The Fresh Loaf

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Persuing perfect pulla

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Persuing perfect pulla

I tried posting this one yesterday and tfl blew up on me when I pressed save. I got a black screen with lettering in white saying page not available. Will try this again.

I bake a loaf of pulla roughly each week and have used the same recipe and methodology for at least two years, perhaps three. Using a vigorous levain I found my braid strands blowing apart at inappropriate places, so I set out to remedy this.  First I thought either the gluten is underdeveloped or perhaps I have been too aggressive with my stretch & folds and have torn the gluten strands. I made a couple of small changes. Fist I used more of a kneading process, say a knead & fold and I upped the hydration a couple of points: from 180 g of milk to 189 grams.

I have always divided the dough and pre-shaped into boules, then rolled out into tubes for braiding by hand. The flaws in my blown apart braid strands appear to have been caused by my roll out method. I googled "rolling out dough for braids," and found that some bakers use a rolling pin, then jelly roll up the strands. Here is where I made big changes in the way I roll out pulla dough. First I pre-shape into a tube instead of a ball -duoh!

I then use the rolling pin to roll out the dough into a long rectangle.

The dough rolled out to 1/4" or so is then rolled up. I brushed the tail end with a little water to get a tight seam.

I pinched and patted the seams down as tight as I could and gently rolled the dough into a uniform tubes.  This is the second time I have used this technique and need to be careful I don't roll the braids out too long. First time I ended up with a 16" braid to bake on a 15" baking stone . . .

The longer, more uniform strands were easy to braid. this technique of rolling out is faster and easier than my traditional technique and actually resulted in a more open crumb and a better loaf! Here is the proofed braid, egg washed and sprinkled amply with sugar.

Who knew an old skibum could learn new tricks? Here is an updated recipe:

Sponge:

80 g liquid levain

alternately use 40 g each flour and H2O and 11/2 tsp instant yeast

189 g scalded milk

1/4 c sugar

2 Tbs raw sugar

8 cardamom pods,, hulled and ground

75 g egg, beaten, (2 eggs, use remains for egg glaze)

Let this mixture get happy and bubbly. I usually mix at the end of the day and leave in on the counter overnight.

Final mix

120 g bread flour, mix well

50 g melted butter, beat in until the dough is smooth and glossy

7-8g salt

120 g bread flour, mix in well and rest 10 minutes

I did 4 sets of knead & folds with 10 minutes rest, then a bulk rise of 2 hours. Divided, shaped, braided, coated with egg wash and sugar and baked 400F 14 minutes with steam and 12 minutes without steam. the result has been an improvement in both taste and texture. It is never too late to learn new tricks!

Happy baking!  Ski

 

 

Comments

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Yahoo, it posted! One of my longer posts . . .

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

 but the ones I see around here and the ones my mother-in-law used to bake were nowhere near as dark as the ones you posted. The crumb looks right and I am glad you include cardamom in your dough. As far as I am concerned, it isn't pulla if it doesn't have cardamom. 

You are going to wonder why a Canadian with French origins knows about  pulla. I married a half Finn and live in a town that has the greatest concentration of Finns outside Finland. So pulla is pretty popular around these parts. 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Yes this pulla is darker than my Finnish Grandmother's. Perhaps it is because a double egg glaze, then a double sprinkling of granulated sugar and baked at 400F convection. Old Finns like granny used to crush sugar cubes over their loaves and I don't think granny used an egg glaze.

Well if where you are living has that many Finns it must be Thunder Bay. I travelled to T-Bay on business and found the people the most welcoming! Having a last name like Markkanen doesn't hurt in the Finnish community.

Happy baking! Ski

 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

It is Thunder Bay! Hubby is related to at least half of the Finns here. His dad came from a family of 15 and hubby has somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 first cousins. And that is just on his dad's side! No idea of how many second and third cousins. 

When I was teaching, early in my career, I was asked: "What's a nice Finn girl like you doing teaching French?" I had to explain that I was of French descent, the Finn last name was my hubby's. By the way, I don't look Finn in the least with dark hair and dark eyes, although I know that dark haired Finns do exist. 

