Kanelbullar
Prep 2HR | Bake 20M | Enjoy in 2HR 20M
This great recipe is by Dinner With Julie.
Like other ingredients, good-quality flour makes a difference, particularly when you’re baking bread. I’m into the rhythm of it again, having revived an old sourdough starter and begun mixing up batches of no-knead dough on the regular to bake in a hot, covered pot for an unbelievably crackly crust. (I’ve used the same formula for olive bread with rosemary, and it makes an amazingly chewy pizza crust.) But that’s just the day to day stuff – in winter, on those days when the light stays so low it seems like dusk starting at around 2pm, I like to spend more time in the kitchen, and rolling and kneading a nice, soft dough rich with sugar, butter and eggs on a floury board is one of the biggest stress reducers.
This year, kanelbullar with cardamom has become my new thing – you roll soft dough into rectangles, spread it with a paste of soft butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, then fold it up like a letter, give it another quick roll and cut into long strips you then twist, roll around your fingers and tuck under itself. It’s the sort of thing you can play with until you get a handle on, and even if it’s wonky, they’ll still look great.
Try Dinner With Julie’s recipe below and check out her website for more great ideas!
Ingredients - Dough:
1 cup milk, warmed
2 tsp active dry yeast
3-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
Ingredients - Filling:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 egg lightly beaten
Pearl sugar or sliced almonds for sprinkling (optional)
Directions:
Put the milk into a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast overtop. Let stand for 5 minutes, until it’s foamy. Add 3 cups of the flour along with the butter, sugar, egg, cardamom and vanilla. Stir until the dough comes together, and continue to knead, or mix with the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer, until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed (you’ll likely need 3 1/2 cups). It should be tacky, but not sticky—add more flour if it’s sticking to your hands. It will smooth out and become less tacky as it sits. Shape into a ball and place it back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and let stand in a warm place until the dough has doubled in bulk, 1 1/2—2 hours.
Cut the dough into two pieces and on a lightly floured surface, roll each piece out into a rectangle that’s about 9×12 inches. In a small bowl, stir together the soft butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, and spread half over each piece of rolled-out dough. Fold each piece up in equal thirds, as if you were folding a letter, and roll it again until it’s roughly 8×14 inches.
Cut the dough lengthwise into strips about 2 cm wide. Twist each strip by holding each end and twisting in opposite directions, then holding one end, wrap it around two or three of your fingers (as if you were wrapping up an electrical cord), then tuck the end over, under and through the hole in the middle.
Place each rolled bun on a parchment-lined sheet, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar or sliced almonds, and let them sit while you preheat the oven to 350?F. Bake the buns for 15-20 minutes, until golden. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen kanelbullar.
See this recipe and more over at Dinner With Julie.
