This tender yeast bread is filled with generous swirls of sweet poppy seed filling. These roulettes are a popular Russian dessert.

My favorite recipes are the ones that are passed down through the generations. I have so many memories of my Mom making this Poppy Seed Roll/Roulette, both for holidays and just regular weeknights. Since I grew up in a family of 8, we would demolish an entire Poppy Seed Roll in one sitting while it was still warm with tall glasses of milk or tea. The memories of the whole family sitting around our round kitchen table eating this Roulette gives me all the feels:). I can almost hear the laughter and loud conversations. Too bad we didn’t have cell phones with cameras so we could capture random life moments like we do now. That would have been totally Instagram worthy.

The sweet, creamy poppy seed filling goes so well with the fluffy and tender yeast bread. This is a vastly popular Slavic dessert for sure. It’s no wonder that it’s often made for special holidays like Christmas and Easter.

I have a recipe posted on my blog how you can make homemade poppy seed filling yourself. It’s actually not hard at all and I use it for Rugelach cookies too. Of course, you can use store-bought poppy seed filling too. You can also use other fillings, such as jams/preserves, cream cheese, farmer’s cheese, etc. The dough is incredible – it’s perfectly light and fluffy, and it’s very easy to work with too. I use a pastry mat when I am rolling it out and I don’t even have to sprinkle any flour on the work surface, and it rolls out beautifully. I use the same dough to make Baked Bulochki too.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup warm milk (105-115 degrees Fahrenheit)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter, melted and slightly cooled

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup Poppy Seed Filling

egg wash (1 egg plus 1 Tablespoon water or milk, lightly beaten)

Instructions:

Preparing the Yeast Dough:

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and add about a teaspoon of the sugar that you’ll be adding to the whole dough. Mix it a little and let it stand for about 5 minutes until it foams.

Combine the yeast mixture, the remaining sugar, melted butter and 2 beaten eggs together in a large bowl.

Add the flour and mix the dough in a standing mixer, the bread machine using the dough setting or by hand until the dough comes together.

Cover and let it stand in a warm place to rise until it doubles, for about 1 -1½ hours.

How to Roll Out, Fill and Shape the Poppy Seed Rolls:

Divide the dough in half and roll out each portion into a rectangle about 14 inches x 9 inches.

Spread out about 1/2 cup of the poppy seed filling over the surface of the rolled out dough, leaving a border around the edges free of the filling so that you will be able to close the seams together.

Beginning with long edge nearest you, roll dough into a taut cylinder. Pinch the ends together and lay the roulette seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Baking the Poppy Seed Rolls:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Brush with the egg wash and let them rise for another 30 minutes to an hour, until they double in size.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.