kaiser rolls

These are quite possibly my favourite bread rolls ever, I have always loved the knotted shape since I first saw them in Germany. They are the sort of bread roll that I always wish I could find more easily in the shops here but they seem to be everywhere in mainland Europe. They have a good crust and don't just fall apart, a bit of a bite but still very light. They're perfect with anything and make especially good burger buns too. This is not a truly authentic recipe but it works well.



Ingredients (for 8-12 rolls depending on size)
3 cups of strong white bread flour
1 cup of wholemeal bread flour
1 1/2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup warm water (approx)
1 beaten egg

egg wash and seeds for decoration if wanted. 

1. Place all the dry ingredients and the butter into a large bowl, make a well in the centre pour in the egg and the water and mix together with your hands until a rough dough is formed. You may need to add extra water to bring it all together, do this a tablespoon at a time to avoid making the dough too sticky.
2. Turn dough out on to the work surface and knead for around 10 minutes or until you have a smooth and silky dough. Place in a greased bowl, cover with cling film and a tea towel then leave in a warm place to double in size. This will take around 1 to 2 hours. 
3. Once the dough has risen, knock it back then break off small nuggets that are about golf ball sized and roll between your hands until you have a long rope. Make a loose single knot in the rope then tuck the ends into the central hole so that they are concealed. Place each knotted roll on to a floured baking sheet. When you have formed all the rolls, cover the baking sheet and leave to rise again for around 30 minutes to an hour. 
4. Preheat the oven to 230C. Place a roasting pan with water in the bottom of the oven to create steam while the rolls cook. 
5. If you want to, brush the rolls with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds. Poppy or sesame seeds are particularly good. 
6. Bake in the oven for around 20-25 minutes.

makowiec (polish poppy seed roll)

Makowiec is a wonderful example of a festive enriched bread that is central to the Christmas celebrations in Poland. It is related to stollen and other similar enriched Christmas breads but the poppy seed filling gives it an entirely different, more complex flavour. My version is based on this one from the Polish language food blog Moje Wypieki. If you find stollen too sweet and you're not a fan of dried fruits I urge you to give this recipe a go. Although it contains raisins and mixed peel they are blended into the filling and treated more as a flavouring.

These quantities are enough to give you three decent sized poppy seed rolls but you can adjust to your requirements. I think if you're going to all this effort to make the makowiec in the first place you may as well go all out and make the full amount and either freeze the spares or give them away to friends and family as gifts. Why not spread the love?



Ingredients
Filling:
450g poppy seeds
170g caster sugar
40g unsalted butter
1 egg
4 tbsp honey
50g mixed peel
grated zest of 1 lemon
30g walnuts
30g almonds
90g raisins
2 egg whites (keep the yolks to one side, they get used in the dough)

Dough:
1 tbsp fast action yeast
750g plain flour
80g melted butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
120ml sour cream
130g icing sugar, sifted to remove any lumps
1 tbsp rum or vodka (I used krupnik a Polish, honey scented vodka liqueur)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
approx 100ml warm water

Glaze:
130g icing sugar
1 tbsp water, lemon juice or rum

STAGE 1- The filling

1. Put the poppy seeds into a saucepan, cover with water bring to the boil then strain through a fine sieve. Set to one side. (As this is my first time making makowiec I'm not sure how essential this stage is. On a repeat effort I would be tempted to miss it out and see if it made any difference. I'll leave the choice up to you.)
2. Put the raisins, mixed peel, nuts and lemon zest into a food processor along with the poppy seeds an process until you have a rough paste and there are no longer any large pieces of nut or raisin. You can leave this chunky if you like but I prefer a smoother texture. 
3. In a large pan, melt the butter then add the poppy seed mixture along with the honey and leave to cook over a low heat for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then remove from the heat. 
4. In a bowl beat together the egg whites until stiff. Beat the whole egg into the poppy seed mixture followed by the egg whites.
5. Set the mixture to one side to cool while you make the dough.

STAGE 2 - The Dough

1. In a large bowl place the dry ingredients (flour, icing sugar, salt and yeast). In a separate bowl or large jug combine the wet ingredients (eggs, egg yolks, sour cream, melted butter, alcohol and vanilla).
2. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet mixture and combine together adding additional warm water a tablespoon at a time until all the flour is incorporated and you have a rough dough.
3. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes or so until you have a smooth dough. Place in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rest for about an hour so that it doubles in size.

STAGE 3 - Putting it all together

1. Divide the dough and the mixture into the number of rolls you want to make then follow the remaining stages for each roll.
2. Take the dough and roll it out into a thin, roughly square shape. Spread the required filling evenly across it leaving a small gap all around, then roll the dough up closing the seam and the ends as tightly as you can. 
3. Place the roll onto a greased baking sheet, cover then set aside to rise for a further 90 minutes. 
4. Preheat the oven to 180C then bake for 30-40 minutes or until the exterior is golden brown. Allow to cool then glaze.

lemon & poppy seed egg yolk biscuits

After all my recent meringue making I ended up with a number of egg yolks left over. I hate wasting things and as there's only so much mayonaise I need in the house I decided to try something different. I discovered this recipe online and adapted it for my tastes.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 tbsp poppy seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan and line a baking tray with parchment paper then Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg yolks and add extracts then add the beaten egg yolk mixture to butter and sugar and blend well.
3. Now mix in all the dry ingredients into the butter, sugar and egg mixture, mixing until it is thoroughly blended.
4. Form into the dough into small balls about the size of a walnut, roll in sugar then place on the baking tray.
5. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes depending on how soft or crunchy you want them to be.

