OLGA'S UKRAINIAN CHRISTMAS POPPY SEED ROLL / MAKIVNYK

[Olga Drozd]

OLGA'S UKRAINIAN CHRISTMAS POPPY SEED ROLL - MAKIVNYK

Everybody loves this poppy seed roll, even people who don't like poppy seeds love it. NOTE:  I recently purchased the new NutriBullet extractor  (super powerful 600 watt motor)..  It comes with two blades. One blade to extract and blend fruit and vegetables, along with the skins, and stems which is great for drinks, but the best blade of all is the Milling Blade which is perfect for milling oats, nuts and seeds..  When I added the poppy seeds and started to blend them it blended these little seeds to a paste - perfect for my makivnyk.  My son is very happy now because now I can make him his favourite poppy seed roll any time he wishes. Most of the time I did not want to do this recipe because of the difficulty and time consuming  it took to grind poppy seeds in my little coffee grinder and then by hand with the mortar and pestle. In place of raisins I sometimes use currants.  Make sure your poppy seeds are fresh.

FOR THE DOUGH: 1/2 cup of warm water 1 teaspoon sugar 1 package yeast (1 tablespoon) 3 2/3 cups all purpose or unbleached flour 1/2 cup of sugar 6 tablespoons soft butter 1 beaten egg Grated peel of 1 lemon 2/3 cup warm milk FOR THE POPPY SEED FILLING: 2 1/3 to 3 cups whole poppy seeds, (ground) 1 cup HOT, BOILING, MILK (or light cream) 6 tablespoons butter 2/3 cup sugar Honey to taste (optional) 1/2 teaspoon almond flavouring (or vanilla) 3/4 cup golden raisins (or finely chopped up prunes) 2/3 cup finely chopped almonds (or pecans or walnuts) 1 egg 1/3 cup bread crumbs.

OPTIONAL:  THE DAY BEFORE: Scald with boiling water 2 1/3 cups poppies swish around and drain off the water. I do this about 3 times. I put poppy seeds in a bowl, scald with hot water and wait until the poppies have settled and then pour off the water.

Let stand for 1 hour in hot water. Drain poppies through a cheesecloth covered net sieve. Let them dry preferably overnight. (They still will be a little damp but that is okay.) This way they will smell fresh and taste sweet -- not dusty or bitter. Grind in a coffee grinder, or through finest blade of food chopper or if you are lucky to have a poppy seed grinder. I use a large stone Mortar and Pestle. 

FOR THE DOUGH: DISSOLVE: 1/2 cup of warm water, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 package yeast (1 Tablespoon). Let stand about 5 to 10 minutes.

Sift the flour in a large bowl, Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the dissolved yeast. Add around the yeast, the sugar, butter, egg, lemon peel and milk.

MIX  dough in the bowl - remove dough from bowl and KNEAD on floured surface for about 10 minutes adding more flour if necessary. This is a soft dough so don't make the dough too stiff. Let rise in a greased bowl, covered, for about 45 to 60 minutes, until doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down and divide into TWO parts. Roll each into rectangle on floured board-- approximately 16 to 17 inch by 11 to 11 1/2 inches. Spread HALF with the Poppy Seed Filling leaving a 1/2 inch border free from seeds on each rectangle. Roll up each rectangle from the long side like a jelly roll. Pinch seams to make edges secure and pinch the ends and place under the roll.

Place seal side down on greased baking sheet. Cover, let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes, brush with egg wash or cream. (I use evaporated milk to brush tops) I like to slash tops lightly about 1/4 inch deep and 2 inches apart all the way up the roll.

BAKE: preheated oven 350º degree F. for about 45 to 50 minutes or until done. They should be a nice dark brown colour. If you wish after makivnyk has been baked and cooled you may glaze it with icing sugar.  Makes 2 poppy seed rolls.

FOR THE POPPY SEEDS: Stir HOT milk into GROUND poppy seeds, add the rest of the ingredients in the order listed. Stir until cool. Sometimes I like it sweeter so then I add liquid honey to taste. I also might add some ground prunes to the mixture.

You can purchase ground poppies (NOT in a can) from German or Eastern European grocery stores. I still give them a good scalding several times to remove the bitterness and dust from the poppies.

This is a delightful sweet dough. So good with only one egg. Do try this filling, it is one of the best.

TO FREEZE: Wrap baked and cooled makivnyk, snugly in plastic wrap, pressing out all air.  Overwrap in aluminum foil, again sealing tight.  Label and date, then place on the freezing surface of a 0º F. freezer.  This will keep well for about 3 months at 0º F.  Thaw before serving.  If you like, unwrap the frozen makivnyk, remove plastic wrap and rewrap in aluminum foil, and heat in a preheated 300º F. oven for about 20 minutes.  Dust with confectioners' sugar, if you like, just before serving.

Olga Drozd's recipe.

