Walnut & Poppy Seed Scrolls

[Allison Jane Mawer]

I discovered this week that my local morning pit stop on the way to work for coffee and scones has been sold and taken over by new owners. That can always be a bit of a worry when your favourites places change hands, particularly when you have just done a review in the local about it...are they going change all your favourite dishes...will it be the same......will they keep the same coffee brand. After two weeks of running the place, to my relief everything seemed to be ticking along as normal, my scones are still fresh first thing in the morning and the coffee and team are still the same. Until that is on Friday when I turned to walk out the door and noticed something new on the counter top. It looked very much like a cake I used to buy when living in Germany, a sweet bread twisted with poppy seeds. I already had my scone in hand so didn't want to be a pig and buy a slice of that too, there is always next week I thought, to try it out. Well, I'm the impatient type, particularly when it comes to cakes and can't wait till Monday so I embarked on making my own this weekend. I couldn't remember what it was called or find the exact recipe so I opted for creating my own and will see next week how mine fares next to the real thing. As it turns out, one of the owners is German so I could be in for some more nostalgic treats! All that worry for nothing hey?

Ingredients – makes 12

• 400g high grade flour
• 40g sugar
• 80g butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 100g walnuts
• 100g poppy seeds
• 1 large egg
• 60g sugar

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Add the yeast to the warm milk to allow it to dissolve.
3. Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the middle.
4. Add the yeast and milk, sugar (40g), vanilla and melted butter to the well and bring together to form a tacky bread like dough.
5. Knead dough for 10 minutes and then allow to rest in a warm place till double in size.
6. Blend the second lot of sugar (60g) and walnuts together into a fine powder.
7. Add the egg and poppy seeds and beat together.
8. Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 2/3 inch thick, 14 inches by 12 inches.
9. Spread the poppy seed mixture over the dough to completely cover and then roll the across the narrowest width.
10. With seam side down slice the dough into 2 inch thick buns and place 1/2 apart on the baking tray.
11. Lightly spray with oil and cover with a plastic bag.
12. Allow to prove till double in size and the buns are now touching each other.
13. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown
14. Mix some icing sugar with some lemon juice to make a runny icing and glaze buns while still warm.

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