Poppy Seed Roll

This type of cake is quite usual in the Czech republic. It is typical for Eastern Europe and you can buy almost in every bakery. Poppy Seed Roll is English name, but Czech one is Makovec. The filling is always made of poppy seeds.

It is made from all-purpose flour, but I use mix of wholemeal and all-purpose flour.

For the dough:
- 225ml (8fl.oz) lukewarm milk
- 100ml (3,5fl.oz) sunflower oil
- 50g (2oz) unrefined sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1tsp lemon zest
- 200g (7oz) all-purpose flour
- 250g (9oz) wholemeal flour
- 1tsp dried yeast or 15g (0,5oz)fresh yeast

- 1egg (not to the dough!)

For the filling:
- 300g (11oz) ground poppy seeds
- 125g (4oz) unrefined sugar
- 200ml (7fl.oz) milk
- 1tsp cinnamon powder


In a larger bowl mix all the ingredients for the dough together (except the egg). You can either do this in the mixer with a dough attachment or with a wooden spoon (but it takes far longer). When the dough is smooth and not sticky let it double in size for at least an hour.

In the meantime we make the filling mixture. In a sauce pan combine all the ingredients for the filling and cook it for about 5-10minutes. It is necessary to stir! Let it cool.

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F.

Once the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough in 2 pieces. Roll each piece out. Spread half of the poppy seed filling over the dough and roll it up. Do the same with the other one. Place both of them on baking sheet which is buttered or covered with parchment paper.

Beat the egg in a cup of a little bowl until frothy and brush the rolls with beaten egg.

Bake in preheated oven until the rolls are golden brown. It takes 20-30minutes.

Cool completely before slicing.