Thank you for watching my video! I'm Miriam Suomala Ylineimi, and I'm excited to teach you how to cook Pulla, a Finnish coffee bread today! Pulla goes by many different names, including Pullaa, nisu, or vehnänen. Additionally, it is not restricted to only the long braided cardamom bread, but can also be any many different shapes and sizes.
In my grandparents day, you just didn’t have a meal in Finland without having bread on the table; however most of the bread was dark and made from rye, barley, or oats because of the cold climate and short growing season. Because of that, any wheat to make a white bread had to be imported, and was very expensive and saved only for holidays, when it would be used for sweet breads such as pulla. In fact, in some parts of the country, nisu actually means wheat!
Ingredients (Dough):
2 Packages of Instant Dry Yeast (14 grams)
2.5 Cups Warm Milk (110 - 115 degrees)
2 Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1.5 - 2 Teaspoons Salt
2 - 3 Teaspoons Crushed Cardamom
7 - 8 Cups Flour (Regular or Bread Flour will work)
1 Stick (1/2 cup) Softened Butter
Glaze:
1 Beaten Egg
Crushed Sugar
In a large bowl, combine two packages of Instant Dry Yeast into milk that has been warmed to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir in two eggs, sugar, salt, and cardamom, mixing well. Add about 3 cups of flour, until the mixture becomes a batter, smooth and glossy. Continue to mix, adding the rest of the flour, one cup at a time until a dough forms. The amount of dough you use will vary, but you want your finished dough to be stiff but not dry. Work in the half cup of soft butter, until you no longer have any chunks of butter in your dough. Once you have worked it in, put the dough into a bowl that has been greased (I like to use the butter wrapper to save waste) and place in a warm area to rise of about an hour, or until doubled in size. Once the dough has finished rising, remove from the bowl, and divide into four equal parts, and then divide each part into three strips, about 14 to 16 inches each. Braid the three strips together to create a straight braided loaf, and seal off the ends. Lift the bread onto a heavy and lightly greased baking sheet, or use parchment paper to prevent sticking. Let the dough rise again, for about 20 to 30 minutes so it is puffy, but not doubled in size. At this point, brush the dough with beaten egg, and sprinkle with the crushed sugar. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a beautiful golden brown. You should check frequently as it is important to not over-bake. Let the pulla cool, and then serve it with coffee and butter!
Some tips for making pulla:
All the ingredients should be room temperature, or slightly warmer, around 110 degrees for best results, including the yeast and eggs.
There are many different types of cardamom you can buy, and most will work. I have used the crushed type you get at Wal-Mart or your local grocery store before, and it works well, but the best kind is the tubes I showed in the video, with about a medium coarseness. You can buy these online or at some stores, and I find they store very well in the freezer.
When adding the crushed sugar, the type of crushed sugar I used in the video is preferred, which you can buy from most bakery shops or I’m sure online as well.
--Purchase Ingredients Online--
Flour: amzn.to/3NAei6t
Yeast: amzn.to/3u1iDIG
Sugar: amzn.to/3HSfCjI
Salt: amzn.to/3QMgOsU
Cardamom: amzn.to/3QPPLgv
Crushed Sugar: amzn.to/3ngT4Q9