Polish poppy seed roll
Serves: 12
Prep time: 35 mins
Total time:
Recipe photograph by Stuart West
Polish poppy seed roll
A traditional Easter bake (but delicious at any time of year) this treat is filled with ‘lucky’ poppy seeds to symbolise wealth
Serves: 12
Prep time: 35 mins
Total time:
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
366Kcal
Fat
17gr
Saturates
7gr
Carbs
45gr
Sugars
22gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
7gr
Salt
0.4gr
Mitzie Wilson
Mitzie Wilson is a food writer, baker and our former Acting Food Director. Mitzie has been writing recipes for magazines for over 30 years, and was editor of BBC Good Food and Delicious. Her particular speciality is creating show-stopping bakes.
Mitzie Wilson
Mitzie Wilson is a food writer, baker and our former Acting Food Director. Mitzie has been writing recipes for magazines for over 30 years, and was editor of BBC Good Food and Delicious. Her particular speciality is creating show-stopping bakes.
Ingredients
- 350gstrongwhitebreadflour,plusextratodust
- 1x7gsachetfast-actiondriedyeast
- ¼tspfinesalt
- 50gcastersugar
- 150mlmilk
- 50gdicedbutter,softened
- 1mediumegg,plus1extrayolk
- ½tspvanillabeanpasteorextract
For the filling
- 100gpoppyseeds
- 75gsoftbutter
- 1tspvanillabeanpasteorextract
- 50graisins
- 2tbspclearhoney
- 75glightmuscovado(orbrown)sugar
- 50gwalnuts
- 50gchoppedmixedpeelordriedapricots
To decorate
- 3tbspicingsugar,sifted
- juiceof½lemon
Step by step
Get ahead
The roll will keep for up to 3 days in a cake tin, or can be frozen.
- Put the flour, yeast, salt and caster sugar ina mixing bowl. Warm the milk in a pan or the microwave until hot to the touch, then stir in the butter so that it softens and starts to melt, before pouring it into the flour mixture (the butter doesn’t need to be completely melted). Add the whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla, then mix until it all comes to a soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and silky (or5-8 minutes on a low speed if you’re using a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook).
- Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 1½ – 1¾ hours or until it has doubled in size.
- For the filling, put the poppy seeds (reserve 1 teaspoon for decorating), butter, vanilla, raisins and honey into a food processor and blend until well combined. Add the sugar, walnuts and mixed peel or apricots; blend very briefly just to roughly chop the walnuts.
- Dust the work surface lightly with flour. Knock back the dough lightly then roll out to a thin rectangle about 23cm x 33cm. Spread the poppy seed mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a 2cm border all round. Roll up like a swiss roll, from the shortest side so that you get as many swirls of filling as possible. Place on a baking paper-lined tray with the seam side down, and tuck the ends of the roll under to seal the filling in. Cover with oiled clingfilm or a clean damp tea towel, and leave in a warm place to prove again for a further 1½ hours or until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6 then bake for 15 minutes initially. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4 and continue to cook for 15 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. It should sound hollow when the base is tapped.
- Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together then brush the mixture over the top of the roll while it is still warm. Sprinkle with poppy seeds, or simply dust with icing sugar. Allow to cool then serve in slices.