Well, this was certainly an easier yeast bread to make than the Cranberry Pumpkin bread from October and I’m happy to say more of a success. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the taste of October’s bread, it just didn’t look as pretty as the Finnish Pulla. I have a feeling in addition to a braided bread being automatically beautiful, the fact that I really kneaded the heck out of this bread helped increase the beauty factor.
Now, I wish I had only good things to report. I fear I bought and used the wrong kind of cardamom pods. At our local specialty food store (which is where I had to go because the ”regular” grocery store does not carry such a spice), there was the choice of green or black pods. I went with the black thinking they looked easier to crack open. Indeed, they were pretty easy to pry open but the seeds emitted an odor that I wasn’t thrilled by. Imagine dank, smokey earth. Not necessarily a smell you would associate with a yummy sweet bread. Despite this mix up, the rest of the bread’s ingredients seemed to over power the black cardamom and I got rave reviews from my one taste tester, my husband.
I consulted a YouTube video for tips on how to braid the bread. While mine didn’t look exactly like the one on the video, it still came out better than I would have guessed. I sure was wishing for a deeper and longer counter top when rolling out the 36 inch ropes of dough!
You can see and read more about this recipe over at The Daily Morsel.
that is a cute higgledy-piggledy braid! The bread sure tasted good!
I have never even heard of black cardamom. Glad to hear the bread was still delicious. It certainly is the prettiest bread we have made thus far.
I hear you about counter space – I had to roll them out in a sort of Z-shape in order to have room for 36 inches.
Bummer on the cardamom. Bummer on the counter (although I can relate!). But great job on the final product!
I didn’t know cardamom came in different colours. I only saw green ones at the store I went to. I wonder if the black is more for savoury dishes?
I too was running out of space when rolling out the strands of dough!
Glad your bread still turned out though. It looks good. I have been enjoying mine for a few days. (been toasting it)
I used ground cardamon but the mix up between the black and green pods is understandable. I am looking for green pods next time I get near a specialty store! Blessings and Merry Christmas!
Yeah, I had trouble finding space to roll out those long ropes. I have never seen black pods before–how interesting! This sure was a yummy bread, wasn’t it?
Thirty-six inches is crazy long isn’t it! Your loaf turned out great – glad the flavor was OK too. ~Happy Holidays!