Finnish Cardamom Bread
Kitchen Tested 
- Yield 20 servings
- Prep 35 mins
- Cook 25 mins
This beautiful golden loaf with a braided top is perfect for breakfast. Leftovers would make great bread pudding or French toast.
Mark Boughton Photography / styling by Teresa Blackburn
St. Paul Bread Club member Pat Roberts grinds cardamom seeds in a coffee grinder.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/2 teaspoon
- 1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
- 2 -- eggs beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds or ground cardamom
- 41/2 cups bread flour
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 -- beaten egg (for glaze)
- 1 teaspoon Granulated sugar for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- Mix yeast, warm water and 1/2 teaspoon sugar until yeast dissolves. Set aside.
- Heat milk in a saucepan over low heat until small bubbles appear along the edges. Cool to about 120F. Add beaten eggs, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, salt, cardamom and 3 cups flour. Beat well. Add butter; beat well. Add yeast mixture. Add remaining 11/2 cups flour in three additions, mixing well after each addition, until dough has a soft to medium consistency.
- Knead on a lightly floured surface or with a mixer fitted with dough hooks until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding as little additional flour as possible.
- Place dough in an oiled bowl, turning to coat top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled, 1 to 2 hours. Punch down dough and let rise again until almost doubled, about 1 hour.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope. Braid 3 ropes together to form a loaf. Repeat with remaining 3 ropes. Place loaves on a greased baking sheet or in greased 81/2 x 41/2-inch loaf pans. Cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Brush loaves with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 25 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom. Invert from pan and cool on a wire rack.
Recipe adapted with permission from Kim Ode’s Baking With the St. Paul Bread Club (Minnesota Historical Society, 2006).
