Pulla Power

Last weekend (well, two weekends ago now), i went up to sault st. marie to celebrate my finnish mummu (grandmother's) birthday.

I was incredulous to find that once there, i was swimming in the smells of my childhood.
-My uncle smelling of sawdust, a carpenter just like my grandfather,
-Blueberry soup
-Muddy finnish coffee
-Gingerbread
and most of all... Pulla.

Me about age 7 with my mummu and bapa... looking hard done by... or practicing my finnish 'depressed' face!




Pulla is a kind of finnish sweet bread, very good with coffee. Not too sweet so as to be an actual cake, but deliciously buttery.
I thought i would try making it, not only because its delicious, but because i figured it would be a good introduction to baking breads. Its new to me and i've had some
It is lightly flavoured with cardomom, which gives it a warm aroma.
The recipie that i'm including is a variation of the basic one from www.allrecipies.com.

You'll need:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon cardamom ground (fresh ground is best)
2 eggs, beaten
5 1/2 cups all purpous flour
1/3 cup butter, melted
and
2 packages of active dry yeast (16g) or 2.5 tsps + 1/2 cup warm water and (2tsp) sugar as per directions for yeast

For the Egg/sugar glaze:
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Egg beaten

Things to do:
A: Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles then remove from heat.

B: Proof the yeast as directed.

C: Stir the following together, in a mixing bowl.
-warmed milk
-sugar
-salt
-cardamom
-eggs

D: When the yeast has doubled, add it, to the mixture.

E: Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and mix to a pancake like batter.

F: melt the butter

G: Add another cup of flour and whisk until smooth and glossy.

H: Mix in butter .

I: Add remaining flour until the dough is elastic and stiff. (It should hold together when pressed into a ball not gloopy).

J: Flip bowl over onto a floured surface and let it rest for 15 minutes.

K: Knead dough until satiny smooth.

L: Clean and dry mixing bowl, add a splash of oil

M1: Place dough back into the mixing bowl and flip to coat the top with oil
cover with a teatowel and let rest in a warm place for one hour until doubled.

M2: Punch dough down and let rise again until doubled, yup, another hour.

N: Preheat the oven to 425'C (or your oven's equivalent).

O: Turn dough out onto floured surface and devide into 3 balls of equal size for regular size loaves. Then devide, roll out and braid together into two elegant free standing loaves or 4 small loaves (that fit into ziplock freezer bags for easy freezey storage).
Bake for 5 minutes and then turn down the temp to 375' and continue to bake approx: 15 minutes

O.2: If making pukkopulla, (little pullas) roll the dough into golf ball sized peices these are kind of a cross between a doughnut and a muffin, best with dried fruit, cheese or jam baked inside. cook these for a shorter time, 20 minutes or so.





I made a rollup loaf (think long cinnamon bun loaf before its cut into rounds) in my new loafpan and filled it with fresh pomegranate seeds...





P: Beat egg and slather it over the top of each loaf and then sprinkle with sugar.

O: Give the loaves room
(i didn't and made some siamese pulla)




Siamese Pulla.







I plan to make this for my mom using spelt flower and honey instead of sugar so that she can eat it and stay on her vegan diet. Maybe for christmas!

YUM my apartment smells like all the best parts of my finnish heritage.
I'm late to bed... but it was worth it.