Pulla

Sorry for the sporadic updates. The semester is winding down here and I have a ton of work to do. Also, I am getting ready to submit another book for publication and work. As such, my time to get on here is hit and miss. I have a ton of recipes to upload and the one I am uploading today is probably one of my favorites. Pulla, for those of you who do not know, is a Finnish bread. Pulla is a sweet bread, so it is not good for making sandwiches on, but it is delicious for breakfast and tea snacks. An interesting thing is that cinnamon rolls, are actually a modified Pulla recipe. :P So, next time you eat a cinnamon roll, you are really eating a bit of a Finnish bread. Just remember that. So, on with the recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup of warm water (110 degrees F)
• 1 package of active dry yeast (.25 oz)
• 1 cup of white sugar (vanilla sugar is preferred, but not required) 
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom (cardamom is one of the most expensive spices you can buy. It is possible to substitute a mix of nutmeg and cloves to get a similar taste if you do not wish to spend $15-$20 for a small container of it)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 9 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 egg beaten separate from the others
• 2 tablespoons of white sugar (vanilla sugar is preferred, but not required)

Directions

• Warm the milk in a saucepan until it bubbles and then remove from heat
• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water 
• Stir in the warm milk, 1 cup of sugar, salt, cardamom, 4 eggs, and approximately 2 cups of the flour
• Beat until the dough is smooth and stretchy
• Add 3 cups of flour and beat until the dough is glossy and smooth
• Add melted butter and stir well until it looks glossy once again
• Add remaining flour until the dough is stiff
• Turn dough out of bowl onto a floured surface and cover with the bowl for 15 minutes
• Knead the dough until it is smooth
• Place in a lightly greased mixing bowl
• Roll the dough over so that the top is greased as well
• Cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled or about 1 hour
• Punch it down and let rise until doubled again
• Turn bread out onto a floured surface and divide into 3 parts
• Divide each of these into 3 more parts
• Roll out into 12 inch strips
• Braid three strips into a loaf (This means you will end up with 3 loaves)
• Place onto greased baking sheets and let rise for 20 minutes
• Brush each loaf with the 1 beaten egg
• Sprinkle with remaining sugar
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 25- 30 minutes

Keep in mind that it is very easy to burn sweet breads. Since it is Easter time, I figured I would share this Easterish recipe with you. It is fairly simple, in terms of bread recipes. I can think of numerous others that are much more complicated. It is important that the water you put the yeast into is between 108-112 degrees F. If you get too far from it, it could mess up the recipe. I hope you enjoy this recipe! Happy Baking!

Finnish Sour Cream Cookies

Since St. Valentine's Day is right around the corner I have had many requests from people for cookies, candies, ect... One of my friends asked me if I had any recipes that were Valentineish in nature so, here is an easy one. These can have food colouring added to them to make them pink, red, or any colour that you want them to be. 


Ingredients

• 1 cup of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• Food colouring of choosing

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl
• In a separate bowl, cream together sour cream, salt, and vanilla
• Add together
• Add food colouring if desired
• Chill for about 1 hour
• Roll out and cut into various shapes with cookie cutters
• Grease cookie sheets
• Bake for 10 minutes

And that is it! They are easy and are fun to make. I like to frost mine like sugar cookies, but leaving them plain is fine too. If you have trouble rolling the dough out all you need to do is let it warm up just a bit and it will be fine. 

Kropser

Hei taas! This recipe is practically fail proof and if you can fail at it you are truly special. Traditionally it is served with powdered sugar and honey. For those of you who do not know what a Kropser is, it is a baked Finnish pancake. Little kids will love these and they are good served right out of the pan or as a snack when they've cooled. 


Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup of butter

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
• In a bowl mix together the sugar, flour, and sea salt
• Add the eggs and milk
• Beat until well blended, the batter will be thin like most pancake batter
• Melt the butter in a 9"x13" glass baking pan
• Make sure that the butter has coated all sides of the pan
• Pour the leftover butter into the batter and mix in
• Pour batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes or until it is all puffed up
• Cool until the pancake has flattened enough to cut easily

Ta-da! I seem to be giving you all a lot of European foods to start with. All the better though! Americans should probably learn to eat things besides fast food all the time. Nauti!

Salmiakki

Moi Kaikille! So, one of my favorite candies in the whole wide world is Salmiakki. What is Salmiakki? Salmiakki is a salty black licorice that they make in Finland. Granted, most people do not like black licorice and even less people like salty licorice, but still. It's delicious once you get accustomed to the taste that seems strange to Americans. Now you can buy Salmiakki at candy stores and online, but what's the fun in going and buying it when you can make it yourself? So, here is a recipe that my Finnish friend gave to me and I translated and converted all the measurements for you all. Fair warning though, this is kind of hard to make in super humid climates or places where the weather changes without warning; like Oklahoma for example.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of  salted water
• 1/4 cup of light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon of black food colouring
• 1/4 teaspoon of anise extract
• 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt

Directions

• Pour sugar, brown sugar, water, and corn syrup into a pot and set over medium heat
• Stir until the mixture begins to boil, making sure that no sugar crystals are on teh sides of the pan
• Cook without stirring to the soft crack stage, 290 degrees F
• Remove pot from heat
• Add food colouring, anise extract, and sea salt and stir in gently
• With a teaspoon, drop onto a lightly greased baking sheet
• If the candy in the pot gets too firm to spoon out, reheat until it softens enough to spoon out
• Cool the candies completely without putting in the refrigerator or freezer
• Wrap the candies individually in wax paper

And that's how you make it. I've make this recipe a few times and each time it has turned out delicious! I hope you enjoy it the first time or acquire a taste for it if you do not already love it.  From what I've experienced with my friends you either love Salmiakki or you hate it the first time you try it. So, try it and tell me what you think. 
Moi Moi!

Lihapyorykoita

For those of you who have no idea what Lihapyorykoita is or are not Finnish then let me explain what this is. Lihapyorykoita are Finnish meatballs. They sort of taste like Swedish meatballs, for something to compare them to that most Americans have had. Personally, I prefer Lihapyorykoita because they have a richer taste to them. If you love Swedish meatballs or just want to try some good Finnish food then this is the recipe for you! 

Ingredients for the Meatballs

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 leek, minced
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 cup butter
•  
• Ingredients for the Sauce
• 
  
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions

• Mix the beef, bread crumbs, leek, egg, cream, salt, and allspice in a bowl until evenly mixed
• Roll the mixture into spheres about the size of a golf ball
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook about half the meatballs in the butter until evenly browned on all sides which should be about 5 to 7 minutes
• Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining meatballs, keeping the liquid in the skillet when finished to make the sauce with
• Sift the flour into the skillet with the drippings and cook until brown or about 2 to 3 minutes
• Slowly stream the milk into the skillet while whisking vigorously or it will clump
• Pour the cream into the mixture and stir until smooth
• Return all the meatballs to the skillet
• Stir to coat the meatballs with the sauce
• Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the meatballs are cooked through which should take 15 to 20 minutes

There you go! It should take between an hour to an hour and a half to make depending on how fast you can make the meatballs. It is a 4 person serving so if you need to cut it in half or quarter it, it shouldn't be too hard.

Enjoy!