Bread Machine Swedish Coffee Bread

Thank you so much for a smaller (1 loaf instead of 3) and quick version of my great-great-aunt's "Vetebrod" (umlout omitted, as I don't know how to type it )! To keep the temperature consistant for the dough to rise, I've found that if you turn on the oven to 400 degrees for 1 minute, then turn it off and put the bread in immediately (covered with a clean, lint free cloth) and allow it to sit for 1 hour. It keeps the temp more consistant in my draftly kitchen. :) I think the crust was a little tougher than normal this way (but still good) and I had to add a little flour during the knead cycle to keep it from sticking to the sides of the bread machine. If you can't find pearl sugar, regular granulated works well. A quick heads up for anyone who has not purchased Cardamom before - it's expensive and can be difficult to find. Only one local store here (it's a small town) carries it ground (Spice Islands) at $11.99 for a jar. Keep in mind that ground loses it's potency once opened, so keep the jar TIGHTLY closed for it's next use. Thanks again for the recipe!!

this bread is absolutely wonderful!! I added a bit of cinnamon with the cardamon & used brown sugar instead of pearl. it was AMAZING!!

I don't have a bread machine any longer, so I started by activating the yeast with the milk, very warmed, and then added the wet ingredients, then the dry. It came out great! Don't worry if your dough strands are uneven when braiding- you won't notice after it rises and bakes! Just great!

For flavor, I give this 5 stars, but for it actually turned out, I'd give it 4, but I gave it 5 because I think it was my error more than anything. Not as light and fluffy as I would like. The bread ended up being more dense. I don't think I gave it enough time to rise though. I don't really make bread, so an estimated rising time for this recipe would have been nice. I also overcooked it a bit so the bottom and top were hard and very brown. My errors. May take less time than stated. I think this is the perfect amount of cardamom. You need to like the taste to really enjoy this bread! I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon on top of the cardamom since I enjoy those flavors together. As for the pearl sugar. That is very Swedish and does go with the bread. You can find it decently priced at Ikea in their food market. I also love cardamom bread with just granulated sugar on top, granulated sugar and cinnamon together or a light icing made with powdered sugar, milk, a little butter and almond extract. Sprinkle shaved almonds on top. Mmmmm... Now that is a treat! So if you don't have pearl sugar on hand, one of those toppings will work!

Finally...an easy to use recipe that makes a cardamom braid just like my mother used to make. I'm just baking my sixth one for Xmas treats for my children.

Giving it a 5 because the recipe itself is perfect. I don't think I'm a huge cardamom fan, though, so the flavor isn't all that pleasing to me. The texture/bread is perfect though; I might replace some (or all) of the cardamom with cinnamon next time. (I also used brown sugar on top and it came out great.)

I've been looking for a cardamom bread recipe for a while and thought this was going to be it. I'm not sure what happened, but this is not what I was expecting. I found 3 tsp of cardamom to be way too strong (there's a reason most other recipes call for 1/2 - 1 tsp) for this small loaf and the pearl sugar is too coarse for a topping. I'm a fan of spice but it was just overpowering and not at all like a bread, but more of a dense, spice cake.

My Swedish mother in law approves of this recipe so that in itself says a lot! Please note that it is important to use fresh cardamom -NOT a bottle that has been in your spice rack for a while. The second time I made the recipe I used the same cardamon I had used the previous Christmas and it was not as flavorful. I went out and bought a new bottle at a gourmet spice shop and it was WONDERFUL.

My dad was from Sweden. His mom, my grandmother, didn't even speak English, only Swedish, and she lived with us my whole life. She made this bread a LOT and I miss it! This recipe was perfect. Note to other reviewers: it is CARDAMOM bread. It is supposed to taste like cardamom! Also pearl sugar is the traditional topping. You don't mess with tradition!

Since I don't have a bread machine, I warmed the milk before adding the yeast to it. I then used my KitchenAid mixer to complete the process of mixing and kneading. After about 10 minutes I had a beautiful smooth ball of dough. The dough was very easy to work with; it makes a gorgeous loaf of bread that slices and toasts easily. I used the suggestion of another reviewer and put the loaf in a previously warmed oven to rise. Heat oven for one minute at 400 degrees, then turn off. Immediately place loaf in oven until double in size. So happy to be adding this recipe to my collection!

