Mohnschnecken, with a simple quark dough

For someone who likes to cook, I know very little about the basics of cooking. I mean I do know how to cook, but when it comes to classic recipes, the foundation of many other recipes, I am rather ignorant. Until a few weeks ago I have never made a Bechamel sauce, even though it is not actually hard to make. But when I wanted to make a lasagna with the left over (vegetarian) sauce bolognese I had to face my fear, because that is what is really keeping myself from making those things, and dive right in. (And obviously, it did no fail and was really easy to make.)
Other things I just had never heard of until recently, like the German Quarkölteig I found when I googled recipes for Mohnschnecken to figure out what type of dough enrobed the poppy seed filling in the poppy seed snails Katie had in Berlin.

So I stumbled onto a very easy dough, called Quarkölteig in German. Quark is a very creamy cheese that is very common in Europe, at least in Switzerland, Germany and as far as I know in the Eastern countries, too. It is commonly called a cheese, but I always thought of it as a very thick and creamy yogurt. I suspect the quark could be substituted with sour cream, but since I just learned about the dough myself, I have tried it only once and cannot actually speak from experience.
Working with the Quarkölteig is pretty easy. It comes together really quickly, just a quick whisk then a little more stirring and a short knead. After resting in the fridge for 15 minutes, it is ready to be used.

The texture of the dough is really silky and soft, almost like a cookie dough that has not been refrigerated enough.
Rolled out, with the help of quite a bit of extra flour to keep the soft dough from sticking, this dough is the perfect vehicle for probably just about any filling. I guess it would be great for cinnamon rolls, too.

But today, I wanted to give the Mohnschnecken that Katie posted a try. Strangely enough, even though I was in Berlin only a few months before Katie I never saw/noticed these Mohnschnecken in any bakery. And up until today, I had never given poppy seeds a second thought, perhaps sprinkling them on some type of  baked good, for the looks, but actually savoring them? Not until now.
Turns out, I really love these poppy seed rolls. As I write this, I have actually eaten three four already, and am desperately looking for someone to come over to share them with or I might actually eat them all myself  before Michael comes back from work.
And now that I tried that Quark dough, the next thing I need to give a try is the laminated dough Katie made for her Mohnschnecken.

Mohnschnecken (Poppy Seed Rolls)
Notes: I followed Katie in this and used Deb Perelmans recipe for poppy seed filling found here. However, I did not grind my poppy seeds since I don't own a coffee grinder. The filling is a little grainier but really great, still. I also added about two tablespoons of chopped candied orange and lemon that I still had on hand. If you have some on hand, I'd suggest adding a tablespoon or two. Like Katie suggested, I also gave my raisins a quick chop.
If you can't find quark, you can also try making it yourself. I found a recipe for homemade quark cheese here. Or as I mentioned above, try substituting sour cream and let me know how it turns out.
The recipe for the quarkölteig is from Essen & Trinken, a German magazine. I followed it to a T, but translated it here for you. 

Quark dough:
150 g low-fat quark
75 g sugar
a pinch of salt
1 egg
6 tbsp neutral flavored oil, like canola oil
250 g flour
2 tsp baking powder

1 batch of the poppy seed filling found here
1 egg, for brushing, whisked with a splash of milk

Begin by preparing the filling. Once you have it set aside to cool, begin with the dough. At the same time, preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F. (or do so later if you have a new and fancy oven that doesn't need that long to preheat)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the quark, sugar, salt, egg and oil until creamy and uniform. Stir in the flour and baking powder and knead the dough until it it is soft and uniform. You will only need to knead a few times, no just until all the flour is incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic film and let it rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

To assemble, sprinkle some flour on your working  surface. Be liberal, the quark dough is rather sticky. Roll out the dough into a rectangle that is about 1/2 - 1 cm (or 1/4 - 1/2 inches) thick. Spread the (cooled) poppy seed filling over the dough, leaving a border of about 1/2 inch/1 cm all around. Gently roll them up, starting on one of the longer sides of the rectangle. Slice carefully into about 2 cm/1 inch slices with a sharp knife. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Brush the sides of the rolls, and very gently the top, with the egg wash.
Bake for 35 minutes

Makes between 12 and 16 rolls, depending on how thick you slice them.