[SlawkaLaba]

Hi Olga:
Firstly, thank you for such a wonderful and extensive website...it has become my "go to" for anything Ukrainian.  I have some cookbooks, and, of course, my mom's recipes, but here I always find things I'm looking for that I can't find anywhere else.
When it comes to Makivnyk, I haven't quite been able to master it.  I try every couple of years when I have leftover mak from making Kutya for Christmas.  It's already ground and mixed with honey, it's almost like a paste.  Can I substitute this poppy butter in your recipe and if so, do I need to add anything else?   I have the Ukrainian Traditional Christmas cookbook and I tried their recipe, adding egg whites that have been meringued, and lemon etc, etc, but the filling leaked ran all over the dough, onto my pastry board and it just all leaked right out when I tried to roll it.  So I'm turning to you for advice at this point.  Any tips you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Slawka

[Olga Drozd]

Hello Slawa and welcome to Ukrainian Classic Kitchen.  It's my pleasure and I thank you for finding my website helpful to you.  Yes you can use the poppy butter but make sure you have at least 2 1/3 cups and even a bit more. Just add the rest of the ingredients but be careful with the sugar because you have already added the honey.  Taste it for sweetness to your taste.  You can see as I roll the dough over the poppy seed it is quite thick and it will not spread all over the place. Good luck!

[SlawkaLaba]

Thank you, I can't wait to try it!!

[Vesna778]

I want to make this for Christmas this year for my family to surprise my mother. Her mother (my grandmother) was Ukrainian and she passed away a few years ago. Unfortunately, she never shared her recipes with us.
I want to know if I can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it . . thus making it easier to make on Christmas. Also, can I make the filling ahead of time and keep it? Thanks. I love your website and all the yummy recipes that remind me of my grandmother. She could always make it better!

[Olga Drozd]

Hello Vesna778 and thank you for enjoying my website.  I have never frozen this dough and so I can't tell you if it will work out.

Sometimes I make the dough and then place dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for a cool rise overnight. I always make the filling a day or two ahead.  I take the dough out from the refrigerator and let it warm up for about 30 minutes and then divide the dough in half and form it into two poppy seed rolls and let them rise about 45 minutes and then bake.  The dough is very easy to make so it really does not take a long time to make.

Good luck and have a very Merry Christmas

Olga

[Vesna778]

Hi Olga.
Thanks for the quick reply. I will definitely do the overnight cool rise. This helps out tremendously.
Merry Christmas

[amanda d]

Hi Olga,
I accidentally ground the poppies before putting them in boiling water. Should I still do so?

Thanks,
Amanda

[Olga Drozd]

Hi Amanda,

Yes you can but it is not necessary that is an option. It depends how you ground them.  Did you grind them to a paste.  If you have then just use them as is.  If you ground them in a blender then you can soak them because the blender does not grind poppies to a paste. 

Olga

[cherkassy]

Hi Olga,

I have a question for you.

We were making Easter Breads last week and tried your six braid loaf, and we did it!

Is it possible to make a braided Makivnyk? I have seen this in Ukraine and was wondering if it could be done with your recipe?

Thanks,

Angela

[Olga Drozd]

Hi Angela

Yes you can- follow the link below with photo for the almond filled braid--using poppy seed filling instead of almond filling.

http://www.ukrainianclassickitchen.ca/index.php?topic=6859.msg7692#msg7692

[Highlander]

4 November 2014

Hi Olha;

I made makivnyk tonight as per your recipe.
There are two entries for sugar for the dough.  Is that a typo and should the one teaspoon be for salt?
Three cups of dry poppyseed became 6 cups of ground seed/paste.  I used my coffee grinder....you are right in that it takes a long time.
The makivnyk tasted somewhat flat...perhaps I did not put enough honey into the poppy seed mixture.
With 50 minutes baking, the bottom got quite brown but the top and inside were not quite done.......I set the items at mid-range in the oven.
The dough seems hard. Dry?  Dense?    I used whole wheat flour and am wondering if that made a difference.  All else was exactly as the recipe called for.
Comments.

Highlander

[Olga Drozd]

Hi highlander

You did not make the poppy seed roll as written in the recipe. Using only whole wheat flour will make the dough dense. Whole wheat flour does not have enough gluten to make the dough rise  -  especially when using a heavy filling like poppy seeds. 1 teaspoon of sugar is to be mixed with yeast and water as written in the recipe, there is no salt in this recipe. You could add 1/4 teaspoon salt along with the flour but don't add salt when dissolving the yeast.  Make sure your yeast is fresh, old yeast will not make dough rise, check the expiring date on the package. 

Temperatures will vary between different types, brands, sizes of ovens.  Try starting it out on one lower position and then moving it up to a higher position half-way through the baking time. Or vice versa. Just to see if that helps things out.  If using a convection oven you have to reduce temperature by 25%.  Your cookie sheet maybe too thin which would explain why the bottom burns before the top browns. I recommend getting thicker aluminum sheets.  Try to double up on baking pans to see if that helps. Also you might try getting a pizza stone and placing your cookie sheet on top.  You might have to reduce oven temperature, some ovens burn more than others. Make sure you read the recipe over and over and see in your mind how it should be done.  I do this all the time. Note:  The top picture on the table I used 3 cups poppy seeds which fills 2 rolls and there is more filling in each and the lower picture on the plate I used 2 1/3 cups. poppy seeds which fills  2 rolls but you get less filling.

Good luck and give it another try

Olga 

[Sonia P]

Hi Olga. I've recently made Makovnik using your recipe... almost to the letter ( added orange and lemon zest to the poppy mixture , I also soaked the raisins ). Thanks so much this is truly the best recipe I've used, the mixture was deliciously moist and the bread crust just perfect. I've tried so many other recipes and always been with disappointed with the results. So happy that this Christmas we'll have Makovnik worthy of the feast.Thanks again.

[Olga Drozd]

Hello Sonia and welcome to Ukrainian Classic Kitchen.  I'm so happy that your makivnyk turned out so well.  Next time I make my poppy seed roll I'll add some orange and lemon zest to the mixture. 

Olga