If you ever come back on business, it would be lots of fun to do dinner or even coffee!

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

All of your pulla loaves look beautiful! A Canadian who bakes a Finnish bread most of the time, how long did you live in Finland? I wonder how it is to hear and speak the Finnish language, I read it has crazy grammar! Nice info about the braiding technique!

PS If my post was "sabotaged", I probably would not try again for a week because my posts are very wordy and picture heavy! :P

Skibum's picture
Skibum

I have visited, but never lived in Finland. My grandparents on my father's side immigrated to Canada and my father was born here. Finnish was his first language though. I learned a few words but never the language. I grew up eating my grandmother's pulla. The new rolling out technique to prep for braiding was a HUGE improvent. I'm pretty sure my post wasn't sabotaged. Sometimes data base engines have a hiccup. It is all good.

happy baking! Ski

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Just beautiful Ski!

Thanks for the detailed write-up.  I'm going to save this one and print it so I can give it a try soon.

Ian

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Give it a try! It is very nice dough to work with given all the added butter. I enjoy the sweet flavour, but feel free to cut back on the sugar in the mix, but NEVER on the sugar coating!

Happy baking! Ski

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Swedish and the Swedes and Finns have been fighting since Viking days..... usually killing non Vikings:-) I guess they get along better today and Lucy's mom is long gone so we can give this a go.  I want to put raisins in it and I think you used to do that too!  Looks like you finally cured your gremlins and made a pulla that still managed to pull itself together rather than splitting apart.  Well done and happy baking Ski

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Actually, the Swedes and Finns get along pretty good, Russia being the traditional foe. I have never made pulla with raisins but think it would be really good.  The change up in rolling out the strands was a huge change and really improved this loaf. Your Lucy is a real cutely and looks spoiled to all get out so give her a head rub and a treat from uncle Ski and happy baking! Ski

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne

Dr. Skibum,

 

Great looking bread, it is now on my "To Bake" list.  In their book "Inside the Jewish Bakery" Stanly Ginberg & Norman Berg provide a similar method of rolling out your ropes before braiding.  It does makes the ropes a lot easier to work with.

 

I have few questions about your recipe  They are:

  o The hydration level seems pretty high at: 78.75%  Is this correct?

  o There was no salt listed.  How much do you use?

  o Can you estimate the weigh of the ground cardamom?

 

Thanks, I look forward to making this bread.

Dwayne

Skibum's picture
Skibum

I use 7-8 grams of table salt depending on the steadiness of my pour. Could not begin to guess the weight of the cardamom so I will try weighing it next bake. I use 8 large whole cardamom pods, crack and discard the pods and grind the seeds in a mortar and pestle.

For hydration, there is 40g water in the liquid levain, 189g milk and 75g egg = total liquid of 304g if I use all of the egg a liquid.

For dry 40g flour in the levain, 180g bf in the sponge and a further 240g bf in the final mix = 460g dry or about 66% hydration. The added butter makes the dough soft and easy to work at this rather dry, (for me) hydration level.

Hope this helps and happy baking! Ski

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne

Skibum,

 

I think that I am still missing something (this has happened before).  I generally throw new recipes into a spreadsheet so that I can do all the Baker's Math and to show the ingredients not only in Grams but also Ounces and Volume (Cups/TBSP/Tsp).  I did not separate the ingredients of the levain or include the Eggs as part of the liquid.  I just took a guess on the Cardamom.

 

Please let me know if I've gotten anything wrong.

Thanks, Dwayne

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Looks good except WAAAY too much cardamom. To test I placed 8 cardamom pods on my scale which only registers in whole grams and got nothing. Placed all my remaining 30 or so pods on the scale and still didn't register a gram. Remember I remove the pods and grind the seed so a fraction of a gram or 8 normal pods is enough.

Oh yeah, I also use unsalted butter. I would say you are good to go!

Happy baking, Ski

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne

Skibum,

 

Thanks, I'll adjust the spreadsheet.  My wife has Swedish roots so I am looking forward to trying this bread.

 

Dwayne