Hungarian poppy seed bread pudding (Mákos Guba)

is a Christmas classic in Hungary. Poppy seed is a favorite ingredient all over Central-Europe, a symbol of wealth and fertility. In Hungary, we fill everything with poppy seeds at Christmas time, but we also use them in bread, pasta and baked goods like pies, strudels, and cakes. Mákos guba is baked in the belief that the poppy seeds bring good luck and lots of money in the new year.
It is easy and quick to make and the recipe below is very simple to follow. In Hungary we use day-old, dry kifli, a crescent-shaped bread roll, but you can use any type of roll or bread.

Recipe

Ingredients for 8-10 pancakes:
5-6 pieces of 1-2 day old bread rolls – cut into ½ inch slices
800-1000 ml of lukewarm milk (3-4 cups)
6 tablespoons of ground poppy seeds
2 tablespoons of powdered sugar (to mix with the poppy seeds)
2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar (mix with the milk)
2 tablespoons of powdered sugar (mix with the milk)
Butter

Directions:

Heat the milk until lukewarm with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar. (You can use regular sugar and vanilla extract.)

Mix the ground poppy seeds with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar.

Butter a baking pan, lay out half of your bread slices and pour half of the milk over it.

Sprinkle with half of the poppy seed-sugar mixture.

Place the remaining bread pieces in the pan – this is the second layer – pour the remaining milk over it and sprinkle with the rest of the poppy seed and sugar mixture and some more powdered sugar.

Bake in preheated oven (180°C/355°F) for 10 minutes.