Dessert for our Polish meal. This recipe makes a soft flaky dough, and the prepared filings simplified the process. I’ve never added oil to an egg wash before but I’m very happy with the way it turned out and will try this egg wash on other baked goods.
Ingredients
1 T. sugar
1/2 c. warm water
2 (1/4 oz.) packages dry yeast
1/2 lb. butter, melted and cooled
3 T. sugar
1/4 t. salt
3 eggs
4 c. flour, heaping
3 cans prepared cake & pastry filling, almond, poppy seed, apricot Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā (in my grocery store these are with canned fruit rather than on the baking aisle)
1 egg
1 T. oil
1 T. cold water
Directions
Mix together sugar, yeast and 1/2 c. water and allow to foam. Beat the butter, remaining sugar, salt and 3 eggs for five minutes. If you have a Kitchenaid or similar mixer switch to the dough hook and add the flour and the foamy yeast mixture and continue kneading for five to eight minutes.
Remove from mixer, form into ball and place in a greased bowl, cover, and allow to rise for thirty minutes. Divided the dough into three equal size balls, roll out to a 15×15 inch rectangle, flouring lightly the work surface if necessary.Ā This measurement, 15 x 15,Ā is for guidance only.Ā The dough should be very thin but not see through.Ā Ā You don’t want the filling to seep through.
Fill with prepared filings, and roll up jelly roll style crimping and sealing the ends to keep filling from oozing. Place seam side down on greased cookie sheet, place all three rolls on the same sheet. Rolls should be about 14 inches long and two to three inches in width before baking. Allow to raise for another 30 minutes.
Right before baking prick with a fork five times down the center of the roll. Combine 1 egg, 1T. water and 1 T. oil. Brush pastry with egg wash.
Bake in a preheated 350Ā°F oven for 30-40 minutes or until nicely browned. Cool on the pan.
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in PoznaÅ, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com,Ā she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Alice Bostrom
Lois,
When do you cut the rolls into pinwheels? After baking—or before?
If after, should the rolls cool first?
Sounds—and looks—yummy!
Happy New Year!
Alice in Tucson
Lois B
Alice – good question! The slicing is done after baking and cooling. I made this for Christmas morning with the St. Martin croissant filing, substituting cranberries for the raisins.
David
I can’t wait to try this, Lois – thanks for the link! I am going to search online today for a nut filling… I know it’s not Christmas when these are traditionally made, but I don’t think I can wait till then… š
polishhousewife
I hope it’s as good as you remember!
Kris Abrahamson
Is poppyseed kuchen recipe from a specific region in Poland? My ancestors came from opelen others from other regions have not heard of it ( at least the way I make it) . How can I find more history on it?
Thank you
polishhousewife
Hi Kris, I don’t know an answer for this, but kuchen is actually a German word, so I would guess that it’s from the western part of modernday Poland. Poznan, where we lived, and Wroclaw used to be part of Prussia. Germany is more of an influence in Western Poland and Russia moreso in the east. The borders and people have moved a lot over the years.
I just googled poppyseed kuchen, and I see a post talking about it being a tradition dish in Chile, that came from the many German immegrants. So I’ll stick with my original thought that it would have been in the Western part of Poland.
Selma
Our Neighbor is a Polish Priest and we have him for Christmas dinner every year. He brings other(s) who would otherwise be alone on Christmas. Wonder if he will recognize this as Polish?
polishhousewife
While I know many Polish Americans prepare these fillings, in Poland, the only one I encountered was a poppyseed filling.
Larry Kringen
I used to help my Grandma, who came from Poland, in the 1800’s. She would make several loaves of Poppy Seed Bread, during Easter and Christmas. I would help her spread the cooked poppy seed on the dough, after she rolled it out. That was when I was about 4 or 5, yrs old. I carried on the tradition, up until now, but recently I’ve been having difficulty with the dough splitting in the middle and having most of the filling blow-out, in the middle. Is it my sweet dough recipe or is the canned poppy seed too wet?
polishhousewife
Oh, Larry, good question. Maybe try a little less filling, spreading it more thinly? Does anyone else have a good solution?
Charles
My Polish mom and grandmother made kolachi for Thanksgiving and Christmas when all the extended family got together. The used Bakers poppyseed filling & apricot filling and they made their own nut filling with a hand crank food processor. In replicating their recipe I found that rolling the dough very thin was indicative of their method. It was more filling than dough once baked. My mom would also bake pies and roll the left over pie dough and make little kolachi”s by spreading butter & cinnamon sugar over the rolled out dough & rolling it up. They were flakier than the real thing lacking the yeast but it was enough to satiate our sweet tooth until the pies were served.