Polish Poppyseed Roll {Makowiec}
Makowiec [mah-ko-vyets] is “officially” referred to as “strucla makowa“. “Strucla” is a rolled yeast dough filled with a sweet filling of choice, poppyseed, sweet farmer’s cheese, almonds, apples or jam. Makowiec is often prepared for Christmas and Easter in Poland, but also enjoyed year-round as Poles have quite the sweet tooth for baked delicacies. Bakeries are abundant in my city of Szczecin and I can hardly walk by one without giving into the craving. Sweet cakes and yeast buns, jelly filled and glazed donuts, layered cakes, cookies, freshly baked breads line the shelves and leave you with no choice but to indulge. And I do. 😉
To learn and attempt making this delicious Polish treat, please make sure to read ALL THE WAY through my instructions and notes below. Good luck!
Polish Poppyseed Roll {Makowiec}
Ingredients
- Filling:
- About 17 oz / 500 g of raw black or blue poppyseeds*
- 3 cups / 750 ml of boiling water
- 3/4 cup / 100 g raisins
- 4 oz / 110 g of butter
- 1 cup / 200 g of granulated sugar
- 4 tbsp of honey
- 1 cup / 100 g walnuts
- Dough:
- 3/4 cup / 150 ml of warm milk
- 1/2 cup / 100 g of granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tbs of dry active yeast
- 3 1/2 cups / 540 g of all purpose flour
- 1 egg plus 2 yolks (large eggs) - reserve whites
- 2 oz / 55 g of butter
- Pinch of salt
- For glaze:
- 5 tbsp / 55 g of powdered sugar
- 2 tbp of lemon juice
- 1 tbsp of hot water
- 3-5 tbs of orange peel or sliced almonds
Instructions
Place raisins in hot water (or rum, whiskey or brandy) and set aside to soak.
Warm milk slightly, add yeast and sugar and set aside in a warm spot for 10 min. Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly.
To make dough, place flour in a mixing bowl. Whisk egg and yolks and add to flour. Add milk / sugar / yeast mixture and start combining. Add melted butter and work to combine all ingredients. Add a few table- spoons of milk if dough is too dry. Dough should have consistency of playdough - not sticky but pliable. Once a dough ball is formed, cover and set aside in a warm place for at least 1 hour, until it doubles in size.
To make filling, place poppyseeds in a pot, add boil- ing water and soak for 10 minutes, then boil for 20–25 minutes. Add a bit more water if they get dry, enough to cover. Drain well. Once they cool slightly you will have to put them through a meat grinder with the fine grind- ing plate - TWICE.
In a large skillet or a pot, heat butter, add ground up poppyseeds, sugar, honey, drained raisins and mix well. Heat through and mix until sugar is dissolved. Add crushed walnuts and mix. Set aside to cool.
Whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Add to poppyseed mixture and fold in gently.
Once the dough rises, divide in half. Roll out each half into a rectangular shape (12 x 9 inch / 30 x 25 centi- meter). Place rolled out dough onto parchment paper large enough to go around your roll twice. Place half of the filling on the first rectangle leaving a bit of space on each side (see photos). Roll starting from the wider edge, pinching the ends together as you go along. Wet the edge with water or egg white for a better seal.
Once rolled, make sure to leave on parchment pa- per with the long seam down. Roll parchment paper around the poppyseed roll twice, leaving space for the roll to "grow" (about 3⁄4 inch / 2 centimeters). Make sure the end of the paper is under the roll. Set aside in a warm place to rise for about 30–45 minutes.
Do the same with the second roll.
When ready to bake, heat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Place rolls wrapped in paper in hot oven and bake for 40–50 minutes. Remove and cool.
To make glaze, mix powdered sugar with lemon juice. Add hot water one teaspoon at a time and whisk to combine. It should make a thick paste. If it comes out too watery, add more powdered sugar. Spoon onto each roll. Sprinkle with orange peel or almond shav- ings. Let set.
Notes
Slice at an angle to serve.
I admit, this is a pretty intimidating recipe. It is a bit time consuming to make but as far as difficulty level, I’d give it ✴✴✴ out of 5 stars. Just take it step by step and you’ll be just fine 🙂 Hope this helps:
*I recommend raw blue poppyseeds like this: https://amzn.to/2ScF495
You can cut the process in half by buying a good poppyseed filling. I recommend this one: https://amzn.to/2RbUJYE or this one: https://amzn.to/2CpszkQ
I do NOT however recommend this one: https://amzn.to/2QGezMd as seeds are not ground and filling is super sticky.
If you purchase the ready filling, you will need at least about 850g / 30 oz to make the 2 rolls – that’s one can. It is already sweet, has nuts and raisins in it, and is ready to use. Just make dough, roll and bake.
To make my life easier, I’m using some kitchen tools that I can’t function in the kitchen without:
Video recipe for Polish poppyseed roll “makowiec” below:
Happy baking my hungry friends!
Love,
Anna