Unique bread from Finland called pulla has a sweet flavor and is a great holiday gift. Give yourself plenty of time because it takes about four hours to make.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 40 mins |
| Servings: | 36 |
| Yield: | 3 loaves |
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- ½ cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 9 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
Instructions
- Warm milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm.
- Stir together warm water and yeast in a large bowl. Let stand until yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam, about 5 minutes.
- Stir lukewarm milk, sugar, 4 beaten eggs, salt, and cardamom into yeast mixture. Beat in 2 cups flour until combined. Add 3 cups flour and beat until dough is smooth and elastic. Add melted butter; beat until glossy. Mix in remaining flour until dough is stiff.
- Transfer dough to a floured surface, cover with an inverted mixing bowl, and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Knead dough until smooth and satiny, then place in a lightly greased mixing bowl and turn dough to coat. Cover with a dish towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down dough; let rise again until almost doubled, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease 2 baking sheets.
- Turn dough out again onto a floured surface and divide into 3 equal pieces. Divide each piece into thirds. Roll each piece into a 12- to 16-inch strip. Braid 3 strips into a loaf to get 3 large, braided loaves. Lift loaves onto the prepared baking sheets. Cover with a dish towel and let rise for 20 minutes.
- Beat together 1 egg and water in a small bowl. Brush over loaves and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Check occasionally because the bottoms of loaves can burn quickly.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 178 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 31 g |
| Cholesterol | 34 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 99 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is the exact recipe my mother-in-law gave me. My family hints quite often about craving it. I usually make it on snow days and for Easter.
I changed a couple things, first of all by following the advice of others on here and changing the oven temp to 350°, but also made them into rolls instead of how it’s made here, added some marzipan while rolling, and some pearl sugar with the egg wash 🙂 Turned out a lot like how my great grandmother and grandmother made it when I was younger. I definitely prefer the rolled version over the braided, though.
This recipe is amazing. I have to admit the bottoms do burn like she said. In order to prevent that I took it off the pan about 3/4 way through. I added extra cardamom along with the sugar on top and it came out amazing
We use the same recipe my great grandma brought from Finland. I have a feeling pulla (or “nisua”, as we call it) has evolved since 100 years ago because her method is quite a bit different. Our version uses at least 2 x the amount of cardomom, it’s not braided, and we don’t put an egg wash on it (darkens too fast). When it’s cool, we pour a syrup of extra strong coffee and sugar over it and then sprinkle more sugar on top of that. That’s also how my great aunt Irya made it when I was a kid. It’s amazing this way.
I’ve made this bread a couple of times now, and it’s always wonderful. Goes great with homemade jam
One of the 3 this recipe made. Followed the recipe exactly. Came out perfect.
Delicious.
This takes some time to make, but it is worth it. I plan to use the left-overs to make Creme Brulee French Toast, a favorite breakfast of ours.
Yes decreasing temp to 375.
I made this because I couldn’t find my mother’s recipe – this one definitely needs more cardamom and less time/heat in the oven. I pulled mine out early at 22 minutes and they were already very dark brown.
Not enough cardamon. Too much flour bake time and temp was all wrong.
Beautiful, but a little bland. I used 3/4 tsp cardamom and 3/4 tsp cinnamon and really couldn’t taste them. I’d add more spice, plus try raisins or cinnamon-sugar stripe.
Awesome
400 deg. oven is far too hot. 350 deg for 24 min. watching closely the last few min.
We loved this bread! So delicious!
I was married to a Finnish man and I would make Pulla with his Mom and Grandma. This recipe reminds me of them and the taste of this recipe is spot on.
I’ve made it twice now. Girls at work love it!
This was a great addition to Christmas breakfast. Next time i will top it with a cream cheese glaze and raspberry fruit jam / pie filling topping. On one loaf we tried this on top of a cinnamon sugar glaze and it was great. I also added a teaspoon of cinnamon to one batch.
The texture of this bread is heavenly, and it turned out great. Based on previous reviewers comments, we used 4 tsps of cardamom rather than 1, and we did NOT think it was too much. Loved it and will probably repeat at 4 tsps. Others commented on the bread burning. We baked it on a cookie sheet with a silpat sheet on it, low in the oven, and did not have problems with burning on top or bottom.
Excellent recipe. These are the same proportions as Beatrice Ojakangas uses in her Finnish cookbook. Although she doesn’t proof it for the same number of times. It is very helpful to know that 400 degrees F. is too hot an oven. I start with 15 minutes at 375 degrees F. And then lower the temp to 350 degrees and bake for another 15-25 minutes depending on your oven. If it browns too fast cover with foil. The best way to tell if it is done is to use a probe thermometer . When it is done it will register 200 degrees F. I always buy fresh green cardamom pods from Penney’s and grind the seeds finely in a coffee or spice mill. I increase the quantity to one tablespoon. You can always mix the dough and throw it in 2 gallon ziplock bags (leaving room for expansion)and put in the refrigerator overnight. The dough is much easier to handle.
Have now made this delicious Pulla recipe twice & although I kinda messed up this time, (thought I was being efficient by putting all of the dry ingredients together in one bowl. Unfortunately the recipe calls for adding the salt, sugar & cardamom to the lukewarm milk. Oops!) It has come out PERFECTLY both times!! I’d say that’s a pretty forgiving recipe! I always up the cardamom to 2.5t (roughly,) & use 90% Xylitol instead of the white sugar (except a little sugar for the yeast,) & it has resulted in perfect subtly sweet Pulla. I guess this is old fashioned, but my Grandpa & his siblings taught me yo eat it with butter & a sprinkling of sugar on top. So evil & delicious! Do be especially mindful about baking time & carefully applying the egg-wash / sugar on top as it really does go from perfect to burnt on the bottom if you aren’t watching it closely after 20 minutes, obviously depending on your oven. Time-consuming but ALWAYS worth it!!!