Since I'm asking lots of questions...

[wesleysgirl]

Has anyone ever made Finnish sweet bread called Pulla?

I'm thinking about making some for my FIL (who is Finnish) but the recipes I'm reading intimidate me! Yeast in general is sort of intimidating, I guess, but if someone could tell me they'd made it, it might make me feel more brave...

Comments

[felisblanco.livejournal.com]

Well, I have a Finnish person on my flist, piksa. I guess I could ask her for you.

[theamusedone.livejournal.com]

I've made it many times. Large amounts of cardamom? I'm there. The recipe I use is from Baking With Julia Child.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Yay! It's not too hard? I even found a copy of Julia Child's recipe online -
http://sassandveracity.typepad.com/sass_veracity/2008/02/finnish-pulla-b.html

But I don't know that I can get cardamom pods anywhere near here. Have you ever tried making it with ground cardamom?

[theamusedone.livejournal.com]

I know the recipe looks rather intimidating, but really, it's not that hard. The bread turns out fragrant and wonderful.

Cardamom is tricky. Once ground, the essential oil goes off fairly quickly. so the pre ground stuff is usually pretty nasty. It's one of my favorite spices, so I always have some on hand. Do you have a health food store near you? I know sometimes they carry cardamom pods. Flavor wise, it's so worth going to the extra effort.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the input! I'm going to check around and see if I can find the cardamom pods somewhere...

[justhuman.livejournal.com]

If you have an Indian store nearby, they'll have cardamom :-)

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

I don't know if we have an Indian store, but this is prompting me to look and find out!

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

I read FIL as Friend-In-Law for some reason. And now I am like, "What friend did you marry into having?" :D

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Hee! I think Friend-in-Law should be a real term!