Poppy seed filling for rolls and buns: cooked in milk and butter, it stays moist

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Heat the milk

   5 min

   Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the granulated sugar, vanilla sugar, honey, and butter. Heat over medium heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.

2. Cook the poppy seeds

   5 min

   When the milk starts to boil, add the ground poppy seeds and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, until the seeds swell and the filling thickens into a thick paste. Stir all the way to the bottom, as poppy seeds scorch easily.

3. Add the flavorings

   Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and rum. The filling should be thick but spreadable; it will thicken further as it cools. If it is too stiff, stir in a tablespoon of milk.

4. Let cool

   30 min

   Cover the filling and let it cool completely. Spread it onto yeast dough only when cold; warm filling would make the dough soggy and cause it to tear as you spread.

5. Fill the dough

   Spread the filling evenly over dough rolled into a rectangle, leaving a 1–2 cm border so the filling does not get squeezed out as you roll it up. This amount is enough for two strudels or poppy seed rolls made with 500 g of flour, or about 16 filled buns.

Tip: Ground poppy seeds quickly turn rancid and bitter, so buy small packages with a recent date and store them in the refrigerator at home. For a moister filling, stir in one grated tart apple. Read more: Frozen lemons: why to freeze them and use the peel

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Vláčna maková plnka do závinu aj buchiet: mak uvarený v mlieku s maslom sa v rúre nevysuší