Lemon, poppy seed and orange flower Ciambella

Another tasty recipe from my big sister...

"A traditional Italian cake which I have tweaked a bit so it is now crossed with a lemon drizzle style glaze and added a bit of orange flower water for good measure - just because I love it's soft floral flavour with the sharp lemon.

You could also make this flavoured with caraway seeds, orange zest, liqueur soaked fruit, chocolate chips, almonds..... It's up to you. Happy baking :)"

Ingredients
1 cup soured milk (squeeze of lemon until milk curdles - don't worry it'll look horrible but will be ok - it helps the rise!)
3 eggs
2 cups of caster sugar
3 cups of plain flour
grated zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup poppy seeds
2 tsp vanilla essence/vanilla pod seeds
half cup vegetable oil
2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder
a little milk if too thick
Pinch salt

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tbs of orange flower water

1. Grease a ciambella/bundt tin, and dust it lightly with flour. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F. 
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, sugar and lemon zest and salt. Beat using an electric whisk for about 3-4 mins 
3. Stir in poppy seeds, if it’s a bit thick add a little extra milk. 
4. Pour the mixture into the tin, and bake in the oven for about 50 minutes until well risen and a skewer comes out clean.
5. Turn off the oven, and remove cake 
6. Mix the glaze ingredients together. Poke a few holes with skewer then pour over glaze 
7. Leave it to cool in the tin 
8. The glaze should leave a nice crunchy topping. This cake can be eaten straight away but is even better the day after all the flavours have mingled. Great with a strong coffee at breakfast time but you don't need me to tell you when you can eat cake!

lemon poppy seed cupcakes

This is a classic combination of flavours with a hidden surprise. If you are feeling the need to be a little more healthy they are equally delicious with or without frosting. If poppy seeds aren't your thing you can leave them out if you really must.

The cake batter recipe is based on Dan Lepard's Sour Cream Butter Cake in his book Short and Sweet but has been adapted quite a lot.

Ingredients
175g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
200g sour cream (I used 0% fat greek yogurt and it still worked perfectly well)
200g plain flour
3tsp baking powder
Zest of a lemon
1 tsp lemon extract
10g poppy seeds (optional)
Lemon curd (approx 4 tbsps)

1. Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas 4 and place 12 muffin cases in the tray.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then add the eggs in one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
3. Beat in the sour cream or yogurt then add the lemon zest, extract and poppy seeds.
4. Sift in the flour and baking powder and beat in until all the mixture is combined.
5. Next place a spoonful of the batter into each case, it should come about a third of the way up the case.
6. Smooth the batter out so that the bottom of the base is completely covered. Now place a teaspoon of lemon curd in the centre of each case.
7. Add a couple of more spoons of batter to each case so that they are full almost to the top but not quite.
8. Place in the oven and bake for around 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly.
9. Allow the cupcakes to cook completely before frosting then decorate however you choose. I opted for a simple mascarpone frosting with a little more lemon rind to continue the zingy flavour throughout.

polish poppy seed and caramel cheesecake (Sernik kajmakowo-makowy)

As a school child I would go round to my Polish gran's house most days after school and the taste and smell memories of the food she used to cook for us will always stay with me. One of my absolute favourite Polish specialities is sernik, or cheesecake, especially when it contains poppy seeds (mak).

Below is my version of a recipe I found on the Polish language food blog, White Plate. If you live in London or any other area with a large Polish community you shouldn't have any difficulty finding the ingredients. If you can't find the cheese I used, ricotta would be a good substitute or you could try a full fat cottage cheese drained of the liquid. 

Smacznego!

Ingredients: Makes approx 12-16 servings

100g Plain cake (e.g madeira cake)

50g biscuits (e.g Rich Tea)

30g butter

1kg Polish Curd/Cottage Cheese (I used this brand which I found in my local Tesco)

5 medium free range eggs

150g caster sugar

1 tbsp corn flour

200g poppy seeds

200g tinned caramel, dulche de leche or similar (I used the tinned Nestle Carnation Caramel)

Few drops of natural rum or vanilla flavouring.

Orange or lemon zest.

For 16 servings: 1 slice 314 calories, 16g fat.

1. Thoroughly grease a spring form, 30cm diameter cake tin with butter and pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees (fan assisted) or 180 regular oven.
2. Using a food processor wizz up the cake and biscuits to fine crumbs. Melt the butter then stir into the crumb mixture until well combined
3. Press the crumb mixture into the base of the tin with a spoon or spatula.
4. In a large bowl beat the cheese with the sugar for 2-3 minutes until well combined then beat the eggs in one at a time. Use a spatula to bring down the mixture from the sides.
5. Next beat in your chosen flavouring, the lemon or orange zest and the corn flour then divide the mixture equally between two bowls. 
6. Add the poppy seeds to one of the bowls and combine thoroughly. Pour this mix onto the biscuit base. The poppy seed mixture should be at the bottom because it is heavier than the caramel layer. 
7. Next add the tinned caramel to the second bowl of cheese mix and combine well. Finally pour this carefully on top of the poppy seed layer in the tin.
8. Put the cheese cake in the oven on a low shelf for around 1hr - 1hr 10 mins. The top should be a golden brown and the mixture should still have a slight wobble but be set. Once you have reached this stage turn the oven off, open the oven door slightly and allow the cheese cake to cool down completely in the oven. 
9. Once the cheesecake is cool enough, transfer it to the fridge and leave it to chill for at least a couple of hours, ideally overnight before eating.