Pulla is a Finnish dessert bread flavored with cardamom, commonly eaten with coffee during mid-day or Christmas time. It is similar to challah bread and brioche, and can be braided or shaped into a ring or buns. The bread is glazed with egg and milk and can be sprinkled with sliced almonds or raw sugar.
Pulla is a Finnish dessert bread. It is commonly eaten with coffee in Finland. The bread is leavened and its main flavor comes from cardamom, a spice commonly used in Scandinavian baked goods and Indian cuisine.
People in Finland typically eat pulla around Christmas time. They also eat bread during mid-day coffee time. While some people make their own pulla at home, it is just as frequently purchased from a store or bakery.
Cardamom is the defining flavor of pulla. The spice comes from India and other parts of Southeast Asia. Cardamom first made its way to Scandinavia after some Vikings bought it from Constantinople. It has a fruity citrus-like flavor.
While cardamom is used to flavor savory dishes and teas in other parts of the world, in Finland and other Scandinavian countries it is used almost exclusively in baking. Other Scandinavian countries have breads similar to pulla and which contain cardamom. In Sweden, the bread is known as vetebrod, while in Norway, it is known as hvetebrod, both of which mean wholemeal bread.
Cardamom is available ground or in whole seed form. Like many spices, a baker will get the best flavor if he grinds the seeds as he needs to instead of using a pre-ground spice. Most pulla recipes call for between one teaspoon and two teaspoons of ground cardamom.
In terms of texture and taste, pulla is very similar to challah bread and brioche. It is a very rich bread, usually made with butter, egg, yolks and milk. Some recipes call for heavy cream in addition to milk.
Like Challah bread, pulla can be braided before it is baked. To braid the bread, the baker must divide the dough into three equally sized strings. It should bring the strings together at one end and then braid them like you are braiding someone’s hair. The bread can also be shaped into a ring or buns.
The bread is usually glazed with an egg and some milk before being baked. Some bakers also sprinkle sliced almonds or raw sugar on top. The dough contains a lot of bread sugar, which contributes to its sweet taste. The baker can adjust the amount of sugar in a recipe depending on how sweet the final loaf is intended to be. Recipes usually call for between a third and a full cup of sugar.
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