Pulla Straight Dough and Sourdough

Hi Varda,
Gilding the lily? Poolish or sourdough could be, but infusing the milk with freshly-ground spice, might be, too :^)

This post shows how to use a mortar and pestle to grind the spice (I've done this, works beautifully) and also suggests infusing the liquid for the dough, with the freshly-ground spice:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/33890/cardamom-butter-buns-picnic-brief-introduction

These pulla you've baked are beautiful! I hope you love the flavor of cardamom bread as much as we do!
:^) breadsong

Those look great Varda.  I'm not sure I like cardamom so I may have to try this.

Regards

Ian

HI Varda,

I love the color of the crust on your rolls - almost look like snowflakes. 

Pulla is one of the holiday breads I have on my list to bake in the next couple of weeks.  I will have to try the 'infusing the milk' suggestion that Breadsong linked  above.  Sounds simple enough and I always like to get things done ahead of time if I can.  I love the aroma cardamom creates when baking.  Not a spice I ever had growing up so it has been fun to discover something new and my kids love it….or the bread with it in it - who wouldn't with all the enrichments!!!

Anyway, thanks for this post and thanks Breadsong for the link!

Take Care,

Janet

just isn't done or possible - but a plain and simple total and complete smash up is allowed:-)  So Nisu is Pulla and both are Finnish through and through!  I'm not big on large amounts of cardamon after tossing an inedible, taste wise, Swedish / Finnish cardamon bread from Clayton's book.  A little goes a long way.

Your buns are still good looking and have to be tasty by either name or another one if we can find it.  This week the GMA's made braided loaves with their Nisu.  Now Lucy wants Nisu based cardamon rolls that look like Cinnabon made them :-)  Talk about gilding the lily?

happy baking Varda! 

Lovely rolls.  Thanks for posting the link, they look great and sound delicious: perfect for breakfast.  I copied the recipe and will give these a try in the near future.   Based on what you said, I'll be prudent with the cardamon, as it can be overpowering.

Howard 

I still have my mothers hand written recipe which is similar to many recipes searched on this site. Jarko's recipe is similar. I have tried this as a sourdough bake a couple of times with mixed results: one okay and one throw away. My yeasted pullas are always good. By the way I always infuse the cardamom in the scalded milk. I will post my family pulla recipe if anyone is interested. It is most traditional. Brian

. . . Grandmother's recipe handwritten by my mom. Granny was a Finnish immigrant and a fabulous cook and baker. Her pulla was the best ever and her venison roasts to die for! As I have mentioned, this recipe is very traditional and similar to other pulla/ nisu recipes previously posted, but it is relevant now and here you go:

Pulla

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7-8 whole cardamom pods, seeded and crushed (about 1 tsp)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 9 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg, beaten
• white sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Infuse the ground cardamom in the hot milk. Let cool until lukewarm.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Stir in the lukewarm milk, sugar, salt, cardamom, 4 eggs, and enough flour to make a batter (approximately 2 cups). Beat until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add about 3 cups of the flour and beat well; the dough should be smooth and glossy in appearance. Add the melted butter and stir well. Beat again until the dough looks glossy. Stir in the remaining flour until the dough is stiff.
3. Turn out of bowl onto a floured surface, cover with an inverted mixing bowl, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead the dough until smooth and satiny, about 12 minutes. Place in a lightly greased mixing bowl, and turn the dough to grease the top. Cover with a clean dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down, and let rise again until almost doubled.
4. Turn out again on to a floured surface, and divide into 3 parts. Divide each third into 3 again. Roll each piece into a 12 to 16 inch strip. Braid 3 strips into a loaf. You should get 3 large braided loaves. Lift the braids onto greased baking sheets or parchment paper on baking sheets.  (I prefer the parchment paper for clean up, my add granny and mom never had parchment in my memory.)  Let rise for 20 minutes.
5. Brush each loaf with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Traditional is to use sugar lumps and crush them coarsely, but I just sprinkle lots of granulated sugar.
6. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 25 minutes. Check occasionally because the bottom burns easily. I am looking for 195 – 200 F inside when done.

 I am going to have to try the SD pulla again with YW and be more patient. I may add a small amount of ADY as my last go around was a throw out. I fed my YW levain 1 :1:1 4 hours ago and it has doubled: 25g YW levain, 25g YW and 25g bread flour. I fed my sweet levain at the same time in same ratios and amounts and it is lagging the YW build by a half. Well these should be ripe to bake in the morning. I LOVE this stuff! Hey, I grew up on it.

Happy pulla baking friends! Brian