Pronounced "youleh-kockuh". Love at first bite! I immediately fell in love with this incredible fruity and aromatic bread from Norway, typically made around christmas time. The dough is a little tricky to make by hand but the end result is sooooo worth it. I was skeptical at first but after making this I can't believe how much I love it :D Note: This bread is best eaten on the same day it is baked!
The original recipe, which I modified, is from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54d01q8X3eM
The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of 2 or 3% milk (134 g)
2 tsp. active dry yeast (7 g)
2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. white sugar (32 g)
1 large egg (~50-55 g)
1 tsp. ground cardamom (2 g)
1 tsp. salt (5 g)
2 cups bread or AP flour, I used AP (~280 g)
3 Tbsp. room temperature unsalted butter (38 g)
6 Tbsp. raisins (60 g)
3 Tbsp. candied orange peel (30 g)
3 Tbsp. candied lemon peel (40 g)
Egg wash: 1 egg or whole egg whisked with a little milk
Directions:
Soak the raisins in water for 1-2 hours. Strain and set aside.
For the bread, start by warming the milk in a saucepan or microwave until it is between 95-105°F.
Add the yeast and 1 tsp. of the sugar to a medium bowl. When the milk is ready mix it in and mix until the yeast is dissolved. Let sit 5-10 minutes until the yeast is foaming. Note: If using instant yeast, skip this yeast activation step and just mix the milk and yeast together with the other liquid ingredients.
Whisk the egg, cardamom, salt, and rest of the sugar into the yeast mixture.
Begin adding the flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, mixing completely between each addition. At some point you will need to start kneading to incorporate the flour. The dough may seem dry but don't panic, just keep mixing. The butter will fix it.
Once all the flour is incorporated, take the dough out onto a clean work surface. Add the soft butter and begin mixing and kneading it in. First it will be messy and you may have to force it into the dough, but eventually it will re-form a dough ball. Then knead until it passes the window pane test (for me it was about 20 minutes). Note: A stand mixer would be much easier than doing this by hand.
Shape the dough into a ball, lightly grease it with butter, and place in a butter-greased bowl. Cover and rise 1 to 1.5 hours in a warm place, or until doubled in size and puffy.
Take the dough out and flatten it. Add the raisins and citrus peel and knead in. The dough might start coming apart but just keep gently kneading and try to keep the fruit from escaping. Once the fruit seems stuck in the dough, shape into a ball and place on a greased or lined baking sheet. Lightly coat the bread with the egg wash, cover and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the rack on the second to highest level on the oven. When the dough is ready, brush with egg wash again, but avoid adding so much that it drips down the side (it can burn on the bottom).
Bake the loaf for 40-50 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 200-205°F. Note: Watch the top and bottom of the loaf while baking, if too dark on the bottom move to the upper shelf, if too dark on top add a layer of tin foil.
Let rest on the pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool for about 2 hours before cutting into.
Store in an airtight container up to 4 days at room temperature, or freeze up to one month.
Makes one very delicious loaf.
The ingredients I used. You don't have to use 2 different kinds of raisins and you can choose to use either orange or lemon peel if you'd like. You can also use storebought cardamom instead of grinding your own.
Remember to soak the raisins before you start!
I start by activating the yeast in warm milk and some sugar, this is before it activated.
The yeast is active so we can start adding other ingredients.
After whisking in the egg, cardamom, salt, and rest of the sugar.
After mixing in the first portion of flour.
After mixing in the second portion of flour.
After mixing in the third portion of flour. You may want to start kneading now.
After mixing/kneading in the fourth and final portion of flour. It will be quite stiff but we will add the butter next!
Before kneading in the butter.
After kneading in the butter until it passed the windowpane test. This took quite a while.
I tried to take a picture of my windowpane, which is a bit tricky to show with one hand, but in general you should be able to stretch it and see light through it without it easily tearing. This means there's enough gluten development :)
Before the first rise.
After the first rise.
Before kneading in the fruit.
After kneading in the fruit, which was pretty tricky.
Before the second rise.
After the second rise and brushing with egg wash. Time to bake!
After baking! It got quite dark but not too dark :) I used tin foil to avoid burning the top.
The bottom of the loaf. Golden and only a few pieces of lose fruit got too dark :)
Cool completely on a rack and enjoy!
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