Polish Poppy Seed Roll (Makowiec)

Warm the milk until just lukewarm, crumble in the yeast, stir in 20 g sugar and let stand for 15 minutes until foam appears on the surface.

Combine the flour, remaining sugar, egg yolks and a pinch of salt. Pour in the yeast mixture, add the melted and cooled butter, and knead for 10–15 minutes until the dough is smooth and starts to come away from your hands. Cover and leave in a warm place for 60 minutes.

Pour boiling water over the poppy seeds, simmer for 20 minutes until soft, drain well, then grind twice through a poppy seed mill or the finest setting of a meat grinder.

Mix the ground poppy seeds with honey, chopped walnuts, raisins and candied orange peel. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold into the filling.

Knock back the dough and roll it out on parchment into a rectangle about 5 mm thick. Spread the poppy seed filling over it, leaving 2 cm free around the edges, then roll up tightly into a log and pinch the seam and ends to seal.

Transfer the roll seam-side down onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover and let rise for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 °C.

Bake for 40–45 minutes until evenly golden brown. Let cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze, mix powdered sugar with lemon juice to a thick but pourable consistency and drizzle it over the cooled roll.