Pull apart poppy seed cake
"Half or full?” asked Jacob. “Full” I answered, “I’d finish half before I get home”. Naturally, he didn’t have to ask which cake. Weiss’ Bakery’s legendary poppy-seed cake was the ultimate Saturday treat. For me, where Saturday was not Saturday without at least two different cakes at home, Weiss’ poppy seed cake was an adequate substitute for moms’ cakes.
Part of living in a different country than the one you grew up in is finding solutions for simple necessities. For instance, freshly ground poppy seeds. In the past, when I needed freshly ground poppy seeds, i’d go to the open air market, and at every spice store I could get poppy seed grounded on the spot. Nowadays, life isn’t that easy. This year, the Indian grocery store was my last resort for poppy seeds since the Israeli mini market was out of stock, the Syrian woman’s market was burnt down, and in the supermarket there were only packages that looked more like samples for the price of caviar. When I asked the seller in the Indian grocery store if he has poppy seeds and he said yes, I smiled with satisfaction. Seek and ye shall find. My smile turned to astonishment when I saw the bag with the white grains. “White poppy seeds??” “yes” he answered. Let alone the exaggerated price for a small bag of poppy seeds, but WHITE? Never before had I seen white poppy seeds. When I asked him if he has black poppy seeds it was his turn to be puzzled. No, he never heard of black poppy seeds.
“No Hamantaschen this year,” I told my better half. There are no poppy seeds. Well, if I can’t get poppy seeds at least I’ll buy rice wine, I thought as I entered to the new Korean farmer’s market that opened recently next to the Indian grocery store. The spice shelf was next to the condiment shelf. And there, between the cinnamon and the cloves were poppy seed containers. I immediately took two and didn’t even bother to ask if they can grind it. The coffee grinder will do the job.
Now, I finally had poppy seeds, and on the tree in the front yard the buds sprouted, so what is more suitable for a pleasant spring day than a sun-shaped pull-apart poppy seed cake?
Ingredients
Dough
3 ½ cups flour
⅔ cup lukewarm milk
1 TBS dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
7 TBS soft butter
Washed egg for brushing
Filling
½ cup milk
2 TBS honey
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ cup freshly ground poppy seeds
½ cup crushed tea biscuits
½ tsp cloves
2 TBS butter
Dough
In a small bowl dissolve yeast in milk and 1 tsp sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes until foam shows. In a mixer bowl with dough paddle put flour and sugar. Add yeast mix and knead for 2 minutes in slow speed. Add remaining dough ingredients and continue kneading in slow speed for 2 more minutes. Increase speed to medium and knead for 5 more minutes until dough is elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Place dough in a well greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours until double its size.
Filling
In a small pan heat milk sugar and honey. Bring to gentle boil while mixing. Add ground poppy seeds, crushed tea biscuits and cloves and mix. Lower heat and simmer for 7-8 minutes stirring from time to time, until thickens. Turn heat off, add butter and stir until absorbed. Let cool.
Heat oven to 350 f. Punch dough to release air and cut to two halves. Roll each one into a large circle. Place big plate on one of the circles, and cut around with sharp knife, leaving perfect circle. Repeat with the other circle.
Place one of the circles on a tray covered with baking paper. Spread generously the poppy filling mix on the circle, leaving a ⅓ inch margin. Place the second dough circle on top of the first one, cover it completely. Place a round cookie cutter (or a glass) on the center of the top dough. With a sharp knife cut into 12 slices from the center out, leaving them connected in the middle. swirl each slice, brush with washed egg and bake for 30 minutes, until golden-brown.
