Pulla is a rich, soft bread served with coffee in Finland. It gets its signature flavor and heavenly scent from cardamom, a mainstay spice of Finnish baking. In this post I’ll teach you to make pulla into traditional braided loaves (the recipe yields 3 loaves). Pulla dough is also very well suited to making cinnamon rolls and other delicious delicacies, like Butter-Eye Buns or Finnish Cinnamon Rolls!
If you grew up in America with Finnish ancestry, you may have heard this called “nisu”; it’s the same thing! I have heard, though I don’t currently have a link to back this up, that the word “nisu” went out of favor because it comes from the Swedish language initially, and Sweden has a history of conquest over Finland. Whether or not this is the case, if you travel to Finland you’ll need to order “pulla” (BUHL-LA).
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Table of Contents
Ingredients for Pulla
- Active dry yeast
- Warm water (110-115 degrees)
- Whole milk
- Granulated sugar
- Salt: kosher or fine sea salt
- cardamom pods or ground cardamom: I find that taking the time to crush the pods really amplifies both the fragrance and the flavor of this cardamom bread! Ground cardamom certainly works too, though.
- Eggs
- All-purpose flour
- Melted butter (unsalted butter is preferred!)
- Additional egg for egg wash
- Pearl sugar, if desired
- Sliced almonds, if desired
Equipment you’ll want for pulla
- liquid and dry measuring cups and spoons
- Stand mixer fitted with a dough hook
- mortar and pestle if crushing cardamom pods; or you can use the back of a spoon, or a coffee bean grinder, or a spice grinder like this one!
- baking sheets
- pastry brush
- Small bowl for egg wash
The Process: How to Make Pulla
Mix the Dough
Start by prepping a few ingredients: melt the butter, beat the eggs, and if you’re planning on using cardamom pods, crush those and set aside. I also highly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your flour out in a separate mixing bowl. With 9 cups of flour, it’s very easy to accidently pack the flour into the measuring cups and wind up with a very dry pulla. If you do use measuring cups, measure carefully.
Stir the yeast into the water to dissolve. For the yeast to work properly, the water should be between 110-115 degrees. Place the yeast mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Stir in the milk, sugar, salt, cardamom, eggs and about 2 cups of flour. Beat into a smooth batter.
Add about 3 more cups flour and beat; then beat in melted butter. At this stage the dough will be shiny.
Add the rest of the flour gradually. When all the flour has been added, the dough should be cohesive but still kind of sticky. I recommend leaving it like that- if enough flour is added that the dough gets super manageable, the result is a dry pulla loaf. However, if your dough is extremely loose and not coming together at all, you can gradually add a few more tablespoons of flour.
2024 update/alternative: softened butter
*2024 update: I’ve been tinkering with adding softened butter AFTER all the flour has been added, instead of melted butter in the middle. I really like the results: I’ve been getting super soft, rich pulla. The downside is that adding softened butter is quite a bit slower than melted, so continue with melted butter if you prefer!
To use softened butter, cut a stick of butter into half-inch pats and allow to come to cool room temperature. Gradually add ALL the all-purpose flour until fully blended. Increase the speed to medium for a few minutes, then decrease to low speed again. With the mixer on low speed, add the pats of butter, one or two at a time, mixing until all the butter is fully incorporated. Proceed with the kneading process.
Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out onto it. If you have time, turn the bowl over it and let the dough rest for about 15 minutes, it will thank you for it! If you’re going to use the mixer to knead, simply turn it off for awhile and let the dough sit in there.
Knead the dough until smooth. It will have an extremely satisfying satiny texture. Alternatively, knead it in the stand mixer: beat with the dough hook on medium speed for 5-6 minutes.
Rise & Shape Dough
Transfer the dough into a lightly greased mixing bowl. Turn the dough once. Cover lightly (plastic wrap or a clean dish cloth work well) and leave to rise (preferably in a warm place) until doubled in size. This takes about 1.5 hours in my kitchen, which tends to be cool, except in the summer. If you have a warm spot, it will probably only take an hour. Punch down and let rise again about 30 more minutes, until very puffy again.
Without punching down again, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. For straight braided loaves, divide the dough into three equal parts, then divide each part into three equal parts again. I use a kitchen scale to make sure that each of these nine parts are the same size (or at least within about 10 grams or so of each other).
