My Grandma Breza called this bread roll “kalacz” (ka-loch), which means cake; this is a less sweet, eastern European version of a coffee cake. You can roll it with either a nut or poppy seed filling. I used to make these every Christmas and pass them out to the Hungarian relatives, but now my Aunt and Uncle go to Vegas right after Christmas, so I’m going to make it early.
This is my modified version of my Grandma’s recipe, which called for a cup of “oleo” and 8 egg yolks. I make half with the poppy seed filling and half with the nut filling, so if you only want one type of filling, you need to double the filling recipe. Today I’m making a large roll of each, but you can divide your dough into four balls instead of two if you need more (but smaller) rolls for gifts. This entire recipe is half what my Grandma would make, so we went through a lot of kalacz growing up!
Hungarian Kalacz (Nut Rolls and Poppy Seed Rolls)
Dough
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 pkg)
1 C warm milk (buttermilk is OK but warm it slowly)
4 C flour
1/2 C softened butter
1/2 C organic coconut palm sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t salt
Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Let it sit for a few minutes while you cream the butter and sugar until well combined. Go back to the yeast mixture, which is starting to bubble, and stir in one cup of the flour.Blend the eggs into the butter mixture. Add the salt, the other three cups of flour, and the yeast mixture. Combine everything, then knead for about five minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Set aside somewhere warm for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until doubled in size.
Poppy Seed Filling
2 T butter
2 T milk
2 T honey
1 4 oz container of poppy seed
Put the ingredients in a small pot over low-medium heat, and stir while the butter melts. Stir and cook another minute to blend well.
Nut Filling
3/4 C chopped walnuts
1/4 C brown sugar
1 egg
2 T milk
Put the ingredients in a small pot over low-medium heat. Beat the egg then stir until everything is combined. Cook another few minutes until well blended and about to boil.
Divide the raised dough into two balls. Roll one out on a floured surface to a large rectangle about 1/4” thick. Spread the filling from edge to edge, leaving about 1/2” bare on the far, horizontal side. Roll the dough away from you, then gently move the roll to a sprayed, parchment covered baking sheet. Flour the surface again and roll out the second dough ball, fill, and roll the same way. Cover the two rolls with a dish towel and set somewhere warm to rise for about 1/2 hour.
Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 30-35 minutes until browned.
