Walnut and poppy seed roll

Ingredients:

• for the pastry: 30g yeast, 50ml milk, 1 tsp sugar, 500-500g finely ground and semi-coarse wheat flour (or replace half of it with Graham flour), 500g butter or block margarine, 500g icing sugar, 4 egg yolks, 50ml rum, 3 tbsp sour cream, grated zest of 1 lemon, 1 tsp salt
• for rolling the pastry: approx. 150g fine wheat flour (or Graham flour)
• for the filling: 400g each of ground walnut, poppy seed and icing sugar, 150g raisin, grated zest of 2-3 lemons, 2 packs vanilla sugar, about 100ml rum, 100-150ml milk
• under the filling: 2 small jars (2x300g) Kecskeméti quince jam
• for greasing the baking tray: 20-30g butter or block margarine
• for brushing the pastry: 4 egg yolks

1. Crumble the yeast into lukewarm milk then add the sugar. Leave the yeast to rise for 10 mins. Crumble the butter (margarine) in the flour mix and add the icing sugar. Work in the yeast, egg yolks, rum, sour cream, lemon rind and salt until smooth. Cover it and leave it to rest overnight in the fridge.

2. For the walnut filling, mix the walnuts with half of the sugar, half of the raisins, grated lemon zest and 1 pack vanilla sugar and rum, and work them together. Prepare the poppy seed filling in the same way, replacing the rum with boiled and cooled milk. Cover both and refrigerate. (You may soak the raisins in rum for 1-2 days before preparation, to enhance the flavour. Remove only enough for the poppy seed filling, the rest and the rum may be used in the walnut filling.

3. Next day, split the pastry into four equal parts and roll each on a board dusted with flour into a 3 mm thick rectangle, the size of your baking tray. Spread with a thin layer of quince jam. Fill the lower half of the rectangle with poppy seed, while the upper half with walnuts – or the other way round. Fold up 1-2 cm at both short ends to prevent the filling from spilling, then roll up and place on a greased baking tray. The four rolls will fit exactly on the large baking tray. Brush with 2 egg yolks and let rest for a good 30 mins. Brush with 2 egg yolks again.

4. Stick them through with a meat pin in several places, then place the tray in the middle of the oven. Turn on the oven to medium heat (180 °C or 165 °C in a fan-assisted oven), and bake for 55-60 mins. Cover the top with tinfoil in case it browns too quickly.