Strucle are Polish sweet yeast rolls — enriched dough filled with poppy seeds, nuts, or fruit, rolled into logs and baked. Similar to Jewish babka but less sweet.
Strucle share DNA with Jewish babka and German Stollen — all are enriched yeast doughs with sweet fillings, traditionally baked for Christmas. The Polish version is less sweet than American babka and more dense. Poppy seed filling is the most traditional.
A slice of spiral-cut roll — golden dough swirled with dark, dense poppy seed filling. The bread is soft and buttery; the filling is earthy, sweet, and intensely nutty. Not overly sweet — more bread than cake.
The enriched dough (with butter, egg, and sugar) is similar to brioche but leaner. The filling must be thick enough not to leak during baking — poppy seed paste is ground with honey and egg to bind. Rolling and slicing creates the characteristic spiral pattern.
Variations
Fillings: poppy seed, walnut, almond, apple, or chocolate; dusted with powdered sugar.
On the Palate
Where Strucle sits in the Polish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
6 steps · 1 hour active + 1 hour 30 min waiting
- 160 min
Make enriched yeast dough; rise 1 hour.
Watch outThe dough is ready when it's doubled and springs back slowly to a light press — under-risen dough bakes dense.
- 215 min
Prepare filling: grind poppy seeds; mix with honey, raisins, egg.
- 310 min
Roll dough into a rectangle; spread filling.
- 45 min
Roll up tightly into a log; seal edges.
Watch outRoll the log tight with no air gaps and seal the seam well — loose rolls unwind and the poppy filling leaks out while baking.
- 530 min
Place on a baking sheet; second rise 30 min.
- 635 min
Bake at 180°C for 30-35 min; dust with powdered sugar.
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