Poppy seed roll

The poppy seed roll is a pastry consisting of a roll of sweet yeast bread (a sweet roll) with a dense, rich, bittersweet filling of poppy seed. An alternative filling is a paste of minced walnuts, or minced chestnuts.

It is popular in Central Europe and parts of Eastern Europe, where it is commonly eaten at Christmas and Easter time. It is traditional in several cuisines, including Polish (strucla z makiem, strucla makowa; poppy seed cake = makowiec), Kashubian (makówc), Hungarian (mákos bejgli ), Slovak (makovník), Czech (makový závin), Austrian (Mohnbeugel, Mohnstrudel or Mohnstriezel), Ukrainian (pyrih z makom пирiг з маком or makivnyk маківник), Belarusian (makavy rulet макавы рулет), Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian (makovnjača or štrudla sa makom), Slovenian (makova potica), Romanian (coardă cu mac), Russian (rulet s makom рулет с маком), Lithuanian (aguonų vyniotinis), Latvian (magonmaizite), German (Mohnstrudel), Danish (wienerbrød, or Vienna bread), and Yiddish (mohn roll).

Ingredients
The dough is made of flour, sugar, egg yolk, milk or sour cream and butter, and yeast. The dough may be flavored with lemon or orange zest or rum. The poppy seed filling may contain ground poppy seeds, raisins, butter or milk, sugar or honey, rum and vanilla. Sometimes apricot jam, which is one of the most popular jams used in Hungarian cuisine, is substituted for sugar. There is another similar dish called walnut roll or nut roll, which contains a filling of ground walnuts and sugar, optionally enriched with raisins, rum, butter or milk and/or lemon zest. This filling may be spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove or vanilla.

The dough is at first quite heavy, stiff and dry, but with kneading and resting becomes very elastic and strong. It is rolled out into a large sheet, thick or thin depending on taste. One aesthetic principle is that the dough and filling layers should be of equal thickness. Another is that more layers are better. The filling is spread over the dough, which is then rolled into a long cylinder or log. Traditional recipes usually involve brushing the log with the egg white left over from the yolk used in the dough. The unbaked log is gently transferred to a sheet pan, left to rest, then baked until golden brown.

Other recipes use different washes before baking, or a glaze or icing added after.

Variants
The poppy seed filling is a paste of ground poppy seeds, milk, butter, sugar and/or honey, often with additional flavorings such as lemon zest and juice. It may have raisins. The walnut filling is a paste of ground walnuts, milk, butter, sugar, often with additional flavorings such as coffee or orange zest.

A very long roll may be bent so that it fits on a baking sheet; the result is called a patkó (horseshoe) in Hungarian. Before baking, the roll may be given a wash of milk. The roll can be finished with a glaze or icing, made of powdered sugar and lemon juice. It is typically presented sliced.

In Hungarian cuisine, the rolls, one with each filling, are served together. The combination is known as mákos és diós (poppy seed and walnut). However, in some English language cookbooks there may be no mention of the walnut filling as an alternative. Some other food writers combine the poppy seeds and walnuts together in one filling. As a new trend, a chestnut-filled variant (gesztenyés bejgli) is emerging, mainly among younger urban families.

In Poland, poppy seed rolls, known as makowiec, typically contain an array of additives to the fillings, such as rum-soaked raisins, dried plums & apricots, chopped almonds & walnuts and candied peel. Makowiec are almost always decorated with an icing sugar glaze, often topped with chopped nuts and poppy seeds. It is also common for some poppy seed fillings to be sweetened with fruit jams, such as plum or apricot, most notably in Czech (makový závin) and Slovak (makovník) variants of the dessert. Due to intermingling of Polish and Czech culture, immigrants to America sometimes use the term "Kolache" to describe it.

Among eastern Slavic countries, poppy seed rolls are typically quite elaborate. In Russian cuisine, poppy seed filling is often used to prepare a variety of intricate pastries, with dough being braided and woven into several unique shapes. Instead of a glaze, these rolls are usually covered in a dense egg wash and melted butter to produce a soft and spongy final product, known as rulet s makom. In Ukraine, the poppy seed roll's (makivnyk) filling is usually made through combining ground sweetened poppy seeds with whipped egg white meringue to produce a silky and smooth texture.

Poppy seed rolls in the Balkans, known in Croatian and Bosnian as makovnjača and in Serbian as štrudla sa makom, typically contain fewer flavouring additives than poppy seed rolls in central-east Europe. Some regional recipes from Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will call for pouring dried ground poppy seeds mixed with sugar straight onto the dough, drizzling some milk over the seeds to ensure the filling is not too dry.

In Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, poppy seed paste (mohn in Yiddish) is a common filling in desserts, often featured in both leavened and unleavened recipes. Many Jewish communities from throughout Central and Eastern Europe, Israel and diaspora will use this paste to prepare babka, a braided, open-faced version of the poppy seed roll.

A similar Armenian pastry is nazook (also spelled nazuk or nazouk, Armenian Նազուկ, Persian نازوک), made from flour, butter, sugar, sour cream, yeast, vanilla extract and eggs, with a filling often of chopped nuts, and especially walnuts. Nazook is sometimes referred to as gata.

Nokul or lokum is a type of puff pastry made in Turkey and Bulgaria, with variations. It consists of a rolled sheet of yeast dough onto which feta-style white cheese, walnut or poppy seed is sprinkled over a thin coat of butter. The dough is then rolled, cut into individual portions, and baked. Nokul is sometimes served hot as an appetizer instead of bread.