Saturday 4 December 2021

December 4, 2021

 

Our 4th yule calendar surprise is another recipe, sent by miss Diaspore! She is this year's May Queen, and as it happens, she has access to some royal recipes as well. Here's her grandmother's Finnish pulla recipe. There are two versions (for metric and imperial units).

 



Pulla (Imperial/U.S. Measurements)

a Finnish cardamom-flavored coffee bread

Ingredients

2 packages active dry yeast

2 cups milk, heated to between 105 F and 115 F (should feel warm but not hot to the touch)

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamom (or 8-10 cardamom pods, peeled and crushed)

2 teaspoons salt

6-8 cups flour

¾ cup butter (1½ cubes), melted

Glaze: 1 egg, beaten together with about a teaspoon of water or milk.

Directions

Dissolve yeast in ½ cup warm water. Beat eggs, gradually beat in sugar until thick and pale yellow. Add cardamom, salt, milk, and yeast mixture. Beat together. Gradually stir in flour working with your hands when dough becomes too stiff to stir. Continue until dough pulls away fairly cleanly from your hands. Add melted butter and continue to work with your hands until all the butter is absorbed. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk.

Punch down. Turn out dough onto lightly floured board and knead several times to work out the larger bubbles.

For Braided Loaves: Divide dough in half. For each half, divide in three pieces. Roll each out into a rope about 18-24 inches long. Pinch ropes together at one end, braid, pinch ends together. Lay on greased baking sheet or in long loaf pan. Makes 2 loaves.

For Spiral Rolls: Divide dough into three portions. For each portion, divide into seven pieces and roll each out into a rope about 16 inches long. Curl each rope into a spiral. Place one in the center of an 8” or 9” round cake pan and place the other six around it. Makes 3 pans of rolls.

Cover with plastic wrap or a clean damp dishcloth and allow to rise about 20 minutes or until not quite doubled in bulk. While it’s rising, preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Brush glaze onto the top of the loaves with a pastry brush and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until barely brown on top—30-35 minutes for loaves or 20-25 minutes for rolls. Do not over bake or bread will be dry.

Remove from oven. Allow to sit for ten minutes. Remove from baking sheet or loaf pan and place on rack to cool.

 

~

 

Pulla (Metric)

a Finnish cardamom-flavored coffee bread

Ingredients

14 grams active dry yeast

490 g milk, warmed to between 40.5 C and 46 C (should feel warm but not hot to the touch)

3 eggs

200 g sugar

8-12 cardamom pods, peeled and crushed (or 6 grams ground cardamom)

11.5 grams salt

950 g flour (approximate)

170 g butter, melted

Glaze: 1 egg, beaten together with about 5 mL of water or milk.

Directions

Dissolve yeast in some of the warm milk. Beat eggs, gradually beat in sugar until thick and pale yellow. Add cardamom, salt, milk, and yeast mixture. Beat together. Gradually stir in flour working with your hands when dough becomes too stiff to stir. Continue until dough pulls away cleanly from your hands. Add melted butter and continue to work with your hands until all the butter is absorbed. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk.

Punch down. Turn out dough onto lightly floured board and knead several times to work out the larger bubbles.

For Braided Loaves: Divide dough in half. For each half, divide in three pieces. Roll each out into a rope about 18-24 inches long. Pinch ropes together at one end, braid, pinch ends together. Lay on greased baking sheet or in long loaf pan. Makes 2 loaves.

For Spiral Rolls: Divide dough into three portions. For each portion, divide into seven pieces and roll each out into a rope about 16 inches long. Curl each rope into a spiral. Place one in the center of an 8” or 9” round cake pan and place the other six around it. Makes 3 pans of rolls.

Cover with plastic wrap or a clean damp dishcloth and allow to rise about 20 minutes or until not quite doubled in bulk. While it’s rising, preheat oven to 175 degrees C.

Brush glaze onto the top of the loaves with a pastry brush and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until barely brown on top30-35 minutes for braided loaves or 20-25 minutes for rolls. Do not over bake or bread will be dry.

Remove from oven. Allow to sit for ten minutes. Remove from baking sheet or pan and place on rack to cool.

 

 



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