Cardamom bread

Cardamom bread

Finnish "pulla" cardamom bread
Type Sweet bread
Place of origin Sweden, Finland
Main ingredients Cardamom, walnuts, vanilla icing
Cookbook: Cardamom bread  Media: Cardamom bread

Cardamom bread or pulla (Finnish) is a type of bread flavored with cardamom. Usually baked as a loaf or in a Bundt cake pan, this sweet, aromatic cake is topped with chopped walnuts and vanilla icing, and usually requires about a day's worth of preparation. When the dough has risen, it can be braided to make it more decorative and festive.

Cardamom-flavored bread and buns (Finnish: pulla or nisu; Swedish: kardemummabröd, kardemummabullar) are commonly eaten in Finland and Sweden. Cardamom bread is considered a traditional food among Swedish Americans.[1][2][3] Cardamom buns are eaten along with coffee or tea.[4]

Cardamom[5] is a spice used in several Nordic countries in cakes, cookies, and biscuits, including traditional Christmas pastries in the cuisine of Finland.[6]

Pulla

Pulla

Several pulla loaves (dark roast (tummapaahto) in the top-right corner)
Alternative names Nisu, Biscuitia
Type Sweet roll
Place of origin Finland
Main ingredients cardamom seeds; raisins or sliced almonds
Cookbook: Pulla  Media: Pulla

Pulla (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈpulːɑ]; Swedish bulle or kanelbulle) is a mildly-sweet Finnish sweet roll or dessert bread flavored with crushed cardamom seeds and occasionally raisins or sliced almonds. Braid loaves (pitko) are formed from three or more braided strands of dough. The braids may also be formed into a ring. These braided strands or rings are typically coated with melted butter and then sprinkled with white sugar or almonds.[7] Other types of pulla include small round ones that resemble English scones but have a sugar and butter topping, and larger cinnamon rolls called korvapuusti. The outside typically has a shiny brown glaze, formed by a coating of egg white, milk or a mixture of sugar and brewed coffee.

There are two different variations of pulla: dark roast (tummapaahto) and pale (kalpii). "Tummapaahto" is baked in the oven until the sugar is darkened and melted. "Kalpii" is baked in the oven only for a short period of time, leaving the dough only lightly darkened.

Pitko is typically served in thin slices with coffee or at special occasions. Regular small pulla is served as a whole. Serving pulla with coffee is a very common practice in Finland.

Pulla is also common in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Northern Ontario, areas in the United States and Canada which have large Finnish populations. There it is also commonly known as nisu, an old Finnish word still in use with the same meaning in some dialects, despite originally simply meaning "wheat". "Pulla" is used instead to refer to a biscotti-like double-baked bread stick for dunking in coffee that is often made from leftover "nisu".[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Swedes in Minnesota
  2. ↑ The Minnesota Ethnic Food Book
  3. ↑ Fun With the Family Michigan: Hundreds of Ideas for Day Trips With the Kids
  4. ↑ Kardemummabullar
  5. ↑ Julens alla dofter Archived December 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ Julens Kryddor Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Finnish Pulla Recipe". Allrecipes.com. Allrecipes.com. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  8. ↑ Ojakangas, B. (1988). The Great Scandinavian Baking Book. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co.
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