RUSSIAN POPPY SEED ROLL

Russian Poppy Seed Roll makes your tea time extra enjoyable. My childhood home always smelled like sweet dough and we had bakes all year round. Poppy seeds is one of the commonly used baking ingredients in Russian cuisine.

This Poppy seed bread is commonly served around the holidays. And it is delicious.I absolutely love poppy seeds here, they bring sweet crunch to this delicious dinner table centerpiece. This recipe is great for holidays and family gatherings.

Ingredients

Dough

250 ml OR 1 Cup of milk

500 gr OR 4 cups of flour

100 gr OR 1 stick of melted butter

1 egg

2 tbsp of sugar

7 gr 1 pack of dry fast action yeast

0.5 tsp of salt

Poppy Seed filling

100 gr OR 7/8 CUP of poppy seeds

150 gr OR 2/3 CUP of milk

150 gr OR 2/3 CUP of sugar

20 gr OR 1,5 tbsp of unsalted butter ( optional)

Directions

Step 1 : Add your fast action dry yeast into luke warm milk with sugar and mix through. Set aside for 15 min so yeast starts to activate.
Step 2 : Into a large bowl, add your milk and yeast mixture, melted butter and half the flour. Mix the dough and then add the rest of the flour with salt. Add flour onto your working surface, you have to kneed the dough for a little bit. If its too wet, add a bit more flour. Place the dough back into the bowl, but make sure you add a bit of oil into the bowl. Cover with towel and leave to raise and double in size for an hour or more. This depends on your kitchen and how warm it is.
Step 3 : Prepare the poppy seed filling. In a pan, add your milk and poppy seeds and cook for 2-3 min. Drain the mixture, squeeze all the water out of it. Add sugar and butter. Add into your blender or food processor and pulse several times. Drain the mixture again so its completely dry.
Step 4 : Once your dough has risen, place in onto the floured surface, divide the dough in 2 and roll it out. Add your poppy seed filling in the middle. Roll it out. Once you have two large dough sausages with the filling cross braid them, to create a nice braid. You can do what you like with it.
Step 5 : Coat your dough with egg wash all around. If you see some poppy seed filling splitting from places, its ok, it will make it even prettier once baked. Preheat your oven to 180 C/350 F.
Step 6 : Bake in preheated oven for 25-35 min until its golden and done. Enjoy hot or cold with tea or coffee.