I met Lettuce on our third day of law school and we immediately bonded over being science majors, not being from Louisiana and our Eastern European backgrounds, she being Polish, and me being Hungarian. Over the years, we’ve both realized how much these two cultures share, especially food-wise. Both of us have a particular favorite holiday treat: the sweet, yeasty poppyseed roll. Though called by a different name by each of our families, these poppyseed rolls taste just as sweet. Here’s Lettuce’s story of a Polish Christmas.
- Copious amounts of wine
- Bunch of Polish people, liberally sprinkled with non-Polish friends and spouses
- Possibly fifty different dishes churned out by my mom, who always worries there will a) not be enough food and b) it will not be {insert, salty, tasty, spicy, cooked} enough
- One game of Trivial Pursuit in the “kids” room (read: 25-35 year olds) complete with alcohol (see ingredient two)
- 2 3/4 cups milk (total)
- 5 cups flour
- 1 stick butter
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 5 egg yolks
- 3 TB sour cream
- 1 1/4 TB lemon rind
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 small yeast cake (proof the yeast with 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 cup of the milk)
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 cups ground walnuts or 4 cups ground poppy seeds
- 1 TB lemon rind.
- A squeeze of lemon juice
- 1 cup water
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- Mix the dough like you would pie dough. In a large bowl, cut the butter and shortening Into the flour and other dry ingredients.
- Make a well and put in wet ingredients, folding them together, adding the rest of the milk as needed. Beat it several minutes with a dough hook until the dough comes away from the bowl (today’s mixers makes this a LOT easier!!) Divide the dough in four portions and set it aside to rise.
- While the dough is rising, make the fillings (method below).
- When the dough has risen to double its size, roll each roll into a size that fits into a 9 x 13 pan. Brush the rolled dough with melted butter, spread 1/4 of the filling on the dough and roll like jelly roll.
- Place in the buttered pan and let rise again. Two rolls should fit into each 9 x 13 pan. Once fully risen, brush with egg wash and bake about 30 minutes at 350 degree. Let rest in the pan and remove when cool.
- In a large saucepan, add all the filling ingredients (walnut OR poppyseeds). Cook on the stove until the sugar dissolves and becomes lightly brown. Remove from the heat and cool. When ready to use, fold in the egg whites left over from the yolks above, lightly beaten.
- Prep all your ingredients first. It’s much easier that way.
- This final dough is based on texture so pay attention. It should not be too firm and not to sticky, so when adding the milk make sure you mix it in a little at a time.