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:
⅔ 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 ½ 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. 
Poppy Seed Roulette/Roll
This tender yeast bread is filled with generous swirls of sweet poppy seed filling. These roulettes are a popular Russian dessert.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 mins
- Yield: 2 9-inch rolls 1x
- Category: Sweets
Ingredients
- ⅔ 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
- 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.
- Divide the dough in half and roll out each portion into a rectangle about 14 inches x 9 inches.
- Spread out about ½ 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.
- 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.
Looks like the Poppyseed Strudel that the German Church use to make and sell for the holidays. Bet this is just as delish!
Hi Olga
I made this several times and my rolls crack when baking
What can cause this issue?
Try using less filling next time. I prefer more filling than most traditional recipes, so it will still have a good amount of filling.
Olga
I made this few times and my poppyseed comes out. I think it cracks on the side and some of the stuff just comes out.
What is causing this to crack do you know?
I just received my poppy seed breads in the mail today and they look just like these...I paid a fortune for them and here I could have made my own at home..............who knew????? Will pull this recipe up the next time...thanks
So happy you found the recipe you were looking for, Mary! I hope you enjoy it.
Olga, thank you for a great recipe. It truly is delicious. My only concern is the filling seeps out. Yes I have tried to put the rolls Seam side down, pinch the edges together, not overfill the rolls, make them exact dimensions, roll the edge thicker an the end. I am thinking that it has to do with the amount of flour. The dough is so tender that it rips when it rises while baking. What are your tips?
Hi Lilly,
You can try adding less filling. I don't usually have much of it seeping out, but you can try adding less.
I wouldn't recommend adding more flour, because it will make the bread dryer and not as fluffy.
Thank you for the recipe, Olga! I tried it and it was delicious. The only issue was, my rolls came out very hard and crusty on the outside, although they were still quite tender on the inside. Do you have any tips on how to keep the crust soft? I had to take them out of the oven briefly halfway through (my fire alarm went off, though I didn't burn anything) -- maybe that made them harder?
I'm not sure why your crust came out hard. I have never had that happen before and I've been using this same recipe for more than 10 years. It's possible that you baked it too long and the crust dried out. Taking out the rolls out of the oven might have also had an effect on this as well.
Olga, Your Poppy seed rolls look great. Perfect. I made 4 for Christmas and the filling came out. I am going to make them again and will follow your recipe . Thank you for sharing the poppy seed tips. I will send you a picture of them after I make them. I have a bread machine too. Thank you again dear.
Thank you, Yvonne. I hope you enjoy them.
I would love to see a picture.
I love a poppyseed roll! It reminds me of my childhood as well! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi Olga,
Where can I get a bread machine? Would love to purchase one. Is it on Amazon?
My bread machine was a gift from my parents, but I am sure they have bread machines on Amazon, as well as many stores, such as Bed Bath and Beyond, maybe even Target or Walmart. Online for sure - google it.
thanks for sharing the recipes and tips of making this awesome Poppy Seed Roulette.
thanks a lot 🙂
Olga, Please share where you got that liner with the measurements. Thank you!
I bought mine at Bed Bath and Beyond, Olga.
Dear Olga,
I am from Barcelona, I would like to know whether you can send me this recipe in grams (metric measurements). Thanks! Sílvia.
Sorry, Silvia, I don't have the metric measurements for my recipes. There are many conversion tools available online.
I just saw your comment...11 months old! the conventions to the metric system, you can use thi site:
http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml
2/3 cup milk ....160 ml
45 g sugar
8 g active yeast
360 g flour
113 g butter ( that’s what a stick weights)
and so on...just check it out!
Olga, Thank you for great recipe. Although I used store bought poppy seed filling, it still tasted great. Dough did rise as I expected, and was perfect consistency to work with. All of the recipes that I have tried from your blog so far, they never disappoint.
I am so happy you enjoyed the recipe, Liliya. Thanks for taking time to write.
Thank you Olechka for posting this awesomeness! As soon as my family gets over this flu, I know what Ill be making to celebrate our recovery!
Hi. This is a great recipe. Today actually I got up early and started making your bulochki. I'll be using the cherry filling and sweet farmer's cheese for those. Your dough recipe is my go to, I even printed it out several years ago and doubled the recipe ingredients. Like you mentioned in this post- those good things are meant to be eaten in good company. 🙂