If you’re not Polish, a word like makowiec (Ma-KOH-viets) won’t mean very much. But if you are Polish, and grew up in a Polish or Eastern European household like myself, the word makowiec arouses a hunger for which there is no other substitution. A dessert table in my childhood would not have been complete without this roll taking center stage.
This coffee cake has a very distinctive taste that I absolutely love and crave. The poppy seed filling is a paste that is available in the baking or ethnic aisle of your grocery store.
Poppy seed roll was always around during holiday times. A friend of my parents, Frank Majcher, a baker who worked for one of the large bakeries in downtown Los Angeles, made about the best poppy seed roll I have ever tasted. When Frank passed away many, many years ago, I thought I would never taste another poppy seed roll that even compared to ones Frank used to turn out.
After reading many recipes and putting my own spin on them, I have created what I think is the best poppy seed roll out there. The taste takes me right back to my childhood and I never wait until the holidays to make this very special dish.
We can never get enough of this at our home. It’s addicting.
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm milk. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt and eggs. Add remaining 1-1/2 cups warm milk, butter and yeast mixture. With the paddle attachment, beat until smooth. The dough will be very dense and sticky.
Scrape dough into a clean, greased bowl. Sprinkle the top with a little flour and cover. Let stand in a warm place for2 hours or until double in size. Punch down and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide dough in thirds and shape each into a rectangle using a rolling pin into about a 1/8″ thickness. The rectangle will be fairly large.
Rub a teaspoon of vegetable oil (or more) onto the surface of the dough, making sure to get to all the edges. Sprinkle the dough with sugar. Spread one can of poppy seed filling onto each dough rectangle. This can be tedious to spread, taking maybe 10-15 minutes for each roll. Sprinkle filling with 1 cup chopped walnuts. Roll the dough up like a jelly roll, turning ends under so filling will not leak out.
Place the jelly-rolls on parchment, silicone or a greased pan, cover and let rise again until double in size. Two rolls will fit on one pan.
Heat oven to 350o F. Brush tops of rolls with additional melted butter. Bake 40-60 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool completely. You can dust with confectioner’s sugar or make a glaze (confectioner’s sugar and milk) to drizzle over them, if desired.
The rolls also freeze really well and taste fantastic!!
Poppy Seed Roll (Makowiec)
1 package active dry yeast
2 cups warm milk, divided
8 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar plus more for sprinkling on dough
1 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
8 Tablespoons butter, melted plus more for brushing on dough
Vegetable oil
3 (11 ounce) cans poppy seed filling
3 cups walnuts, finely chopped, divided
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm milk. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt and eggs. Add remaining 1-1/2 cups warm milk, butter and yeast mixture. With the paddle attachment, beat until smooth. The dough will be very dense and sticky.
Scrape dough into a clean, greased bowl. Sprinkle the top with a little flour and cover. Let stand in a warm place for2 hours or until double in size. Punch down and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide dough in thirds and shape each into a rectangle using a rolling pin into about a 1/8″ thickness. The rectangle will be fairly large.
Rub a teaspoon of vegetable oil (or more) onto the surface of the dough, making sure to get to all the edges. Sprinkle the dough with sugar. Spread one can of poppy seed filling onto each dough rectangle. This can be tedious to spread, taking maybe 10-15 minutes for each roll. Sprinkle filling with 1 cup walnuts. Roll the dough up like a jelly roll, turning ends under so filling will not leak out.
Place the jelly-rolls on parchment, silicone or a greased pan, cover and let rise again until double in size. Two rolls will fit on one pan.
Heat oven to 350o F. Brush tops of rolls with additional melted butter. Bake 40-60 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool completely. You can dust with confectioner’s sugar or make a glaze (confectioner’s sugar and milk)to drizzle over them, if desired.
