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Pulla is a Finnish cardamom bread that is typically braided and baked on a sheet pan. The word “pulla” actually means bun, while “pullapitko” means braided bun and is what pulla is usually referred to as in Finland. Around here, however, we usually just call it pulla.
I have a few pretty solid recipes, but I am always on the hunt for more. A couple months ago, I tried a recipe by Cecilia Tolone. Cecilia is an American pastry chef and YouTuber who now lives in Sweden. Prior to her social media career, she was Sweden’s first pastry chef to be awarded three Michelin stars.
I watched her make cardamom buns, which are basically the same as pulla but in actual bun form. In her video, she says to mix the dough in a stand mixer for at least 20 and up to 45 minutes. Her mixer bobbed up and down as it struggled to knead the dense dough.
At one point, she made an ice pack to put on the flat top of her stand mixer to help prevent the motor from overheating. I felt my three-year-old KitchenAid could tackle this job with ease, and got to work recreating her recipe. Twenty minutes in, I tested my dough and saw it was nowhere near ready. I noticed my motor was quite warm, so I made a little ice pack to put on top like Cecilia did.
Unfortunately, my mixer has a rounded top so the ice pack kept falling off. I decided to forego the ice pack and to trust my mixer’s abilities. Within five minutes, I smelled something burning and turned around to see a steady plume of white smoke spewing from the motor. I threw on my oven mitts, unplugged the mixer and removed the bowl, then ran the mixer outside to the firepit.
That must have been quite the sight and I am sure my neighbors have so many questions. Thankfully, my mixer did not start a fire and still works.
Cecilia’s recipe, however, did not turn out very well for me. It was time to go back to the drawing board, so last month I asked readers if they could share their recipes. It made my day when I opened my mailbox to find a little green envelope tucked inside. Once I saw the return address with my friend Carol’s name, I knew a special recipe had just arrived.
I have gotten to know Carol over the past year, and she is extremely generous in sharing recipes. She is a skilled and knowledgeable cook, but also very humble so I won’t go into great detail on her talents.
The recipe I am sharing this week was given to her by the late Betty Rostvold of Keewatin. Carol said Betty was a dear lady who made pulla before church on Sundays. Betty was a cousin of the renowned former food columnist and cookbook author, Eleanor Ostman. If you have Eleanor’s cookbook Always on Sunday (1998), you will find Eleanor mentioning “Cousin Betty” in her brilliant storytelling. I would like to give a big thanks to Carol for her continued contributions to this column.
