Poppy Seed Pie

(makes 8 – 10)

500 g poppy seeds
500 g flour
400 ml milk (200 ml - in dough, 200 ml – in poppy filling)
100 g honey
150 g butter (50 g - in dough, 100 g - in poppy filling)
3 eggs at room temperature, plus 1 egg for topping
13 tbsp. sugar (3 tbsp. - in dough, 10 tbsp. - in poppy filling)
Fresh yeast for 500 g flour
1/4 tsp. salt

1 To activate the fresh yeast, mix it in a bowl with 100 ml warm milk and a spoonful of sugar. Stir well in order to avoid lumps forming. Put in a warm place until a foam cap forms on top.

2 Sift well the flour, 2 – 3 times. The remaining milk (100 ml) lightly warm over medium heat, melt the butter (50 g) in it, add salt, and mix well.

3 In a large bowl with flour (2/3 parts), pour in the middle the activated yeast. Gradually add 2 eggs, the remaining sugar (2 tbsp.), and the milk mixture. Knead the dough very slowly until all the ingredients combine well, while gradually adding the remaining flour. Adjust the consistency of the dough and add less flour than needed or more.

4 Increase the speed and continue to knead the dough for 10 – 15 minutes. It should stay around the hook of the mixer and leave the walls of the bowl.

5 Roll the dough into a little ball and transfer to a bowl. Cover with a cloth or foil, place in a warm place for approximately 2-3 hours. During this time it should increase 2 to 3 times.

6 Remove the dough from the bowl and knead well to get rid of air, 10 – 15 minutes.

7 Pour boiling water into a bowl with poppy seeds and keep for 8 – 10 minutes. If poppy seeds are dirty, pre-wash them first. Drain and pour boiling water again, and keep for another 5 minutes.

Drain well the water, and press the remaining water out using hands. In a large bowl, mix well with brown sugar (use sugar in large crystals). Grind the mixture well using a grinding manual or electric device, or if not available, a powerful blender.

8 Transfer the poppy seed mixture into a deep saucepan. Over very low heat, add butter, honey, and gradually start pouring a little bit of milk. During the whole time of cooking, constantly keep stirring the mixture and adding more milk. You may need more milk, or less, depending on the poppy seeds (they have to cook, and thus grown in volume). Cook for about 1 hour.

9 The resulting filling should by no means be liquid. Set the filling aside and let cool to the room temperature.

10 Meanwhile, roll out the dough into a square with slightly rounded edges as thin as you wish (no thicker than 1 cm). You can either do it on a silicone mat or dust the surface and the rolling pin with flour as always.

11 Generously and evenly spread the filling.

12 Gently fold the roll from the long side, so it has a smaller diameter.

13 Preheat the oven to 180 ⁰C. Whisk the egg or yolk with a little bit of milk (1 tbsp.), brush the roll with egg, and sprinkle with some poppy seeds. Transfer the roll to the oven, then after each 10 minutes, reduce the temperature by 20 ⁰C. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes (depending on the oven).

My Tips:

Cooking of the poppy seed filling is similar to cooking risotto, where instead of rice there are poppy seeds, and instead of broth – milk. Keep stirring at all times and adding only a little bit of milk.
If you use an alternative device for grinding poppy seeds, you’ll know they are grinded well, if you see lots of poppy seed milk (white liquid). It leaves a cooked seed when it’s crushed.
Instead of electric mixer, while kneading you can definitely use your hands at all times. It may be more complicated, but it will only improve the quality of the result.
The resulting roll will be gigantic and possibly too large for a regular oven, therefore, I usually divide the dough and the filling into 3 parts, and bake 3 medium rolls.
Folding the roll in the end is similar to making sushi-rolls. You have to press in with your hands every time you roll up a bit more, so that there is no air. Otherwise, the filling may fall out or the roll may fall apart.
For brushing the top of the rolls, you can use an egg yolk only.
For the last 10 – 20 minutes (second half of total time) of baking I use grill mode of the oven.
In the filling nuts, raisins, and other dried fruits or berries may be used. Most classic recipe is with raisins and coarsely crushed walnuts. These ingredients if used, should be added to the poppy seed filling before its cooking. You may need more milk, if you use dried ingredients, raisins especially.