Fabulous, wonderful, just like grandma's.

Awesome! don't reduce the cardamom, 1 tbsp is perfect. I didn't brush with egg white and pearl sugar, left plain and brushed with butter when removed from the oven for a soft crust, yummy!

Delicious! This should be called "7 minute bread" as it was gobbled up in about that much time by 3 adults. I've never cooked with cardamom before, and after my husband's first bite, he said, "whoa, too much nutmeg," but after a few more bites, he couldn't stop eating it. My in-laws did not like the spice flavor, and I'll substitute cinnimon when I make it again (today, by request). Dough was easy to work with. BTW, my friend sells a bread similar to this in her bakery for $8/braid - it is really popular and flies off the shelves even at that price.

OK, thank God for reviews because I never went with the 3 tsps. of cardamom. 1 tsp. is plenty of flavor for this recipe. Aside from that, this IS my go to recipe for Swedish braided loaf. Coming from a large Swedish family who had a restaurant and catering business, this is the recipe that tastes most like the bread my Nana always made. I also use bread machine yeast, (2 1/4 tsps.) Comes out nice every time.

If you like cardamom, try to find cardamom seeds and grind your own. So much more flavor than the pre ground. Try Asian food stores if your grocer doesn't have them. Thanks for the recipe for the bread machine.

I made this bread several times over the holidays and it always turned out great. I made the first loaf following the recipe exactly and I think, if you're not Swedish or not used to the flavor of cardamom, it might be a little overpowering. I couldn't decide if I liked it, but others in my family loved or hated it. Weird... Anyway, it's a dependable recipe and I used cinnamon in the other loaves. Very, very good recipe.

Delicious!! Tastes just like the recipe from my husband's Gma, without all the work. :) Even though this only makes one loaf, this is the recipe I'm using from now on. Thanks.

This recipe has made people mad at me because they cannot stop eating it until it's gone. It is a sure crowd pleaser and also makes a great gift. I had my kids make it for their grandmother and we mailed it cross country. It was a very special gift. It is hard to find any thing like this at the stores

I followed the recipe as written but baked it in my machine using the sweet bread cycle. My husband and I had the most delicious toast (I put a little honey on it) this morning. Tomorrow we will try french toast. Thanks for a great recipe.

Very close to the Finnish version :) We call it Bulaa.

I have tried to make cardamom bread (we call it tsoureki in Greece) with the bread machine before, but all my efforts ended in failure. This one turned out to be great. The bread rose and its texture was so soft. I do believe though that 3 teaspoons of cardamom are too much. I used half the quantity and next time I’ll use even less. I also increased baking time to forty minutes.

fantastic recipe. followed all directions, however i left the loaf to rise for about an hour after the dough cycle had finished. i only used 1 tsp of cardamon and added 2 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of nutmeg.

My Norwegian grandma used to make julekage for the holidays. She would sneak in an extra loaf that didn't have the dried fruit, so it was "cardamom bread". It makes the best toast for breakfast! No jam, just hot buttered toast to go with the eggs.

Easy and delicious--added a bit more cardamom and cinnamon.

Love, love, love! I misplaced my original recipe that I cut out of the Chicago Tribune about 15 yrs ago. Thank goodness I found this version - I loved being able to put everything in the bread machine and only having to do the braiding and second rising. I also didn't have ground cardamon on hand but had 6 - 8 cardamon pods which I ground fresh. It yielded about 1 tsp vs the 3 tsp the recipe called for but it was very potent thanks to the fresh grinding; the cardamon flavor came through loud and clear. The old recipe also made 3 loaves so it's nice to be able to just make one at a time with this one.

Great! I doubled everything except the cardamom (did 3 rounded tsp)so I'd have one to keep and one to give. The loaves were gorgeous and it smelled like a bakery in my house.

I followed the recipe, including the 3 tsp of cardamom, and I am loving the result. I have no idea whether this is authentic, but it is delicious, and this is good enough for me. I used brown sugar and milk on top.

Not quite as good as my Grandma's, but very close.

My family is swedish so we were having a swedish dinner party at our house. We needed a swedish bread, and this was perfect. So yummy and so pretty.

