Makowiec

A thick layer of black poppy seed filling runs between the swirls of thin rolled dough. Polish makowiec comes not only as a rolled log but also as a flat cake with the filling spread on a crumbly base. Mak means poppy, and makowe ciasto means “poppy seed cake.” According to the linguist Elżbieta Wierzbicka-Piotrowska, Makowiec is a name formed by shortening this phrase, and it comes from the main ingredient, poppy seed, rather than from the cake’s shape.

Soaking poppy seeds and grinding them into a filling

The poppy seeds are not a decoration sprinkled on the surface; they go into the filling that makes up most of the cake. They are softened in boiling water or similar, drained and ground, then combined with ingredients such as sugar, honey, nuts and dried fruit. In the recipe (ingredient proportions and method) for a rolled log published in “Moje Wypieki,” poppy seeds ground twice are mixed with honey, sugar, walnuts, raisins and candied orange peel, and whipped egg whites are added just before rolling. The yolks go into the yeast dough and the whites into the filling packed with poppy seeds.

In this recipe, when the amount of honey is increased, the filling also becomes moister, so the seeds are drained thoroughly during preparation. Rolling up the dough spread with filling and wrapping it somewhat loosely in baking paper keeps the log from losing its shape while leaving the dough room to rise. Besides adjusting the thickness of the dough and the firmness of the filling, the baker also leaves room when wrapping for the dough to expand as it proofs.

Dough finished in rolled and flat forms

In the rolled log, dough and filling alternate across the cut surface. In the flat-baked version, the filling is spread thickly on a crumbly base and may be scattered with crumble or topped with a lattice made from the remaining dough cut into thin strips. In one example of a lattice method, the base is prebaked and cooled, then marmalade, poppy seed filling and strips of chilled dough are layered on, and the cake is baked again. The pattern of the cut surface differs from that of a cake in which the dough and filling form many layers of swirls.

In the Silesian kołocz, which is associated with weddings, poppy seed filling is sandwiched between an upper and a lower sheet of yeast dough, and crumb topping is scattered on top. Besides poppy seeds, the filling may be cheese or a mixture of the two. It is a different kind of celebration cake using poppy seeds, baked as a large rectangle about 3 centimeters thick and cut into squares.

The “poppy seed strudel” in an 1827 cookbook

A cookbook by J. J. Szczepański, published in Lwów in 1827, includes Sztrudel z makiem. A dough of butter, egg yolks, cream and yeast is left to rise a little, spread with a filling of poppy seeds mixed with butter, vanilla, lemon peel and warmed milk, rolled up, left to rise a little again, and baked. The recipe is also reprinted in the official cookbook “Kanon kuchni polskiej.”

The title is “poppy seed strudel,” but the structure of grinding poppy seeds into a spreadable filling and wrapping it in thin dough is already there. At least by 1827, a rolled cake using flour, milk, eggs and poppy seeds appeared in a cookbook. When the name makowiec arose and when the cake was first made are not clear.

Rolled cakes made differently in three towns

In the makowiec of Lubartów, the thick filling stands out more than the thin yeast dough. Poppy seeds from the Lublin region and honey from local beekeepers are combined with nuts and raisins. It spread after World War II as pastry shops and eateries multiplied in the town, and it was baked not only on celebration days but also in everyday life.

In Sędziszów, in Podkarpacie in southeastern Poland, a log of about 30 centimeters is covered with white icing and shows broad, dark swirls. A traditional method is to simmer the poppy seeds until soft, then either grind them in a ridged bowl called a makutra (makutra) or put them through a grinder three times, and combine them with egg whites and dried fruit. Bakers take care not to let the flour get cold and not to make the milk added to the yeast too hot. For home bakers preparing for a celebration, baking the cake without cracks was a matter of pride.

The makowiec of Ejszeryszki in the northeast is a large log about 37 centimeters long and weighing about 1.6 kilograms. In the old days, the poppy seeds were soaked in water without boiling while their condition was checked, egg white was brushed onto the dough before the filling was spread, and the cake was baked seam side down in a wood-fired bread oven. Both the preparation of the poppy seeds and the use of the oven differ from Sędziszów, where the seeds are simmered and ground three times.

The Lubartów cake was entered in Poland’s register of traditional products in 2012, the Sędziszów cake in 2007, and the Ejszeryszki cake in 2011. The registration documents describe each cake’s characteristics and its connection to local life.

A recipe brought to Choszczno by postwar migration

The rolled cake handed down in Choszczno in northwestern Poland carries a history of migration after World War II. People who came from eastern Poland brought their family recipes to West Pomerania in the late 1940s. Local interviews also preserve a memory of a grandmother baking it for celebrations in the 1930s.

It first became known around Wrzosowo and Banie, and by the 1970s it had also taken root in Choszczno. One resident recalls that by 1973, around the time a new bakery was built, the rolled cake was always on sale. Filled with local honey, nuts and dried fruit, rolled up and covered with white icing, the cake became a specialty of its new home through families’ migration and shop sales.

Wishes placed in poppy seeds and the festive table

In Sędziszów, this cake was once baked for special days such as Christmas and Easter. Poppy seed dishes were believed to bring good fortune, and the ethnographer Grzegorz Rusak recorded a custom of grinding poppy seeds on Christmas Eve as a wish that an unmarried daughter would soon marry.

It is also made at Pentecost and Carnival in Lubartów, and in Ejszeryszki on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as well as Christmas Eve. Kutia, which combines grain, honey and nuts, and the Silesian makówki, which layer bread with milk and poppy seeds, also use the same seed for celebrations. All of them involve the work of crushing poppy seeds, but they differ: kutia is a dish that includes grain, makówki is bread soaked with milk and poppy seeds, and makowiec is a cake baked with the filling either rolled in dough or spread on a base.

Glossary