Jump to recipe

Soft and sweet yeast bread swirled with a  delicious poppy seed filling. Growing up, my mother and aunts always made this Eastern European bread for Easter and Christmas. Looks complicated but is easy enough to make it at home. 

Dough:

1 cup warm water

1 cup warm whole milk

3 eggs

12 Tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar

1/2  teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons dry east

6-7 cups all-purpose flour, preferably Canadian brand

You can make your own poppy seed filling or purchase at Amazon.  

Poppy seeds filling – Recipe is from talented Lea’s cooking 

1 3/4 cups poppy seeds 

1 cup milk

 1/2 stick butter

1 cup sugar

1 pinch of salt

2 eggs, beaten

 

 

Making the Poppy seed filling:

Grind poppy seeds with a coffee grinder or magic bullet. I did 1/2 cup at the time for 30 seconds.

Heat the milk, butter, salt and sugar on medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Fluff the eggs.

Slowly pour in a small amount of the hot milk into the eggs, mixing it fast. This will prevent the eggs from scrambling. When you add about half of the milk to the eggs, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium-low heat until the mixture thickens, just like making pudding.

Add poppy seeds. Mix well and let it cool.

Making the dough:

In a mixing bowl, mix  1 cup of warm water mixed with 1 tablespoon of sugar and yeast. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Combine milk and butter in a separate bowl. Microwave on high until butter melts for about 30 to 40 seconds. 

Pour the milk and butter mixture into a mixer bowl fitted with hook attachment. 

Add the east mixture; 

Add sugar, eggs, 1 cup of flour and salt. 

Mix on low speed 2-3 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Gradually add more flour. Mix on low until flour is mixed and dough is sticky, scraping down sides. Depend on your flour, you may not need all 7 cups of flour. Dough should be very sticky. Transfer to lightly sprayed with nonstick spray large bowl. Cover it with plastic and let dough rest for about 1 -1 ½ hours, it should double in volume.
When dough is ready, sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Divide the dough into two pieces. Transfer one piece of dough to your floured surface, shape into a ball; roll into a very thin rectangle. Generously spread the poppyseed paste over the surface of the dough. Roll up the dough starting from the shorter side, making it into a long string and tightening the log as you go. Use a knife to cut the dough into even-sized 2 inch pieces.

Place the cut rolls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, leaving about 2 inches apart. With your hand press on the rolls to flatten them. 

Finish rolling the second piece of dough.

Let the rolls rise for 50-60 minutes. Whisk 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon of milk in a small bowl. Brush the rolls and then bake at 350 degrees until  golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!!!