doing.
Let’s start together the miraculous process of creation of this culinary piece of art.
Ingredients:
Pre-dough
- 250 ml milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 50 g (1,8 oz) fresh yeast=
- 20 g (0,7 oz) dry yeast
Dough
- 3 eggs
- a pinch of salt
- 200 g (7 oz) sugar
- 2-3 tbsp of sunflower oil
- 600 g (21 oz) wheat flour
- 100 g (3,5 oz) dairy butter
Filling
- 250 ml milk
- 100 g (3,5 oz) sugar
- 200 g (7 oz) poppy seeds
- 1 tsp of vanilla sugar
For greasing
- 1 yolk
- dairy butter
For serving
- powdered sugar
Cooking
Pour milk in a bowl and warm it in a microwave oven up to 40°C (104°F). The milk should be warm, not hot. In other case you will steam yeast and it won’t work. Then add salt, sugar, and yeast. Stir in about 6 tbsp of sifted flour (the amount of tablespoons can vary depending on the type of flour you use) in order to activate the yeast (without flour the fermentation will not occur as it should). Don’t worry if you have some lumps, the key thing is that your pre-dough should have the consistency thicker than water.
Cover the bowl with a lid, enwrap it with a warm towel and leave the pre-dough for about 20-30 minutes to let the yeast get active.
Beat 2 eggs until light and fluffy. Add a pinch of salt and 200 g (7 oz) of sugar (add sugar gradually, at first add 2 tbsp and mix to combine, then add another 2 tbsp and repeat until you stir in all the sugar). Whip the mass until the sugar dissolves completely. The mixture will get a lighter color and will increase in volume.
Melt dairy butter in a microwave oven. Add the butter to the beaten egg-sugar mixture gradually (one tablespoon by one tablespoon), stirring the mass with a mixer continuously. You should get a smooth homogenous mass which we will combine together with the pre-dough. Mix using a silicone or wooden spoonula. Then stir in 600 g (21 oz) of sifted flour (gradually) to enrich our dough with oxygen. Put 6-7 tbsp of flour on a flat surface and knead the dough there thoroughly. Pour sunflower oil on a surface where you kneaded the dough and roll it to make the dough more tender and prevent it from “soaking” too much flour. Your dough should be elastic and soft (it should not stick to your hands).
Take a deep bowl or a pan, grease it with oil and transfer the dough there. Cover the bowl/pan with plastic foil or a waffle towel and leave for 1-1,5 hours to let the dough rise.
Pour milk above poppy seeds (you can substitute milk with water or use 125 ml of water and 125 ml of milk). Mix everything carefully. Bring the mass to boil, then reduce the heat and cook poppy seeds over low heat for a quarter of an hour. Transfer the poppy seeds to a fine sieve and leave for 10-15 minutes to let excessive milk drain (it’s very important since the liquid can impede our rolls to rise!). Squeeze the remaining liquid from poppy seeds with a spoon. Stir in sugar and vanilla sugar. Grind poppy seeds with a pestle.
Break down the dough and set it aside for 15 minutes to let it rise for the second time.
Divide the dough into two parts. Roll one part of the dough (the thinner the layer – the more poppy seed layers your roll will have, but the layer should not be too thin – in other case it can rip). The optimal width is 1/2 cm. Grease the rolled dough with soft dairy butter, leaving the edges uncovered (around 1,5 cm). Then arrange half of the poppy seed mass evenly. Now roll the dough. You may bake the whole roll or cut it into pieces (it’s to your preferences). Transfer the roll to the tray covered with parchment paper. Grease the roll with a yolk to give it an appetizing golden color. Bake the roll at 180°C (356°F) for 20-25-30 minutes. Repeat the same procedure with the second part of the dough.
Cut the roll into serving pieces and top with powdered sugar. Serve with a glass of cold fresh milk or warm herbal tea.
Enjoy your meal!
Have you liked the recipe for poppy seed pastry?
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