Pulla (Finnish Coffee Bread)

This is a dense, sweet, buttery, eggy dessert bread spiced with cardamom. It’s one of my favorite things my mom would make for us growing up. It tastes even better the day after it is made.

1 pkg. dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups warm milk

1 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp. ground cardamom (make sure it is fresh, but you may need to adjust the amount depending on how strong it is)

4 eggs, beaten

8-9 cups white flour

1 cup butter, softened

Glaze: 1 beaten egg, pearl sugar

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, cardamom, eggs and enough flour to make a soft batter (about 3 cups). Beat until dough is smooth. Add butter and kneed well. Add the rest of the flour and kneed until smooth and satiny. Cover and let rise in a warm place 1 hour.

Roll out twelve 16-inch ropes and make three braided loaves. Place them on parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover and let rise 20 minutes.

Glaze with egg and sprinkle the pearl or coarse sugar on top.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 min.

Let cool and serve sliced and slathered with butter.

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