Finnish Pulla - Sweet Cardamom Bun - Easy recipe with braiding tips

February 10, 2024

The pulla, Finnish Sweet Cardamom bun is a basic element of Finnish cuisine and essential part of any coffee table in Finland.

Pulla is a loved and traditional part of coffee breaks in Finland.

Sweet pulla is not bread, even though there are similarities to yeast dough.

Main differences of pulla vs bread:

Pulla is always sweet. Bread in Finland is not sweet. (ok there are couple of exceptions for sweet bread)
In Finland, bread is always covered with butter or margarine. Pulla does not need covering like that, even though I remember that I have heard of people adding butter on top of pulla.. it's not at all common in Finland.
Pulla is sometimes filled with sweet things (like cinnamon buns or blueberry buns).

When Finns eat pulla?

Finnish pulla comes in various shapes and sizes, and it is most often enjoyed with coffee. Coffee and pulla are a great combination!

Many Finns eat pulla every day, typically with evening coffee. Or when visiting a coffee shop or stopping at the gas station to fill up the tank.

When visiting friends or family in Finland, you are often invited for a coffee (not dinner, we Finns just don't do that, if you are part of family, yes, then you can be invited to dinner too)

If you are visiting a traditional Finnish home, at the coffee table there is often some sort of pulla accompanied by various Finnish cookies.

In the old days, it was a matter of honor for the hostess to always serve at least seven different pastries or cookies for the guests.

And pulla was baked every week. It was also enjoyed every day with evening coffee.

Finnish "kahvi and pulla" schedule

I also ate pulla every day my whole childhood, at evening coffee that was at 7PM.

Finnish daily timetable is a whole different thing.. some day I'll write about that. Because after that evening coffee, usually Finns don't eat anymore, while southern Europe eats at 10 PM.

Check the Finnish daily coffee schedule here!

So how to make pulla? Is it very difficult?

Making pulla is not difficult, it just takes time with double rising times.

There are important things, e.g. yeast has to be treated carefully, it must not get cold or too hot, in either case your dough will not rise as expected.

Pulla is a handy reserve for the surprise guests, because it can be easily stored in the freezer and thawed when needed.

How to braid pulla to make big pulla loafs?

I have seen some videos on pulla loaf braiding and they are sooo difficult!

Don't worry, my method of braiding pulla is very easy. 😃

Check my easy way to on How to braid with 4 from the video below.

It's not difficult at all. Just repeat always the same pattern - Over-under-over and start from the same side always.

A tip: Remember not to make your braid too thick, because it would not bake in the oven evenly before burning on the top.

How much pulla will I get?

Most recipes for 2 cups of milk make 3 braided loaves or 20-26 small ones, depending on the size you want to make.

Of course you can make the loaves shorter, or even connect 2 or 3 loaves to create a round pulla wreath.

I usually make the small ones because I can take them out of the freezer individually to eat only 1 or 2.

With the versatile pulla dough you can make lots of different pulla varieties!

This list of Finnish pulla varieties is looong.. and remember you can add raisins or not! I do add them, they bring a nice extra flavor.

For example, you can make

Small round individuals (pikkupulla)
Braided loaves (pullapitko)
Butter eye buns (voisilmäpulla, my fav!)
Shrovetide buns (laskiaispulla)
Korvapuusti (cinnamon rolls)
Boston cake (like a really big cake of cinnamon rolls)
Plum boston cake (bostonkakku)
Berry-filled pie, like blueberry pie (mustikkapiirakka)
Apple pie (omenapiirakka)
Rhubarb pie (raparperipiirakka)
Curd pie, with or without raisins (rahkapulla)
Lucia buns (Luciapulla)
Poor knights and rich knights from the leftover loaves, even if they are a bit dry already (köyhät ritarit & rikkaat ritarit)
Rusk (korppu) can be done, when braided loaves have been on the table for too long and dried out. Rusks need to be even drier, so loaves are sliced and then slices are dried in the oven, first in 400 °F to get more brown color and then in 100-200 °F so that they will dry up but not burn. Keeping the oven door a bit open can help in drying too. Rusks will be very light after this drying. You can make sugar rusk or cinnamon rusk by first buttering the pulla slices, and then adding sugar or / and cinnamon on top before putting them to the oven. Korppu is enjoyed by dipping it to a hot beverage, e.g. coffee or milk, which makes it soft..

