Sweet Cardamom Buns

ejm on 18 Mar 2009 at 06:45

A while back, Julie J was asking for advice on how best to crush cardamom for her Finnish cardamom buns. As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to try it! And finally, this week, I got the chance.

[center]pulla[/center]

I'm not sure if this is how the buns are supposed to look. I pretty much guessed about how much of an indentation to make for the butter. And as I was inserting butter into the thumb holes, I completely forgot about sprinkling extra sugar on top as per Julie's instructions. But I did think of using some inferior apricot jam on two of the buns. It turns out that this is a great way to use and improve apricot jam! I decided to make a 3-strand braided loaf as well. And then when I was placing the buns on the tray and worried that they were too close together, I shaped 4 of the rounds into snakes and braided them together into a smallish 4-strand round loaf.

[center]pulla[/center]

Did I take my advice to use the coffee grinder to crush the cardamom? Ha! That would have been too easy. I used the mortar and pestle. Remind me to use our big sharp knife next time. The mortar and pestle is way too labour intensive and leaves rather large chunks of cardamom behind. Or perhaps I will follow my own Fresh Loaf advice to use our coffee spice grinder. Luckily, large chunks of cardamom taste good and are soft enough that we aren’t risking getting broken teeth... and the crumb is beautifully soft and moist. Absolutely delicious with or without extra butter! (The extra butter is really unnecessary! But oh so good!)

-Elizabeth

[center]pulla[/center]

 

edit: link to JulieJ's pulla recipe fixed.

Elizabeth, Your cardamom buns look just the way they should!! They look better than mine do ha ha!! I couldn't tell how large the braided one was, but it looked nice too...the Finns do a 4 way braid that I can't do very well, but I just do a 3 part braid, which is much easier...glad they turned out good! I enjoyed the blog and the pictures! I did notice how big some of the cardamom pods looked and was wondering if they tasted good that way, so I am glad to hear that they do!! I was surprised that you didn't try the coffee grinder! Take care, Julie J

Thank you Julie! How thrilling that I blundered onto having the buns turn out the way they were supposed to. Of course I don't believe you that they look nicer than yours but it's kind of you to say so.

I was surprised that I didn't use the coffee grinder too. (Maybe it was because of the noise. The sound of the mortar and pestle is so much more pleasing than the sound of the electric grinder.)

Thanks again for the recipe. We LOVE the bread.

-Elizabeth

P.S. 4-strand braiding isn't actually that hard. These videos show two ways to achieve the same goal (I think the 1st one is slightly easier to follow):

And this page on how to weave a 4-strand round is really good too

 

 

pandesal pilipino buns

Serves 24

Ingredients

Directions

·  Combine the water, evaporated milk and milk and heat in the microwave for 35 seconds. Run tap water over the egg for 30 seconds to warm it.

·  2

Add all ingredients (except the bread crumbs) in the order suggested by the manufacturer.

·  3

The dough is supposed to be somewhat sticky (when I made this recipe, it was not sticky but it turned out well anyway).

·  4

Spray two baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray; preheat oven to 375 degrees.

·  5

When the dough is ready, scoop out a small amount (about the size of an ice-cream scoop) and roll in bread crumbs in an oval shape; place on baking sheet.

·  6

Cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled.

·  7

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.

 

happy eating

 

vincent