The OG Hamantaschen: Yeast Dough Poppy Seed Triangles
January 29, 2018
I’m back this week with another Purim recipe. But this one isn’t quite as unusual as last week’s artichoke soup. Rather, it’s a classic with a twist—hamantaschen, but (probably) not as you know it: yeast dough hamantaschen!
Like your run-of-the-mill variety, these yeast dough hamantaschen are triangular. And like many hamantaschen you may have known and loved (or not), they’re filled with ground poppy seeds. But unlike the Purim goodies you may remember from your Hebrew school carnival, these are no sugar cookies. Rather, they’re made from a rich yeast dough.
Turns out, this is how hamantaschen started out. The holiday classic evolved from the medieval German mohn taschen—mohn meaning poppy seed and taschen meaning pockets or purses. (Fun fact: the Middle High German tasche gave rise to English words task and tax.)
These poppy-filled pastries, which may or may not have been triangular in shape, were adopted by medieval Ashkenazi Jews, who brought them on their migration eastward in the late Middle Ages. Interestingly, they lost favor shortly thereafter among the Jews who stuck around in Germany—their Purim sweet of choice was gingerbread Hamans, so they could eat the villain in effigy.
But how did these poppy pockets evolve into the Purim classics they are today? Explanations abound: for one thing, there’s a phonetic similarity between mohn, poppy, and the name “Haman” as it would have been pronounced in Yiddish. From there, the sky’s the limit.
While the most popular legend has it that the triangular shape resembles the three-cornered hat supposedly worn by Haman, three-cornered hats were popular in eighteenth-century Europe, not ancient Persia. Slightly more plausible are suggestions that the pastries reference Haman’s pockets, in which he would have carried the lots, or purim, he cast to choose the day on which he planned to kill all of Persia’s Jews.
In any case, the first hamantaschen were made from a rich yeast dough, and that’s what I have for you today. Yeast hamantaschen remained standard until the twentieth century, when cookie doughs gained popularity for being both easier to prepare and longer lasting.
I might add another reason: though I found these yeast dough hamantaschen an interesting variation, in my opinion they don’t quite compare to that crumbly sugar cookie goodness. My yeast dough hamantaschen were not entirely unlike little triangular challah rolls with a dollop of poppy filling—good in their own rights, kind of like a European breakfast pastry, but lacking the addictive quality of the cookies.
I don’t not recommend that you make these yeast dough hamantaschen, but if you plan to bake just one batch of hamantaschen this Purim, this isn’t the one that would get my vote (but if you want to know what would, watch this space!). I’ll also note that these hamantaschen don’t hold their shape terribly well in the oven—if anyone has any tips on what to do about that, please leave a comment! That said, I do plan to experiment with a different recipe for a sweeter, possibly dairy dough.
Historically, the yeast variety tended to be larger than the cookie dough variant, but due to kitchen equipment limitations (i.e., all I had to cut circles in my dough was a Mason jar lid), my yeast hamantaschen came out on the smaller side.
The recipe below is slightly adapted from Gil Marks’s The World of Jewish Desserts.
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Yeasted Dough Poppy Seed Hamantaschen
For the poppy seed filling:
2 cups poppy seeds
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
In a nut grinder, coffee grinder, or food processor, grind the poppy seeds. Alternately, seal them in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin, or use a mortar and pestle.
Combine poppy seeds, water, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a small saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week.
For the dough:
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast, or 1 ¼-ounce package
¾ cup warm water
½ cup sugar
½ cup canola oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon table salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)
Dissolve the yeast in the water in a large bowl. Stir in 1 teaspoon sugar and let stand until bubbling, 5–10 minutes.
Add the remaining sugar, oil, eggs, and salt to the yeast mixture. Blend in 1 ½ cups flour. Add enough of the remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, to make a workable dough. Mix to combine.
On a lightly floured surface or in a mixer with a dough hook, knead the dough, adding more flour as needed, until smooth and springy, about 5 minutes in a mixer or 10 by hand.
Place in an oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until nearly double in size, around 1 ½–2 hours, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Punch down the dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Shaping the yeast dough hamantaschen:
Line 3–4 large baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough ¼ inch thick. Cut out 3–4 inch rounds. Place a scant tablespoon of filling in the center of each round. Fold one “side” of the circle over the filling. Then fold a second side over so that the two sides form a triangular point, with the second side overlapping the first at the top of the peak. Then fold the third side in and over the other two, forming the final side of the triangle. Dab each corner of the triangle with water, and press ends together hard. Place on the prepared baking sheets, cover, and let rise about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Either use a pastry brush to apply the egg wash to the top of the dough or dip the top of each hamantasch into the bowl containing the egg wash. Bake until golden brown, 25–30 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool. Wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Jewish Food (Gil Marks, 2010); Jewish Food: The World at Table (Matthew Goodman, 2005); Rhapsody in Schmaltz: Yiddish Food and Why We Can’t Stop Eating It (Michael Wex, 2016); The World of Jewish Desserts: More Than 400 Delectable Recipes from Jewish Communities (Gil Marks, 2000); “Why do Ashkenazic Jews Eat Hamentashen on Purim?,” Schechter Institute (David Golinkin, March 2014); Yiddish Cuisine: A Gourmet Approach to Jewish Cooking (Robert Sternberg, 1993)
Finally, a great recipe for proper hamentaschen. Have discovered that people look at me strangely in Israel if I ask for prune filling (if I am too lazy to make my own which is really very easy). Lots of date and poppy filling and other strange options but the purist in me demands yeast dough. Thank you so much for the article and for quoting Gil Marks, z’l.
Thank you for reading! Gil Marks was, and continues to be, such a huge inspiration to me – there would be no Poppy and Prune without him.
These are the ones I grew up with and love! Thanks for this post!
These are lovely. But in future we’ll put in more filling
So glad you enjoyed them!
My mother made the yeast version with prune filling so of course I consider them official. Hers were larger, more of a sweet roll or Danish size. It isn’t Purim, but I’ll have to make them!
I know the kind you mean – Gideon’s kosher bakery in Washington Heights in NYC used to sell them at Purim before they shut down, but they seem pretty rare these days.