Polish · Dessert

Makowiec

Advanced
60 min
roughly 2 of 4 for cost
Vegetarian

rich · sweet-edged · bright · nutty-toasted Leads with richness that coats and comforts, a sweet edge rounding the corners, closing toasted and warm.

Ingredients

400 g strong white flour
7 g instant yeast
60 g caster sugar
150 ml whole milk, lukewarm
2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
80 g soft butter
5 g salt
300 g blue poppy seeds
120 g honey
80 g caster sugar for the filling
60 g butter for the filling
2 egg whites
80 g raisins, soaked in hot water
60 g candied orange peel, chopped
50 g flaked almonds
150 g icing sugar and 2 tbsp lemon juice, for the glaze

Equipment

Rolling pin

The skills inside

Whipping a meringue Proofing: the rise before the oven

Allergen screen

Found: gluten · dairy · egg · nuts

Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.

Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.

Method

Pour boiling water over the poppy seeds and leave them until a seed crushes to paste between finger and thumb, then drain hard and grind twice through the fine plate of a mincer.
Work the flour, yeast, sugar, milk, eggs and salt to a smooth soft dough, adding the butter last in pieces, and knead until it clears the bowl; prove until doubled.
Melt the honey, filling sugar and butter, stir in the ground seeds and cook until the mass pulls away from the pan and gleams with released oil; cool, then fold in the raisins, peel, almonds and the whites whipped to soft peaks.
Roll the dough to a 30 by 40 cm rectangle, spread the filling to within 2 cm of every edge, and roll up from the long side, tightening against the worktop at each turn.
Tuck the ends under, prove until puffy, brush with beaten egg and bake at 180C (356F) for about 45 minutes, until a skewer into the end comes out clean. 45 min
Glaze with the lemon icing while the roll is still warm so it sets thin, and slice only when completely cold.

How to tell it is going right

This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the techniques it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.

Whipping a meringue 40 recipes

Bowl and whisk are clean and dry with no trace of fat or yolk. Grease prevents the foam outright, and there is no recovering a bowl that had it partway through.
The sugar went in gradually once the whites were already foaming, rather than all at once at the start.
No grit: a little rubbed between finger and thumb feels smooth, so the sugar has dissolved into the foam rather than sitting in it.
Stiff peaks means the tip stands with a slight bow when the whisk lifts, and the bowl can be tipped without the mass moving in it.
Glossy and smooth rather than chalky or dull, with no liquid gathering underneath it in the bowl.

Where it goes wrong It was whipped past stiff peaks. A minute beyond glory the protein network tightens and tears, the foam turns grainy and matte, water weeps out beneath it, and folding that into anything gives a mixture that collapses on the way to the oven.

Proofing: the rise before the oven 78 recipes

Judged on volume against the container rather than on the clock: visibly grown, and grown by roughly the amount the recipe describes.
The poke test agrees: a floured fingertip pressed a centimetre in leaves a dent that springs back slowly and only part of the way. Straight back means it is not ready; no spring at all means it has gone.
The surface is domed, smooth, and slightly sheened: not cratered, wrinkled, or collapsed, and not skinned over and dry from proofing uncovered.
Handled, it feels alive and airy: light for its size, with bubbles visible under the skin.
It springs in the oven: the piece lifts in the first minutes and the scores open. A shape that does not move at all was proofed past its point before it went in.

Where it goes wrong It was proofed to the clock in a kitchen colder or warmer than the recipe assumed: overproofed, it collapses as the blade touches it and bakes flat and dense with a sour edge; underproofed, it tears at the side and bakes tight.

At the Table

The Pour: Moscato d’Asti
Also Right: Late-harvest Riesling
From the Taps: Witbier
Zero-Proof: Sparkling elderflower

Citrus desserts need a wine sweeter than they are, with acid enough to keep up: light, frothy, and low-proof wins.

Family notes

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Film school

This dish, cooked on camera Search films of Makowiec Technique: Whipping a meringueThe skill inside this recipe The cuisine, deeper Technique films from the Polish kitchen