Tuesdays With Dorie : Finnish Pulla

I was supposed to post Ginger Bread Baby Cakes two weeks ago.. But, my cakes ended up being a disaster.. The only thing I could taste of them was the molasses.. No spice, no ginger, nothing.. Me throwing away any baked good means a lot.. They were that bad.. 

It is a different story with today's recipe.. I loved loved it.. It is called Finnish Pulla, and it is a mildy-sweetened bread spiced with crushed cardamom seeds.. It is kind of like Challah but with the wonderful aroma of cardamom.. Wikipedia says Finnish would usually serve it with coffee or at special occasions.. I had mine with Turkish strawberry jam, that I bought from Turkish grocery store here.. Both being delicious, makes the perfect breakfast item or dessert after a casual dinner..

Let's talk about the process: It is a yeast bread.. When the yeast is creamy I mixed it with milk, sugar, cardamom, salt and eggs.. Then some of the flour, then the melted butter, then the rest of the flour until it is stiff but not dry.. This is the most difficult part for me in any recipe, to decide how much flour is enough when they tell you how it should feel like.. I put 4.5 cups in total.. It was very stiff to mix at that point.. Then comes the kneading, followed by first rise and shaping.. The recipe calls for braiding and shaping it as a wreath, but I did 2 loaves.. After the second rise, I glazed the loaves and sprinkled with decorating sugar and almonds.. And put it into 375F oven.. The smell coming out of oven while baking is amazing.. Our place smelled like cardamom even the next day.. The bread is delicious with an intense cardamom aroma and pillowy texture..

This recipe is perfect breakfast bread and definitely a keeper for me.. I will bake it again and again when we have guests for breakfast.. If you want to try it, you can find the recipe at Erin's blog The Daily Morsel, or page 106 of Baking with Julia..

Thanks for stopping by..