I find this recipe easy enough to start an adventure with pretzels. It doesn’t call for a boiling water bath with baking soda which takes more time and requires a bit of experience to get the pretzels “wrinkles free”, slick and shine. The recipe lets the baker focus on mastering the pretzel twirls (which is quite important) as the formula is simple and the dough has a nice consistency to work with. I recommend preparing the pretzel dough a night before a baking day to allow the flavour to develop. The Soft Pretzels are perfect for breakfast, as an appetizer or snack. Great with butter, jam or any favourite dip. Find the recipe here…

The Onion Buns originate from Jewish Cuisine and were baked by the Jews who lived in Lublin Old Town, in eastern Poland. At that time the buns looked like pancakes - were flat, very crispy and made with cake flour. They became very popular in the 19th century and were produced by many bakeries in the Lublin region. The original recipe was passed down the generations and... had been changed for years. Today the Onion Buns look like the rolls however their flavour is beautiful and widely valued. My Onion Buns are a bit French because the onion is cooked in unsalted butter. The recipe calls for bread flour and homemade buttermilk which make the buns exceptional. Find the recipe here...

I like these simple flat and crunchy crackers because they are versatile and fancy. They are perfect pair for cheese and wine or a cheese and charcuterie board, great with dips made from pulses like hummus and peammus or fantastic as a classic snack with the seed topping. Homemade Crackers are simple to bake, the only challenge I can find is rolling the dough as thin and even as possible which ensures that they are crispy. I cut the crackers in advance but they also can be snapped into shards after baking – their irregular shapes look amazing in bread baskets. Find the recipe for Seed-Topped Crackers here

The poppy seed roll – or in other words – the poppy seed strudel - is a typical polish pastry usually prepared for Christmas and Easter.  It consists of sweet yeast dough filled with aromatic poppy seed paste which is full of nuts, dried fruits, almonds and resins. According to some old polish beliefs, poppy seeds eaten at Christmas Eve dinner brought happiness and prevented from evil, were also a symbol of fertility. Why is this pastry exceptionally delicious? Because of the balance between the thickness of the dough and the amount of the poppy seed paste - moist, naturally sweet and rich in nuts and fruits. Find the recipe here...

My poppy seed filling is full of almonds, nuts, dried fruits, flavoured with orange juice and zest. All its sweetness becomes from honey, not sugar. I make it only once a year, just before Christmas, for a traditional polish cake – Poppy Seed Rolls. The filling is an amazing natural poppy seed paste which can’t be compared to any ready-to-eat canned store-bought stuff. Neither difficult nor time-consuming to master can be prepared a few days in advance. The poppy seed filling is also eaten with pasta as a traditional meal at Christmas Eve in some regions of Poland. Find the recipe here...