# Poppy Seeds



## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

How does one grind poppy seeds for strudel?


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## pjm333 (Nov 6, 2001)

isa 
use a coffee grinder...

pat


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

I tried the coffee mill Pat and frankly I could not see a difference between the grinded seeds and the ungrinded ones. Will it really make a difference in the end product if the poppy seeds are not grined?


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## phoebe (Jul 3, 2002)

Hi Isa,

How fine do they need to be? What about using a mortar and pestle?


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## pjm333 (Nov 6, 2001)

Isa
Im not sure really, it depends on what your using them for ?

pat


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## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

King Arthur sells a poppy seed grinder.


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## kylew (Aug 14, 2000)

This came up in conjunction with a recipe I'm testing for Maggie Glezer. She warned about using a coffee grinder. She said they wouldn't get fine enough and they would make a mess of the grinder. She suggested it would be easier to buy them from Penzey's, although I couldn't find ground poppy seeds on their web site.


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## jock (Dec 4, 2001)

I wonder if you could use a method similar to cracking pepper? I mean, use a heavy pot to "grind" the seeds on a marble or pizza stone for example.

Jock


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

Kyle, ground poppy seeds would be better because.....?


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## kylew (Aug 14, 2000)

My guess is that it's a texture issue. In my case they were part of a filling. The dough was rolled flat and the filling was spread over it. The whole thing tehn got rolled up. I think if the seeds were left whole, it might have been too gritty. There was an alternate filling that had you grind walnuts into "butter" and spread that over the dough.


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## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

That made me think...you can buy poppy seed filling in the same place in a well-stocked groceria in the ethnic aisle next to the lekvar. I've also used it in no. 10 cans and yeah, I think it is a texture issue.


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Isa,

Try a blender. If there is salt, sugar, pepper in your recipe, throw that in too, it will help as an abrasive. You'll have to do about 2/3 cup to get it to work. Stop the blender occasionally to stir the poppy seeds so they grind evenly.

In addition to texture (less crunchy), grinding them also releases the oils in the seeds and so enhances the flavor.

There are poppy seed mills available for about $30.00.

Let us know how it goes!


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## m brown (May 29, 1999)

The trick is to boil the seeds frist, drain, grind then cool and add ingredients for your filling. 

Often orange juice is used for the liquid.

Boiling softens the seeds enough for them to be broken down in the grinding. 

:bounce:


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Thank you for all the suggestions.



Kyle, you do not want to leave whole poppy seeds in a filling. It will be dry, sandy and gritty, not very pleasant to eat. We're making a poppy seed strudel and the first try with regular poppy seeds was so disastrous it ended up in the trash.


I grinded my seeds. It turned out my spice grinder was no longer working propelly. A new one did the trick, which makes me wonder how fine do you grind them?


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## kylew (Aug 14, 2000)

Isa - I agree about the whole poppy seeds. I couldn't find the ground seeds @Penzey's and didn't want to muck up my spice grinder, so I went with the walnut filling. I was making something called Hungarian Bielgi. She says it is also sometimes called strudel


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Grinding the seeds in the coffee mill didn’t damage the mill yet the seeds make such a difference in the filling. The ground seeds are powdery fine, a bit like confectioner’s sugar, once heated up and mixed with the other ingredients it makes a very tasty strudel filling.

How was your strudel Kyle? I’m curious about the walnut filling. 

I'm happy to report the strudels came out beautifully this time. Again we made an apple and a poppy seed strudel. We used regular strudel dough for the first one and went with a more bread like dough, made with yeast, for the poppy seed strudel. Both dough were easy to handle and we managed to pull them very thin. It’s quite a sight to see the table, 30 x 45, covered by a very thin dough, so thin you could break it by blowing on it. 

The apple strudel, was perfect, very flaky yet tender and so light. The filling was great, just a bit of leakage and a bit of tear on top. Really minor problems. 


Erin was very happy with her poppy seed strudel. The filling had a great texture and the dough was just moist enough. We wondered if the filling would be a bit dry after baking but no it really stayed moist.


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## kylew (Aug 14, 2000)

The beilgi were/was very tasty. It's almost a bread/pastry hybrid. The walnut filling was a bear to spread, but worth the effort. It's slightly sweetened and great for breakfast.


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## bubbamom (Jan 30, 2002)

i've often made potitsa (and an "Americanized" version) using "whole" poppy seeds and and have never ground the poppy seeds.


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