Pulla (Finnish Cardamom Bread) (2024)

The light and fluffy texture of pulla, Finnish cardamom bread, is absolutely delicious, especially with a hot cup of coffee. Making pulla is simple and fun--so let's get started!

If you love trying new sweet flavored bread recipes, make sure to try our homemade cinnamon buns and cinnamon babka too.

Want to see our latest recipes? Subscribe to our email newsletter to get our latest recipes, fun food facts, food puns, and behind the scenes news about our blog.

Ingredients

All you need to make your own loaf of pulla, also called Finnish cardamom bread, are a handful of simple baking ingredients. Let's look at an overview of them.

• Bread Flour: Not the same as all-purpose flour, this high gluten bread works best.
• Pearl Sugar: This special coarse sugar coats the top of the pulla adding a nice crunch of sweetness to the top.
• Ground Cardamom: This fragrant spice gives Finnish cardamom bread its characteristic sweet and spicy herbal flavor.
• Dairy: We use whole milk and unsalted butter to make pulla.
• Eggs: Whole eggs are mixed into the pulla dough and brushed over the top to add a nice finish to the crust of your loaf of Finnish cardamom bread.

How to Braid Pulla

Feel free to braid your cardamom pulla bread in a simple three-strand braid, or another pattern, such as the four-strand braid that we use in this Finnish cardamom bread recipe.

Check out this video tutorial on how to braid several different kinds of braids. Here's how we did our four-strand braid, with the photo tutorial below.

• Think of the strands being in positions 1-4, from left to right.
• Cross the strand in spot 4 over the one in spot 3.
• Cross the strand in spot 2 over the one in spot 1.
• Cross the strand in spot 2 over the one in spot 3.
• Repeat this pattern until the whole loaf is braided.

How to Make

Gather the ingredients to make pulla, also called Finnish cardamom bread. You'll need bread flour, fast-action yeast, salt, eggs, sugar, cardamom, butter, and milk.

1. Melt the butter in the saucepan, then add the milk and heat to 115°F on a thermometer. Remove from the heat. Whisk together the butter/milk mixture, the eggs, cardamom, salt, and sugar until well combined. Sprinkle the yeast on top and whisk until smooth.
2. Gradually add the bread flour, mixing with your hand as you go, until a slightly sticky dough has formed. Make sure to pick up all the flour from the sides of the bowl.

3. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 10-15 minutes, until it's smooth and much less sticky. A piece of dough should be able to stretch thin enough for you to see light through it. This is called the windowpane test.

4. Place the Finnish cardamom dough in a buttered bowl, cover it tightly, and let it prove in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.

5. Punch down the dough and divide it into 4 equal pieces, using a kitchen scale to make each piece the same weight. Roll each piece of dough into a rope about 2 feet long.

6. Lay the four strands side by side and squeeze them together at the top. Mentally label the strands 1-4, from left to right.

Start the four-strand braid by crossing strand 4 over strand 3. Cross strand 2 over strand 1, then cross the new strand 2 over strand 3. Repeat this pattern until the loaf is beautifully braided.

7. Squeeze the ends of the braid together to seal, and cut off the extra dough on the ends with a bench scraper. You can use the offcuts to make a mini 4-strand loaf. It will give you extra practice with braiding.

8. Place the loaf of pulla on a cookie sheet, cover it, and let it prove until it springs back quickly when prodded with a fingertip, about 30 minutes.

9. Once the pulla bread is proved, brush the dough with a lightly beaten egg white and sprinkle generously with pearl sugar.

Bake the Finnish cardamom loaf at 375°F for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 300°F and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

It is done when it has an internal temperature of at least 190°F. If it's getting too dark during the baking, cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil. The mini loaf will bake faster, so keep an eye on it.

10. Let the pulla cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving with a hot cup of coffee. Enjoy!

Recipe FAQs

Serve

If you're looking for other sweet bread recipes, make sure to try our mouthwatering recipes for vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls, kardemummabullar (Swedish cardomom buns), kozunak (Bulgarian Easter bread), cinnamon raisin rolls, and cinnamon babka.

Expert Tips

• Speed up the rise by placing the bowl of dough on the middle rack of a cold oven, and putting a pan of boiling water on the rack below the dough. Keep the oven door shut to trap the steam inside.
• Don't stretch the strands of dough when you're braiding the loaf. This will make the loaf skinnier at one end than the other.
• Don't have pearl sugar? Make your own. Put one-half cup of granulated sugar in a large skillet and add one tablespoon of water. Stir until the sugar forms clumps. Add water one-quarter teaspoon at a time if not all the sugar is clumped. Set the pan over medium-low heat and stir frequently until the sugar clumps have dried out and you can pick them up easily with a spoon. They will continue to harden as they cool.
• Place an extra cookie sheet under the loaf while it's baking. The air trapped between the two cookie sheets insulates the bottom, keeping it from browning too quickly.
• Use a thermometer to check when your pulla bread with cardamom is done baking. The Finnish cardamom loaf should be a rich golden brown and have an internal temperature of 190°F.

Other Sweet Breads You'll Love

If you liked this recipe and found it helpful, give it some love by sharing!

Follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook for more crave-worthy recipes!

The pleasure of a 5-star review would be greatly appreciated.

Recipe

Our Pulla Finish Cardamom Bread recipe was originally published on December 8, 2017.