Poppy seed roll

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

It is popular in parts of Central Europe and Eastern Europe. It is commonly eaten at Christmas and Easter time. It is traditional in several cuisines, including Austrian (Mohnkuchen or Mohnstriezel), Bosnian cuisine (makovnjača), Croatian (makovnjača), Czech (makový závin), Danish (wienerbrød (Vienna bread): [ˈʋiːˀnɔˌbʁœːˀð]), Hungarian (mákos bejgli), Kashubian: makówc, Latvian (magonmaizite), Lithuanian (aguonų vyniotinis), Polish (makowiec), Russian (pirog s makom Russian: пирог с маком or bulochka s makom булочка с маком), Serbian (маковњача), Slovak (makovník), Romanian (ruladă cu mac or ruladă cu nuci), and Ukrainian (pyrih z makom пирiг з маком or makivnyk маківник) cuisine.

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 a tablespoon of apricot jam, which is one of the most popular jams used in the Hungarian cuisine, is substituted for sugar. The walnut roll filling contains raisins, rum, butter or milk, lemon rind and chopped walnuts. This filling may be spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove or vanilla.