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!