Looking for dough for poppy seed kuchen

[Inge 1505]

I just posted the same request to the new Dessert Forum

I am trying to create a poppy seed kuchen recipe and need a suggestion for the crust- no classical pie crust, please. ( I am German and poppy seed kuchen are rather popular here , but are never quite to my taste.)

Usually there are two different kinds of kuchen but the filling is rather similar: ground poppy seeds cooked with sugar and milk, thickened with cornstarch, flavoured with lemon zest, chopped almonds, raisins and cinnamon. This filling is then either spread 3/4 inch thick on rolled out slightly sweetened yeast dough and topped with crumbles then baked - or put 3/4 inch thick in a lightly pre-baked pie crust and topped with a slightly thicker cream cheese filling then baked.
There are things I always did not like about the classical filling (texture, sweetness, raisins!), so I was quite happy when I found – quite by chance, looking for something else – a different poppy seed kuchen in a hundered year old cookbook. I am really pleased with my variation of the filling , but not with the crust.

THAT IS WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR: A dough similar in texture to yeast dough, using cream cheese and not too much baking powder. Is there such a thing or do I have to go for a real yeast dough? I want to have a ¼ - 3/8 inch thick crust topped with ¾ inch thick poppy seed filling, cut into 2 or 3 inch squares. Crust should enable to eat kuchen out of hand if so desired and not be very sweet, as filling already is. Am I asking for the impossible?

[Polar Bear]

You can try ordering several German cookbooks since you live in Germany and read German. This is mainly an American website. German recipes translated English will be very useful here ! Post them as soon as you can. Your being an authentic German could help others.

[HeatherFeather]

I will go through my cookbooks and see if I can find something for you. I seem to recall seeing something with cream cheese in the dough in either an old issue of Lisa or Meine Familie & Ich. I will have to dig through my recipe clippings as I recently tore up many of my older issues, just keeping the recipes I thought I would try. However, since I bake a lot I usually keep all of the baking recipes. If I have a version, I will share it.

Glad to have you on board.

[Inge 1505]

Thank you both for your nice replies, Polarbear I already have 200+ cookbooks, mostly in German because I am German. I tried a quark-oil-dough, but did not like the baking powder taste of it . I remembered having seen recipes using cream cheese and I think I have been successful at the Desert Forum.
So Heather, it is really very nice that you would go through all your recipes, but I imagine, with just having moved you have a lot of other work at your hands. I am sure your vast collection will be helpful to me and all the others another time.

And thanks, I am glad you are all on board, too.

[rangapeach]

Inge 1505 wrote:
I just posted the same request to the new Dessert Forum

I am trying to create a poppy seed kuchen recipe and need a suggestion for the crust- no classical pie crust, please. ( I am German and poppy seed kuchen are rather popular here , but are never quite to my taste.)

Usually there are two different kinds of kuchen but the filling is rather similar: ground poppy seeds cooked with sugar and milk, thickened with cornstarch, flavoured with lemon zest, chopped almonds, raisins and cinnamon. This filling is then either spread 3/4 inch thick on rolled out slightly sweetened yeast dough and topped with crumbles then baked - or put 3/4 inch thick in a lightly pre-baked pie crust and topped with a slightly thicker cream cheese filling then baked.
There are things I always did not like about the classical filling (texture, sweetness, raisins!), so I was quite happy when I found – quite by chance, looking for something else – a different poppy seed kuchen in a hundered year old cookbook. I am really pleased with my variation of the filling , but not with the crust.

THAT IS WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR: A dough similar in texture to yeast dough, using cream cheese and not too much baking powder. Is there such a thing or do I have to go for a real yeast dough? I want to have a ¼ - 3/8 inch thick crust topped with ¾ inch thick poppy seed filling, cut into 2 or 3 inch squares. Crust should enable to eat kuchen out of hand if so desired and not be very sweet, as filling already is. Am I asking for the impossible?

Inge, What follows is an unedited recipe for Beigli (Austro-Hungarian walnut/poppy seed cake). It is rolled up like strudel but not a strudel dough. This is what my Grandma used to make . There is also a recipe on the Martha Stewart site and I know she's published it in several of her cookbooks. Don't forget her mother is of Polish background.

Walnut and Poppy Seed Milk Bread Diós és Mákos kalács (bejgli) Ingredients for batter:
11 oz. butter,
1 and half tablespoon of sugar,
7 egg yolks,
300 ml/11 oz. milk,
pinch of salt, 1
5 g/half oz. yeast,
1000g/2 lb. flour
Ingredients for walnut filling:
1 and quarter of kg/2 and half lb. ground walnuts,
1000 g/2 lb. sugar
hot milk,
60 g/2 and half oz. cooking chocolate,
450 g/1 lb. stoned and chopped dates,
3-4 peeled and grated apples,
150 g/5 oz. sultanas,
150 g/5 oz. chopped quince cheese
4-5 tablespoon of appricot jam,
half teaspoon of vanilla essence,
3-4 egg whites
Ingredients for poppy seed filling:
225 g/8 oz. ground poppy seeds,
225 g/8 oz. sugar or honey,
1 teaspoon of grated lemon peel,
half teaspoon of vanilla essence,
150 g/5 oz. sultanas,
4-5 tabespoon of apricot jam,
2-3 egg whites
>Preparation Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Cream together the butter, sugar and salt. Add the egg yolks one by one and the yeast dissolved in a little lukewarm water. Fold in the sieved flour. Blend thoroughly with a spoon or by hand. Then roll out and fold three times on a floured pastry board, resting the dough for 30 minutes after each rolling and folding process. Then roll out very thin into squares of 30-33 cm/12-13 inch and spread with one of the fillings below, leaving the edges (1-2 cm/half inch) free. Roll up in the same way as for strudel. Place on a baking tin, brush with egg and prick in a few places with a fork. Leave to rest for 15 minutes, then brush again with egg. Bake in a slow oven to start with, then turn it up until the bread is golden brown.
For the walnut filling, dissolve the sugar and melt the chocolate in a little hot milk. Then add the ground chocolate in a little hot milk. Then add the ground walnuts and all the other ingredients, folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites at the end.
To make the poppy seeds filling, make a syrup with sugar or honey and a little water. Then add the ground poppy seeds and cook for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in the lemon peel, vanilla essence, sultanas, jam and finally the stiffly beaten egg whites.
As I said, I haven't tidied up this recipe yet. But it seems very close to my Grandma's.
I will post this properly at a later date.
Oh boy I just reread your post and realized this isn't the one you are looking for. Sorry

[Inge 1505]

rangapeach (Petra) wrote:

Oh boy I just reread your post and realized this isn't the one you are looking for. Sorry

Perhaps not the one I was looking for, but I like the idea for the walnut filling and might try it some time. You should certainly post it, it sounds like a delicious dessert. Thanks for going to all the trouble

BTW, you can probably make a LOT of breads out of it?

[Barbara in Holland]

Hi. This is a recipe that my Slavic mother-in-law made every Christmas and they were delicious. She always used the walnut filling, and rolled them into small crescents. A family tradition and the work involved to make them was worth it. Happy eating.

[rangapeach]

Inge 1505 wrote:

rangapeach (Petra) wrote:

Oh boy I just reread your post and realized this isn't the one you are looking for. Sorry

Perhaps not the one I was looking for, but I like the idea for the walnut filling and might try it some time. You should certainly post it, it sounds like a delicious dessert. Thanks for going to all the trouble

BTW, you can probably make a LOT of breads out of it?

Probably at least three, but that's when you expect a lot of company