Poppy Seed Roll (Cozonac cu Mac)

Ingredients:

Poppy Seed Roll Dough
• 600 gr (about 5 cups) flour
• 125 gr butter
• 120 ml sour cream
• 50 ml milk
• 70 ml water
• 100 gr sugar
• 1 envelope vanilla sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• zest from one orange
• 1 packet or 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
Poppy Seed Filling
• 300 gr poppy seed
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 vanilla sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Heat the milk until it’s warm, not hot. In a medium size bowl, add a little bit of the milk and add the yeast, stir it well and let it rest until it bubbles up.
2. Mix all of the dough ingredients together, including the yeast mixture. You can either do this in your mixer with a dough attachment,and let it mix for about 10 – 15 minutes, or you knead it by hand for about 30 minutes. This is the secret to this roll, it needs to be kneaded for a long time.
3. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover it with a damp towel and let it double in size, for at least an hour.
4. In the meantime, we can complete the filling mixture. In a sauce pan, combine all the filling ingredients, excluding the vanilla extract, and let cook for about 20 minutes. At the end you can add the vanilla extract and mix well.Let cool.
5. Once the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough in 2 pieces. Roll out each piece, it should be at least 12 inches or more in diameter. Take half of the poppy seed mixture and spread it on each piece. Roll each piece and place it in a bread pan, or place both of them on a cookie sheet. As you can see from the pictures, I twisted mine and put them in a circle in the pan. The pan should be buttered.
6. Let the rolls rise again until doubled, for another 45 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush the rolls with egg wash, and you may sprinkle some sugar if desired. Bake the rolls for about an hour or until golden brown.