Makivnyk

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 80 gsugar
• 7 gdried yeast
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• 200 mlwarm milk
• 2egg yolks
• 80 gbutter, softened
• zest of 1 lemon

Poppy seed filling

• 300 gpoppy seeds
• 300 mlmilk
• 150 gsugar
• or 150 g honey
• 50 gbutter
• 2egg whites
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• 50 graisins, optional
• 50 gchopped walnuts, optional

To finish

• 1beaten egg, to glaze
• icing sugar, to dust
• or a thin lemon glaze

Directions

1. Butter, egg yolk, milk and sugar go in. That makes it soft and slow to rise. Rinse the poppy seeds in a fine sieve. Drain them thoroughly afterwards.
2. Put the seeds in a pot with the milk. Bring it up to a gentle simmer. Let it cook for about twenty minutes. Drain them in a fine mesh sieve. Press them to remove the excess milk. Wet seeds make a runny filling. Press them all properly dry first. Grind the drained seeds in small batches.
3. Use a spice grinder or a poppy mill. Work through them a little at a time. Judging the grind takes a look. Melt the butter in a small pan. Add the ground poppy seed to it. Add the sugar or else the honey. Cook it gently for about five minutes. Take it off the heat entirely. Stir in all of the vanilla now.
4. Let it cool right down completely. Warm filling melts the dough underneath. Let it cool before it goes on. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold them into the cooled filling. They also help it hold together.
5. Fold in raisins or chopped walnuts. Warm the milk to blood temperature. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar in. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the lemon zest to it as well. Make a well in the middle of it.
6. Add the egg yolks to the well. Pour in the foaming yeast milk. Bring it together into a soft dough. Adding the butter is done separately. Knead the dough for about five minutes first. Add it in small pieces at a time.
7. Butter added at the start slows gluten forming. Keep working and it comes back together. Kneading it takes real patience. Knead it for a further ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic.
8. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Let it roughly double in size. Give it an hour and a half there. Roll it out into a large rectangle. Aim for about half a centimetre thick. Spread the cooled filling over the dough.
9. Leave a clear border along one long edge. Filling on it stops the dough sticking. Leave about two centimetres clear. Spread it thickly rather than thinly. But leave enough dough to hold it. Roll it up from the filled long edge. Keep it fairly tight as you roll. Too tight and the filling squeezes out. Brush the clear border with water. Press the seam closed very firmly.
10. Set the roll seam side down on a tray. Cover it loosely with a cloth. Let it prove for about forty minutes. It should look visibly puffed. Brush it all over with beaten egg. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees.
11. Bake it for about thirty-five minutes. Judging it takes a look and a tap. Cover it with foil if it darkens early. The inside still needs the full time. Let it cool completely before cutting. The filling is soft while warm. Dust it generously with icing sugar. Or brush a thin lemon glaze over it.
12. Cut it into thick slices across the roll. Cut with a sawing motion rather than pressing. Serve tea or coffee alongside it. It keeps three days in a sealed tin.

Technique

• Poppy seeds carry trace opiate alkaloids from the seed coat. Culinary quantities are not intoxicating, but they can produce a positive result on an opiate drug test, which is well documented and has caused real problems for people; anyone facing a test should know that. Washing and heating reduce the alkaloids, and baking quantities are not a health concern.
• The seeds must be ground or they give no flavour at all, since the oil inside is the whole flavour of the filling; boiling them in milk first softens them so they grind far more easily, and they must then be pressed properly dry, since wet seeds make a runny filling that leaks out of the roll.
• Let the filling cool completely before spreading it, since warm filling melts the dough and makes it impossible to roll; and let the baked roll cool fully before cutting, since the filling is soft while warm and drags the spiral apart.

Substitutions

• Ready-ground poppy seed is sold and saves the grinding entirely.
• Honey in place of sugar gives a rounder flavour in the filling.

Variations

• Raisins or chopped walnuts are folded into the filling in many households.
• Kutia, the Christmas Eve wheat dish, draws on the same poppy seed tradition.
• It is finished with icing sugar or a thin lemon glaze.

History

Poppy seed is central to Ukrainian festive baking; makivnyk and kutia both draw on the country’s long poppy cultivation.

Frequently asked questions

What is Makivnyk?

Makivnyk is a dessert from Ukraine: yeast roll spiralled with sweet ground poppy seed. Poppy seed is central to Ukrainian festive baking; makivnyk and kutia both draw on the country’s long poppy cultivation.

How long does Makivnyk take to make?

Makivnyk takes 1 hour plus rising of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes one roll, serves 12. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Makivnyk?

Yes, within limits. Ready-ground poppy seed is sold and saves the grinding entirely. Honey in place of sugar gives a rounder flavour in the filling.

What is the most important thing to get right in Makivnyk?

Leave a clear border along one long edge. Filling on it stops the dough sticking. Leave about two centimetres clear. Spread it thickly rather than thinly. But leave enough dough to hold it. Roll it up from the filled long edge. Keep it fairly tight as you roll. Too tight and the filling squeezes out. Brush the clear border with water. Press the seam closed very firmly.