Greetings, I recently heard your program on NPR and loved it and then found your site and immediately became a member. I'm pretty excited about this new resource, I didn't discover I had a love of cooking and baking until I was in my early 50s and hadn't yet found a source for general information and techniques or a place to turn to when I run into specific frustrations.
Poppy seed rolls were a Christmas staple when I was growing up and one of the first baking projects I took up over 10 years ago. An ongoing frustration I've been dealing with is them splitting in the oven and I haven't been able to figure out how to get it under control.
This is actually a moderate example, this year's first rolls were even worse.
How can I fix this?
oops I forgot a some critical information, here's the recipe I most often use for the dough.
Poppy Seed Roll
Ingredients
- 2¼ cup all purpose flour 300g
- 2 tsp active dry yeast 1 ¼
- ¼ cup sugar 3 tlbs 1 tsp 50g
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅔ cup milk, heated to 110 F ½
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil 5 tsps
- 1 egg
- 1 egg beaten (for egg wash)
- 1 can poppy seed filling
- 2 tbsp of honey, or 3 tbsp of dark maple syrup
Method
1. Add the flour, yeast, sugar and salt to the bowl of your mixer. Stir in milk, oil and egg. Beat for a couple minutes and if the dough is too sticky, add more flour and beat using the dough attachment until it forms into a ball and the sides of the bowl are clean.
1. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit and rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
1. Empty can of filling into microwave safe bowl, add 2 tablespoons of honey and microwave for 1 minute, mix well.
1. Roll the dough into a 14” by 16” rectangular shape.\* Spread the filling almost to the edges, drizzle with honey, and roll starting at the 14” end. Seal the edges and pinch and tuck the ends under. Place on prepared baking sheet and let it rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size, should take about an hour. A few minutes before ready for baking, preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
1. Brush with egg wash and bake for about 35 minutes or until golden brown and fully baked inside.\\
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COMMENTS
Kevin G.
December 1, 2024
Sorry had put the recipe in this space and only then realized I could just edit the original.
Kevin G.
December 14, 2024
Thank you for the quick response. Unfortunately, that is one of the adjustments I'd already made using only 9 of the 12.5 oz of the canned poppy seed filling. The image above was the result.
I did try your recipe and got a bizarre result. In the recipe it says to add flour 1 tbsp. at a time until the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the mixing bowl. To achieve that I ended up adding 17 tbsps. plus another 5 after adding the butter. I'm including a picture and wondering if this qualifies as "pulling away from the sides of the bowl and I've been misinterpreting that to mean the bottom as well. In the image this dough has all gathered onto the dough hook; however, as you can see, it is still very much attached to the bottom of the bowl.
I also lowered the temperature I use to the 325° recommended in your recipe. The loaves were huge and still split although since they rose so much more in the oven they ran into each other. Fortunately the parchment paper was between them so they didn't fuse.
Kevin G.
December 21, 2024
Hello?
Elizabeth MindreauMilk Street Staff
February 20, 2025
Hello Kevin –
I apologize for not responding sooner. Your second query got overlooked in the hustle and bustle of the December holidays and I just now found it. I will check again with our recipe developers and baking experts to see what they say about the challenges you are having with this recipe. Again, I apologize for the delay.
Elizabeth MindreauMilk Street Staff
February 24, 2025
Hello Kevin –
I shared your struggles to make the Poppy Seed Rolls with another of our baking experts. Here are her thoughts:
1) He does not need to add flour until it pulls away from the bottom—just the sides. And also, I would caution against ever adding more flour once the butter is incorporated. That flour won't be able to properly incorporate because the gluten strands are already coated with fat. That alone is likely the reason the recipe went awry. (Not to mention the whole extra cup of flour added earlier.)
2) He might need to score deeper. I noticed that our recipe says to score until you see the poppy seed filling. This will allow steam to escape and help prevent blowouts. His scores look quite shallow.
3) Another thought... If he used 9 ounces of canned filling with our recipe that might have been too much. Use no more than 8 ounces if he tries again and isn't making the filling from scratch.
Hopefully, this helps you on your next try. Please let us know how it goes. We have our fingers crossed at Milk Street!
