Finnish Pulla Bread

This amazing golden bread has a beautiful flavor that comes from cardamom and raisins. It's not a difficult recipe if you've made bread before, and it yields a sweet and delicious end-product that tastes great on its own or with honey :) This type of bread can be shaped into a loaf as seen here, or into small buns and enjoyed as is or traditionally with coffee. It's even better as toast the next day!!!!

The original recipe, which I modified, is from: https://www.girlversusdough.com/braided-cardamom-bread-finnish-pulla/

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole or 2% milk (254 g)

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 g)*

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter (56 g)

• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (8 g)

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (up to 3 cups) (~400-435 g flour)

• 1/2 tsp. salt (2.5 g)

• 1 tsp. freshly ground green cardamom seeds (2 g)

• 1/2 a large egg

• Optional: 1/2 cup raisins (70 g)

• Egg wash: 1 egg yolk, some milk

Directions:

1. Place butter, milk, and sugar in a small saucepan on low heat. Melt and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool until 95-105°F.

2. In a large bowl, add half the egg (crack an egg, whisk it, and then pour half into the bowl), the cardamom, and salt.

3. Once the milk mixture is at the right temperature, add the yeast and mix until dissolved. Let sit 5 minutes until activated.

4. Pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture and whisk to combine.

5. Add 1/3 of the flour and mix with a spoon to combine. Add the next 1/3 of the flour and mix to combine. Switch to using your hands and gradually add in the last bit of flour and mix and knead until you get a soft dough that's only a little bit sticky. You may only need 2 3/4 total cups of flour to get this texture.

6. Take the dough out and knead 8-10 minutes, or until it passes the windowpane test (this may take quite a while). If adding raisins, add them to the dough now and gently knead in so you don't disturb the gluten too much.

7. Shape into a ball, lightly coat with butter, and place in a butter-greased bowl.

8. Cover and let rise 1 hour in a warm place (70-90°F).

9. Punch the dough down, remove the dough onto a clean surface, and cut into the number of strands you desire (3 or 4 is good). Shape into tight ropes about 15 inches long. Braid and then place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

10. Mix together the egg wash and lightly coat the loaf with a layer of it so the surface is moist. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-60 minutes, or until you lightly poke it in several places and it slowly springs back. Preheat the oven to 350°F while it's rising.

11. Coat the loaf in a thicker layer of egg wash, but not so much that it runs down the sides. Decorate the top with coarse sugar or sliced almonds, if desired.

12. Bake 25-35 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 200-205°F. Note: If it's browning too fast on the bottom, move the bread up a rack, and if the top is browning too fast cover loosely with a sheet of tinfoil.

13. Once baked, remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack 1-2 hours before cutting into.

14. makes one ~870 g loaf.

Notes: When I first made this I used 1/3 cup sugar which I later realized was too much, because the loaf browned too quickly when baking and I think the sugar absorbed too much liquid.

The ingredients I used. You can also use things like sliced almonds for decorating.

If grinding your own cardamom, only grind the seeds on the inside, which are black or brown.

Seeds before grinding.

Seeds after grinding.

Okay let's make this bread:

Melt the butter, milk, and sugar together on the stovetop.

Once it's cooled to ~100*F activate the yeast in it.

Once the yeast is active add it to a bowl with the egg, cardamom, and salt.

After whisking together. Now we can start adding the flour.

After mixing in 1/3 of the flour.

After mixing in another 1/3 of the flour.

After mixing in the last 1/3 of the flour and before kneading on the countertop.

After kneading until the dough passes the windowpane test you can then incorporate the raisins.

After incorporating the raisins gently. The dough is now ready for the first rise!

Before the first rise.

After the first rise.

Cut into four equal pieces.

Shape into tight strands/ropes.

And begin braiding!

After braiding, looks perfect!

Before the second rise.

After the second rise and before baking.

After baking!

Let cool on a wire rack.

So voluptuous and sexy ;)

And enjoy! It's great on it's own and with honey!

It's furby approved :D