And then there are the numerous pulla shaping options, a lot of variety to choose from, for example we always made "chicks" for the Easter, a type of knot, and several different shapes for Christmas, like pulla boys, decorated with raisins

I hope you will enjoy making pulla with these tips!

Please comment below, if you have some questions or would like to share how your pulla tasted like!

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Finnish Sweet Cardamom Buns (Pulla)

Tuija

Rated 4.6 stars by 5 users

Cuisine

Finnish

Author:

Tuija

Servings

Prep Time

2 hours

Cook Time

10 minutes

How does pulla taste like? The flavor of pulla is sweet, warm and comforting, with a subtle spice of aromatic cardamom. Raisins are the extra treasure to be found in pulla!

The shiny, golden crust with pearl sugar crunching in your mouth.. ahh!

Finnish pulla is the perfect pair for coffee or tea! Traditionally in Finland people eat pulla almost every day, usually with afternoon or evening coffee, and definitely when there are guests, they are offered coffee and pulla.

Did you know that in Finland, many houses and apartments are sold with the scent of fresh pulla? They smell like home. 🥰

Ingredients

Dough

5 ½ - 6 ½ cups all purpose wheat flour
4-5 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 teaspoon cardamom, grounded
1 generous teaspoon salt
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup raisins
2 cups whole milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup / 1 stick butter

For brushing before oven

1 yolk (from the dough ingredients, check directions)
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon sugar

For decorating

Pearl sugar

Directions

Make the dough

Mix 2 cups of the flour and yeast
Add all dry ingredients and raisins, mix
Warm up the milk (warmer than hand but not hot)
Add warm milk to the flour, mix
Add 1 egg and 1 egg white (yolk goes to the brushing mix)
Soften the butter e.g. in microwave oven or hot water
While mixing, add the butter
Add the rest of the flour, a bit by bit. When the dough starts to separate from the bowl and does not stick to your hand anymore as earlier, it is ready. Don’t add all mentioned flour in this recipe, if your dough is ready before! Too much flour makes the pulla dry.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel to keep the dough warm, it does not rise if it's too cold) and let it rise for 45-60 minutes.
Prepare for brushing the pulla before oven: Mix the egg yolk, water and sugar. Yolk makes the beautiful golden brown color to Finnish pulla.
If baking butter eye buns, mix the melted butter, sugar and vanilla sugar and put it to the fridge to solidify. (see ingredients below)
When the dough has doubled it's size, it is ready for the next step.

Shaping the Finnish pulla

Add some flour onto your kitchen counter or wooden baking board and add the dough.
Knead the dough throrougly for at least 5 minutes
Divide the dough to 3.
If you are making loaves, roll each third with your hands to 4 long strips and braid them. Check the braiding tips on the attached video (at 4 min. or the short video below)
If you are making small pulla's, divide each third to 8 equal pieces.
Let the baked pulla to rise second time, for 15 minutes to rise. Cover the pulla with kitchen towel to keep it warm.
Heat the oven to 425 °F (or 400 °F if baking loaves)

Final touch

Just before putting them to the oven, brush the pulla with the brushing mixture and add pearl sugar on top.
Bake small pulla’s for 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven) until they are golden brown.

Recipe Video

Recipe Note

Want to make butter eye pulla?

This is a treat! My favorite version of Finnish pulla! (It's on the left in the video above!)

Easy version:

Make a small pit to each pulla with your fingers.
Brush the pulla like usually before ovenAdd a cube of butter and sugar to each pulla

Even better version of Butter Eye Buns filling:

Mix 3 tablespoons of melted butter, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract).
Put it to the fridge to cool down.
When it's time to fill the pits, use this mixture after brushing the pulla.

Size matters

You can of course make any size pulla you wish, but for oven, it's good to have only one size per one baking sheet, because big loaves need more time (20-30 min) in the oven and less heat (400 °F)