With your palms, gently roll out each piece into a long cylinder, about 16 inches long. Pinch three of the ends together and braid together.
Turn both pinched ends under. Once all three loaves are braided, lightly grease baking sheets (or line them with parchment paper) and lift each loaf onto a baking sheet.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Let pulla braids rise for about 20 minutes, until puffy.
Bake the dough!
Beat an egg with one tablespoon of milk or cream. Brush each loaf with the egg/milk mixture. If you want, sprinkle on pearl sugar and sliced almonds. I also love to bake them with just the egg wash and frost them later, once they’re cooled.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. They will be golden brown and so fragrant. Let cool, slice, and serve with coffee!
Yield: 3 loaves
Pulla-Finnish Cardamom Coffee Bread
Rich, buttery Finnish cardamom coffee bread
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Additional Time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) warm water
- 2 cups (480 mL) lukewarm whole milk
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 2 tsp crushed cardamom
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 9 cups (1,080 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp, 1 stick) melted butter-OR softened-see update below
- For Glaze, if desired:
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 Tbsp whole milk or cream
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 cup pearl sugar or crushed lump sugar
Instructions
- Stir the yeast into the warm water to dissolve
- Place yeast/water mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the milk, sugar, salt, cardamom, eggs, and about two cups of flour. *I recommend pre-weighing the flour in a separate bowl. If you use cups to measure it, measure carefully to avoid adding too much flour, which will lead to a dry, stiff dough.
- Stir until a batter is formed, then increase speed to beat until smooth
- Add about 3 cups more flour and beat, usually at this stage the dough looks smooth and glossy
- Stir in melted butter.
- Stir in the remaining flour. The dough should be cohesive, but not quite stiff. If it gets to the point where it's very stiff and manageable it often bakes up a little too dry. I prefer to handle a dough that's a bit sticky and irritating, because the final product is way more delicious!
- Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. You can rest the dough about 15 minutes at this point, and then knead until smooth.
- Place in a greased mixing bowl, cover and let rise until doubled-if your kitchen is warm, this will take about an hour, if it is cool, it may take longer.
- Punch down gently and let rise again about 30 minutes, it should be very puffy again
- WIthout punching down, turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into three equal parts, then divide each of these into three equal parts.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit
- Roll out each piece of dough into a long cylinder, about 16 inches
- Take 3 pieces, pinch the tops together, and braid together into a straight braid shape. Pinch the bottoms togehter as well, then turn each end under.
- Repeat with the other two loaves.
- Lightly grease baking sheets and lift the loaves onto them.
- Let rise until slightly puffy again, about 20 minutes.
- Beat egg with 1 Tbsp milk for egg wash, and brush over each loaf. Add almonds and pearl sugar if you wish.
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. They will be fragrant and golden brown.
- Slice and serve with coffee!
Notes
1. 2024 UPDATE: I've been experimenting with adding softened butter instead of melted. I really like the results, it's super rich, soft, and fluffy! To use this technique, cut the 8Tbsp butter into 1/2 inch pats and let come to room temperature. Stir in all the flour, then with the mixer on low speed add one pat of butter at a time until it's all incorporated. Proceed with kneading.
2. I also recommend taking the time to crush your own cardamom pods. The fragrance and taste is unmatched! It will, however, be totally delicious with regular ground cardamom from the spice aisle. Use about 1/2Tbsp for this recipe in place of the crushed.
3. I always recommend checking the temperature of water before adding yeast. It should be 110-115 degrees.
4. If you prefer to knead in the kitchen aid with the dough hook attachment, that will work too! I still turn out onto a floured surface after and knead briefly to make sure it's all uniformly smooth.
5. If you prefer, skip the almonds and sugar, and frost your pulla with a simple vanilla frosting after it cools.
Pin for later:
What Should I Make Next?
Try sourdough pulla next!
Or if you’re looking for an especially decadent pulla-based treat check out Finnish Shrovetide Buns.
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear how it went in the comments! If you share on Instagram, please tag me @sisuhomemaker. And as always, I’d love to hear any comments, questions, or concerns-get in touch with me at carol@sisuhomemaker.com.
