Dark chocolate and cherry sourdough recipe
January 28, 2022Delicious Easter bread with apples and a poppyseed and pecan
I have been so inspired by this delicious Easter bread from Ukrainian cook Olia Hericules, who has joined forces with her friend Alissa Timoshkina to launch #cookforukraine – a global innovative to raise money for Unicef UK – the money raised will go to help the people of Ukraine. We recently organised an online baking class and raised just over £2450. Thank you.
This recipe is based on ‘makoviy rulet’, a poppyseed roll which has different versions all over Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Olia based this version on her family’s version which she considered the best because of the ample filling. In Olia’s version, she used pecans, but I since I had walnuts, I used them, I can see that pecans would also be delicious. Olia also added apples, and this provides a beautiful sweetness and texture.
My interpretation is below. I made two out of her recipe – one for my family and one to share with others – at my pottery class
Thank you Olia, you are an inspiration to me and so many.
The dough
200ml warm whole milk,(scalded and cooled)
7g fast action yeast – I used Doves
60g demerara sugar
1 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
400-450g plain flour – I ended up using 450g (I added an extra 20g whilst bringing the dough together and the rest was used when extra flour was called for)
The filling
200ml whole milk
100g poppy seeds
100g pecans or walnuts, lightly toasted
100g demerara sugar – you could use other types
2 tsp vanilla extract
80g lightly salted butter
2 apples, peeled, cored and dived.
Glaze
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp of milk
Method
- Sieve, the flour, yeast and salt together.
- Whisk together the eggs, vanilla, sugar and warm milk
- Add the flour to the milk, the dough is sticky, but add another 20g if too sticky to handle.
- Wet your hands to work the dough together in the bowl, stretch and fold for a few minutes.(you could do this in a mixer, lowest speed for 2 mins)
- Cover, the dough (it will look like an unholy uneven mess!), leave somewhere warm for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, make the filling
- Over a low heat, simmer the poppy seeds in the milk for about 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on it as the milk has a tendency keep boiling, (mine was on the smallest ring on the lowest heat) I kept taking it off, stirring it and it took about 20 mins. The seeds will be soft and the milk absorbed.
- Allow to cool.
- Once cool, blitz in a food processor with the butter and toasted walnuts or pecans to create a beautiful paste.
- Peel, core and dice the apples and stir into the paste.
Back to the dough!
- Drench the surface you are going to knead your dough on with lots of flour and then scrape out the dough onto it.
- Dip your hands into the flour, this makes it easier to work the dough – knead for 5 minutes – The dough is sticky, I kept dipping my hands into the dough, and using my dough scraper to regular
- Shape into a ball, cover and allow to rest for 30 mins – allowing the gluten to rest will make it easier to roll out.
Rolling out -Make sure your surface is well floured.
- Roll out the dough to roughly 30cm x 40 cm rectangle.
Blob the apple and poppyseed paste filling all over the dough, roll out the dough into a long Swiss roll shape. Cut the log down the middle, so there will be two long pieces of dough with exposed filling. - Put baking parchment over a flat baking sheet and dust it with some semolina or flour – I decided to make two out of the amount and so had two baking sheets.
- Take 1 half of the dough, and twist it around itself to create a snail shape (the filing side is facing upwards) repeat with the other piece on the second baking tray. Or
- Take the first piece of dough and twist it around itself into a snail shape, exposed filling side facing upwards. Now wrap the other piece of dough around the snail and pinch the ends together to secure.
For both variations
- Cover and leave to prove for about 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C fan.
- Brush with the egg and milk glaze all over the bread and bake for 30-40 minutes. Mine took 35 mins, make sure you shuffle them around the oven after 25 mins, I did not and the top one is definitely a little darker.
- Once the bread is cooked, slip off from the tray and cool on a wire rack.Olia says, Enjoy with an unsweetened lemony tea or a dry glass of white wine!
I had mine with a cup of tea.
#cookingforukraine #standforukraine
For the dough
10g yeast (but 7g will work too if you use sachets)
60g demerara sugar
1 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
400-450g plain flour
For the filling
200ml whole milk
100g poppy seeds
100g pecans or walnuts, lightly toasted
100g sugar (I used demerara)
2 tsp vanilla extract
80g lightly salted butter
2 apples
Glaze
2 egg yolks
To make the dough, mix the yeast with the warm milk and the sugar. Leave for 10 minutes or so to make sure the yeast works. It should develop a kind of a frothy ‘hat’ as we call it in Ukraine. Now whisk in the eggs and the salt and the vanilla. Make sure the eggs have broken up properly.
Sift in 400g of flour. The dough will be sticky and wet. But if you feel it’s too wet to handle, add another 20g of flour.
Now wet your hands (it will help the dough not stick to them) and work the dough a little in the bowl, to bring it together. Then do a stretch and fold action for a little while, a few minutes will do. Your dough will look pretty rough still, but don’t worry. Pat it down and cover it, leave for about an hour somewhere warm to rise.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Simmer the poppy seeds in the milk for about 20-30 minutes over a low heat. Do keep an eye on it as the milk has a tendency to run away, if it starts doing that, take it off the heat. Do give it an occasional stir to prevent a skin forming. The milk will get absorbed and will evaporate too, the seeds will soften. Let them cool down and then blitz in a food processor with the other ingredients. You will end up with a thick, beautiful, black paste.
Core and dice the apples and mix them through the paste, it will make it easier to dot it around the rolled out dough.
Scoop the dough out on to a well-floured surface. The dough will be sticky but if you flour your hands, that will make it easier to work with.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes or so. The dough will be soft and airy, a real pleasure to work with. Finally, shape it into a smooth ball.
Leave it on your lightly-floured work bench for about 15-30 minutes. It will be easier to roll out if the gluten relaxes.
Now make sure your work surface is well-floured and start rolling out the sough. You are aiming for a 30cmx40cm rectangle.
Now dot the apple and poppyseed paste filling all over the dough and roll the dough into a log shape. Cut this log lengthways so you will have two long pieces of dough with exposed filling.
Put a baking parchment over a flat baking sheet and dust it with some semolina or flour.
Take the first piece of dough and twist it around itself into a snail shape, exposed filling side facing upwards. Now wrap the other piece of dough around the snail and pinch the ends together to secure. Cover and leave to prove for about 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C fan.
Brush with the egg and milk glaze all over the bread and bake for 30-40 minutes. Check on it half way through, if some of it is becoming too dark (my oven definitely has hot spots!), cover those bits with foil.
As soon as it’s out of the oven, slip the bread gently off its tray and paper on to a wire rack to cool down.
Enjoy with an unsweetened lemony tea or a dry glass of white wine!
