Finnish Pulla Bread || Braided Cardamom Bread

This Finnish Pulla bread is warm, soft, and pillowy. The slightly chewy tender crust is brushed with a rich coffee glaze and then dusted with a generous helping of powdered sugar. This bread is rich and delicious, delicately flavoured with cardamom for a brightly spiced braided bread loaf that is always a special treat!

If you have not heard of Pulla bread, it is a traditional Finnish bread. It uses an enriched brioche-style dough with the addition of cardamom. Cardamom is very fragrant and gives this bread it’s distinct flavour. This bread often has a sweet glaze brushed on, after it comes out of the oven. It is eaten as a sweet snack with coffee and tea.

The dough can be made into a few variations, like rolls, or a long braided circular loaf. It can sometimes have raisins inside, dusted with sugar, or almonds. Variations of this bread, and other cardamom breads, are common in many Nordic countries, like Sweden where it is called Kardemummabröd and kardemummabullar.

I use cardamom a lot in my baking. It is an amazing spice that lends itself to most baked goods. Cardamom has a citrus fragrance with a sweet ginger smell mixed in. If you have not had it before, you should give it a try!

Finnish-Canadian, Pulla Bread?

Just like The United States, Canada is a land of immigrants. Most, “Canadian Cuisine” is made up of recipes brought over from different parts of the world and adapted to local ingredients that are available.

Canada has large communities’ of people of Finnish heritage. They continue to make many of the delicious recipes that have been passed down to them. Now it is one of the recipes that make up a wide array of Canadian Cuisine.

Other uses for the Pulla bread dough

This dough is a wonderful sweet bread dough. You can easily adapt, and make into all sorts of baked goods.

Yeasted doughnuts

• Roll out your dough to about a ¼ inch thickness. Cut out into doughnut sized circles, with a smaller circle cut out of the middles.
• Cover and let rise until they double in size (1-2 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen).
• Once risen, fry them in oil on medium-high heat for 2-3 mins.
• Flip them over and continue to fry for another 2-3 mins or until they are golden on both sides.
• Remove with a slotted spoon to a wire rack. Dust with cinnamon-sugar, brush on a vanilla glaze, drizzle with chocolate, or top how you would like.

Cinnamon buns

• Chill dough for 1 hour.
• Roll out the dough to to a large rectangle, ¼ inch thick.
• In a bowl, combine ¾ cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons cinnamon. Butter the top of the rolled out dough.
• Sprinkle on the sugar mixture and press it slightly into the butter layer on top of your dough.
• From the long side of your rectangle, roll into a long log. Cut the log into cinnamon buns, about 1 ½ inches wide.
• Place in a, greased, rectangular casserole dish. Cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled.
• Bake in a preheated 350 °F (180 °C) oven for 20-25 mins, or until golden.
• For the icing. Mix together a 3 oz package of cream cheese (softened), ¼ cup of butter (softened), 1 ½ cups of icing sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon salt.
• Spread on each bun.

Cinnamon raison bread

• Knead into the dough 1 cup of raisins. Cover and let rise 1 hour (or until doubled in size.
• Roll the dough into a rectangle.
• In a bowl, mix ¾ cup of brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Sprinkle over the dough. Roll into a log, and cut in half.
• Place into greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise about 1 hour (or until doubled).
• Bake in a preheated 350 °F (180 °C) oven for 45 mins, or until golden.

Ingredients for Pulla Bread

2 ½ cup warm milk 80 ml

¼ cup white sugar 50 g

½ teaspoon salt 2.5 ml

¼ cup butter, softened 60 g

½ teaspoon ground cardamom 2.5 ml

1 egg

2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet) 7 g

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 375 g

For the Pulla bread glaze

2 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for sprinkling at the end 30 ml

1 tablespoon strong hot coffee 15 ml

Method

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, or a large bowl if making the recipe by hand, mix in the milk and sugar.
2. Sprinkle the yeast on top and set aside to soften and become foamy. (About 5 minutes)
3. To the bowl, stir in the beaten egg, salt, cardamom, butter, and all-purpose flour.
4. Knead until you have a smooth soft dough ball. About 5 minutes in a stand mixer or 8 minutes if you are kneading the dough by hand.

5. Cover and let rise for 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size.

6. Once it has doubled, split the dough into 3 equal parts. Roll each between the counter and your hands to form a long rope.

7. Pinch them together at the top and braid. Pinch them together at the bottom.

8. Place on a lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise another 30 minutes (depending on the temperature of your kitchen.) Or until doubled in volume.

9. Preheat oven to 375 °F (190 °C)

10. Bake for 30-35 mins.

11. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of hot coffee. Stir to dissolve the sugar.

12. Remove the loaf from then oven and brush on the glaze.

13. Dust with powdered sugar.

I hope you enjoyed the recipe! Do you have a special bread recipe that is common in your country? Let me know!

Hungry for more artisan bread recipes? Check these out!

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