My First Pulla!

Pulla is, along with Pannukakku, one of the comfort foods of my childhood since they were served at all the big shindigs at the Finn Hall and Pulla was common at family visits.

It's amazing just what the smell of the Cardamom did to me when making this!

Followed this recipe: Allrecipes Finnish Pulla

This however is the Finn Hall recipe:

I did have to improvise a bit -- I had started everything and discovered I had no white sugar, just Sugar-in-the-Raw. So while the milk was still hot I whisked in the sugar, salt, and cardamom to dissolve the sugar. After it cooled to lukewarm I added the eggs and yeast/warm water mix and enough flour (2 cups) to make batter:


Then I beat in enough flour (3 cups) to make dough. Rising #1 on a floured board:

Rise #2 in a bowl by the woodstove. Punch it, let it rise a third time:

Divide into thirds, then sixths so you can braid the rolls:



Brush on beaten egg, and sprinkle with Sugar-in-the-Raw:

The directions said to watch it carefully since the bottoms can burn...and I just barely avoided burning the bottoms!!! The taste and texture were good...though it wasn't going to win any Finnish baking contests!
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