Gluten Free Poppy Seed Scrolls with Soft Chocolate Icing

Poppy seed scrolls, with soft dark chocolate or white chocolate icing, are one of the favourite pastries in our family. I have been baking them for more than a year now, using Crusty bread mix from Well and Good. My experience with making my own gluten free yeast dough recipes for different bread varieties, allowed to create my own flour mix and dough recipe suitable for sweet and savoury baking. Poppy seed scrolls recipe, with dark or white chocolate icing, is the first recipe from this range. Both the dough and the filling are relatively low in sugar, and the balance of taste is provided by the sweet chocolate icing. Making these scrolls without icing might need some extra sugar to be added to the dough recipe. The dough is very easy to prepare and roll. Dark chocolate icing has only 2 ingredients,

while white chocolate icing has extra ingredients – almond icing, and lemon extract, which I add to white chocolate and cream to give this icing extra special flavour.

For the first recipe in this series I include step by step photos of dough preparation and rolling.

Ingredients:

yeast dough (for 2 trays of medium size scrolls, 12 scrolls per tray)

100g millet flour
50g buckwheat flour
50g quinoa flour
100g tapioca flour
20g golden flax flour
6g sea salt
4g xanthan gum
50g sugar
7g instant yeast (1 sachet)
100g sour cream 35%fat
2 eggs
130g/ml water
extra egg to make egg wash for brushing scrolls
extra flour or flour mix for working with the dough

poppy seed filling

150g poppy seeds, half (75g) whole and another half (75g) ground
1 cup of water
75g (1/2 cup) Panela organic sugar (any dark aromatic sugar)
100ml milk
60g unsalted butter
1 tea spoon vanilla extract
1 table spoon lemon zest (optional)

dark chocolate icing to use on 1/2 scrolls

100g dark cooking chocolate (I used Nestle dark chocolate melts)
60g whipping cream 35% fat

white chocolate and almond icing to use on 1/2 scrolls

40g cooking white chocolate (I used Nestle white chocolate melts)
40g 35% fat whipping cream
60g Orchard ready to roll gluten free almond icing
1 tea spoon of lemon extract

Note: different brands of cooking chocolate can produce icing with different texture, it can be either too runny, or too thick. Adjustment in chocolate and cream quantities might be needed.

Preparation:

poppy seed filling

can be prepared several days in advance and kept refrigerated in airtight container, can be frozen

grind 75g of poppy seeds
in a sauce pan combine ground poppy seeds with whole poppy seeds
cover them with a cup of cold water
heat and cook over the low heat for 5-10 min until all water is absorbed and the sauce pan is nearly dry
add sugar, milk and butter
cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and reaches the consistency of custard, approximately 15-20 min
when cooled down, add vanilla extract and lemon zest
let it reach room temperature before use

soft chocolate icing

prepare 5-10 min before the end of baking, keep warm and runny before use, best used fresh

place chocolate in a heat proof bowl (glass or stainless steel)
heat whipping cream in a sauce pan up to boiling point
pour hot cream in a bowl with chocolate
stir to dissolve chocolate
heat the bowl if necessary on a water bath
if preparing white chocolate icing, add almond icing and mix it to combine, add lemon extract last

yeast dough

sift all flours into a large bowl
add sugar, salt, yeast, xanthan gum
combine all dry ingredients well with a whisk
make a well in dry ingredients
add water, eggs and sour cream to dry ingredients

mix dry and wet ingredients until fully combined (I do it by hand and can’t say how it will work when using a mixer)
use any gluten free flour/flour mix to dust the working surface
drop the dough on the surface

use more flour to dust and lightly knit the dough

the amount of the dough is enough to roll and make 2 logs
divide the dough into 2 equal parts
use long sheet of baking paper to roll the dough
when rolling, turn the dough over from one side to another, dusting the surface with extra flour, if necessary, to avoid the dough sticking to baking paper

start spreading the dough by hand and finish with a rolling pin
when the dough is finally rolled to a size, turn it over to another sheet of baking paper to be sure that the dough will separate from the paper when rolled with a filling

spread half of the filling evenly in a thin layer using palette knife, if the filling it too hard, add tea spoon of sour cream and mix it in to make the filling softer and easier to spread

spread the filling leaving 3-4 cm on the top/bottom of the dough uncovered

sprinkle 1 table spoon of almond meal to prevent the filling from leaking during baking
turn the board to have uncovered side of the dough on the top
brush uncovered side of the dough with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with 2 table spoons of water)

start rolling the log by turning the dough with the help of baking paper (to finish rolling with the log positioned in the middle of a baking sheet, it is necessary to place another sheet of baking paper under the first one)
finish rolling when the edge of the dough is on the bottom

cut the log in 3-4 cm pieces

transfer scrolls on a baking tray, lined with baking paper

brush the top and sides of the scroll with egg wash

place the tray on the middle shelf in the oven, turn oven lights on, place a bowl with warm water on a low shelf
repeat the process with the second portion of the dough
place the second tray on the top shelf in the oven
let the dough rise to double in size, the time will depend on water temperature, used to make the dough, I use lukewarm water, it takes 50-70 min for the dough to rise

leave the first tray in the oven
take the second tray out of the oven and leave it to rise more on benchtop, while the first tray is baking
set oven temperature to 170C fan-forced, and start baking without preheating, it takes 30-35 min to bake these scrolls

prepare icing closer to the end of baking period and have it ready for hot scrolls
apply liquid warm icing on warm scrolls

use baking paper or aluminium foil under wire rack

let icing set for 10-15 min

let the oven cool down from the first bake and bake the second tray from cool oven set to reach 170C fan-forced

It is possible to bake scrolls another way, on their side, but I have found that they rise and bake better if left on the bottom. When scrolls are baked with the filling on top, simply turn them upside down, dip into warm icing and place on a wire rack for the icing to set.