Every weekend I bake some kind of dessert. I try to make something different every week, I try to mix traditional cakes with more modern desserts. This weekend I wanted to make something traditional, and what’s more traditional than our dough cake rolls.

“Orehnjača i makovnjača”, the walnut and poppy seed rolls, are traditionally baked in inland Croatia during the winter months. There’s not a single Christmas table without these rolls and usually, everybody loves them. Some make them with more dough and less filling, others, like us, prefer to overfill the dough with filling, but either way, the cakes are always a wonderful meal, especially in the evening with a warm glass of milk.

I used to bake my rolls the traditional way, with walnut and poppy seed filling, but I’ve noticed that baked walnuts can be a bit hard on the stomach in these combinations, so I’ve started making a lighter version of the rolls: Sunflower rolls.

Ground sunflowers act very similar to walnuts in the baked dough, the filling will be a bit softer with sunflowers, but the taste will be almost the same as with walnuts. I’ve had many occasions when people didn’t even notice that the rolls weren’t filled with walnuts at all.

The dough rolls are quite easy to make. The same dough is used for every filling, and it’s easy to make. I make my dough in the evening and leave it overnight to rise and fill it the next morning.

The dough:

• 1 kilo(2.2lbs) of finely ground flour
• 14 gr (0.49oz) of dry yeast
• 100gr (3.5oz) of sugar
• 400ml (13.52 fl oz)of milk
• 1 lemon
• 100ml (3.3 fl oz) of oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of salt

I make my dough by mixing the wet ingredients, then I add the sugar, yeast, salt, lemon peel and juice, and eggs, and then I mix in the flour. This way I can mix the ingredients with a spoon first until they are not sticky anymore, and then I make a dough ball. Once the dough ball is finished, I cover the bowl with a cloth and leave the dough to rise until the morning on a room temperature. I prefer to leave the dough overnight because the dry yeast takes more time to rise well and if I force the dough the baked rolls can be hard. This way the dough will rise slowly and be ready when I wake up.

In the morning the first thing I do is boil some milk and make the fillings. All of the roll fillings are made the same way. They are made out of ground ingredients, sugar, and milk. When the filling tends to be runnier(like poppy seeds) I add some semolina to drink the fluid, and I add raisins or flavor-infused sugar.

This time I decided to make sunflower, poppy, and carob fillings.

Sunflower filling:

• 400gr (14.1 oz) of ground sunflowers
• 160gr (5.6 oz) of sugar
• 250ml (8.4 fl oz) of boiling milk
• a handful of raisins
• 2 bags (20gr/0.75oz) rum-infused sugar

Poppy and carob fillings (repeat the ingredients for each filling)

• 200gr (7 oz) of ground poppy or carob
• 200ml (6.7 fl oz) of boiling milk
• 50gr (1.7oz)of semolina
• 80gr (2.8 oz)of sugar
• handful of raisins
• lemon skin or juice

I prepare the fillings by first mixing the dry ingredients and then pouring boiling milk and string into the mix. The first filling that I prepare is always sunflower filling since it takes the longest time to absorb the milk. The carob filling can be prepared right before using it and filling the dough since it is the firmest one. Carob filling is so firm that it will act as a second dough, so I make a very thick filling, almost twice the amount of the actual dough.

When I finish making the filling, I cut the dough into needed pieces. This time I planned to have 4 rolls(800gr/28.2oz of filling makes 4 rolls). If the dough is well made it can be cut in the bowl, if not the dough can be kneaded first and then separated.

After kneading, the dough is rolled out to fit the baking tray. Although I have a couple of rolling pins I prefer to use the empty wine bottle to roll out the dough. The glass bottle is the exact size of my baking trays, and I don’t have to measure anything. I know if the dough is the same size as the bottle it will fit the tray.

After rolling the dough, the filling is spread on the dough covering almost completely the surface. Only the top, about two fingers lengths, is left empty to stick the dough together once the roll is made. After rolling the dough with the filling, I knead the corners to seal them and place the rolls on the trays with the finishing side down. This way they will not fall apart.

Rolls are baked in a preheated oven, heated to 175°C (347°F) on regular baking settings(with both heaters on). I have a fan oven, but when baking rolls, I don’t turn the fan on. The fan dries out the dough.

Rolls are baked for 30 minutes, then covered with baking paper, and baked for 20 minutes more(50-55minutes in total). Baking paper will stop the top surface from getting overbaked. The rolls are baked once the knock on the surface of the roll makes a hollow sound(like knocking on an empty plastic bottle). Once the rolls are baked they should be removed from the baking tray, and left to fully cool down. I cover my rolls with a bunch of kitchen cloths or a big tablecloth, to stop them from drying while they are cooling.

Once the rolls cool down they can be cut into pieces. I prefer to leave them in one piece and cut the pieces that will be eaten. This kind of dough will dry in 24h if left in the air, so it’s better to leave the rolls in one piece.

My favorite roll is the carob roll which tastes like a rum and chocolate roll, but all of them taste good. Usually, when I make rolls I eat only the rolls during that day. They are my breakfast, lunch, and dinner, especially since they taste the best on the first day.