Maggie Glezer’s Purim Onion-Poppy Seed Loaf, Step by Step

Step by step through this amazing, decadent, savoury challah-based Purim treat!

I baked it straight from the book (my mother’s copy, now kind of floury and used-looking) but someone has kindly shared the recipe on The Fresh Loaf if you haven’t bought the book yet. It is worth buying, however. At least, if I had money to buy baking books, which I don’t.

Dough. What a smooth, elastic and well-behaved dough this is. Straight out of the book, a touch more flour into the food processor to stop it from sticking, and it is absolutely PERFECT.

Snakes: Roll out two 30-inch snakes and then roll them flat (about 30 x 4).

Fill: Spoon decadent luscious onion-poppy-butter filling along the length of both flat snakes.

Seal: roll up the flat snakes and pinch along the length to close.

Twist: Twist the two snakes together and fumble with the ends until they are a royal mess and then fumble some more to make them go together and not look too awful. Ugh. Allow to rise.

Finish: Brush with egg, sprinkle with poppy to conceal the poppy mess oozing out all over the place.

Bake: Bake until you think it’s certainly done, then turn and bake a little longer. You don’t want this baby to be raw on the inside.

Present: Even as terribly flawed as this loaf is, I think it looks terrific in the middle of our Purim table!

Close-up: Mmm… it was gone before we even got to the main course. So easy and fun to tear off a twist; so buttery (yes, I used real butter in the filling) and delicious.