This bread made the house smell awesome! I added dates and served the bread as a breakfast bread.

I've used this recipe two Christmas's in a row now, and it's consistently yummy. Texture is soft but not gooey. This is *cardamom* bread, so it tastes distinctly of cardamom. I didn't find pearl sugar so I used 'Sugar in the Raw', turbinado sugar, which has large crystals. It gave the crust a glittery look and a nice crunch. The bread bakes up a dark mahogany brown, not golden like the picture (maybe it's the sugar). I recommend this recipe.

This bread is super easy to make and really tasty! If you don't like cardamom, however, this obviously isn't a bread for you. Pearl sugar is exactly what the topping should be, so use it if you can find it (you can also use pearl sugar for making "chouquettes", which are essentially cream puffs with no filling.) I like to add a drop of orange oil or orange zest for a bit of extra oomph.

Used this recipe several times, always turns out great! Depending on who's eating it I may use cinnamon instead of cardamom.

This recipe turned out excellently! Last time I've had Cardamom Coffee cake this good, it had come straight from the oven at Swedish Bakery in Chicago.

Loved it just the way is reads. My mom who is part Swedish and grow up eat her moms bread said "It is just like mom made".. Big hit at Easter dinner..

This tasted just like my friend from Finland would make. I followed the other reader's comments about the cardamom and only added 2 tsp, but I think I will put close to 3 tsp in next time. It was wonderful and so easy to make. I didn't have pearl sugar, so just used regular sugar on top. Loved it, brings back good memories with my friend who no longer lives close to us.

I just made this bread and it is really wonderful. I had to let the loaf rise for about 2 hours to double in size and while the loaf is nice and light, it did not get very "poofy". Also, I only added 2 Tbs of cardamom, but I will add 3 Tbs next time! I topped the loaf with an egg wash (included the yolk) and "Sugar in the Raw". The loaf turned out a nice golden color and the raw sugar gave a nice crunch to the loaf. I paired this with a homemade pear ginger preserve...and it was truly scrumptious!

So Easy...perfect cardamom flavoring...do delicious. Served with lingonberry preserves. Didn't have pearl sugar...used white sugar...couldn't tell the difference.

I din't have Cardamom and it was so expensive I used cinnamon instead. It was delicious!

Excellent! Just what I was looking for.

Very good. I made this for my dad, who is Swedish, and he loved it.

This is the most wonderful cardamom bread recipe I have ever tried. Whoever said it was too much cardamom, must not have really been looking for a cardamom bread recipe, because this is perfect...and so pretty too!

Very good just like my mom made, using the bread machine makes this so easy.

This is very close to the coffee bread we used to get from the Swedish bakery in Chicago. I found that bread flour seems to work better than all purpose flour. Also, to prevent it from getting too dark, I cover with foil half way through baking. Yummy stuff!

Made this several times for company. Always a winner.

I really liked the cardamom, it has a very fresh smell.

like several people here, I subbed a mix of spices instead of cardamom because I didn't have any. I'm sure with cardamom it's divine, but I'm really impressed with the texture of this bread. it's soft and fluffy and totally addictive. great presentation as well. I let mine rise a long time...a few hours... since my kitchen was kind of chilly, then lightly heated it in an open oven set on low for a few minutes to really ramp up the yeast. it rose beautifully when baking as well. perfect recipe. I think this will be my new go-to for sweet bread.

Yum! I just bought a jar of ground cardamom for the first time and decided to try this recipe as my first experiment with the spice. I didn't have any sugar in the house, so I used Sweetleaf Sugar Leaf which is a mix of cane sugar and Sweet Leaf Stevia. I used just a little over 1/4 cup to substitute for the 1/3 cup sugar. I also added about 1/8 teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. When the dough came out of the bread machine it seemed a bit dry, although it could have been my fault since I forgot to check it during the initial 10 minutes in the machine to see if I should have added more milk. I wet my hands just a tad as I rolled out the three dough ropes to add a little bit of moisture. I let it rise for about an hour on top of my stove as the oven preheated. Seemed to take a while to rise since the dough was so dense. Brushed it with half of the egg wash half way into the rise and then brushed it again with the egg wash at the end of the rise. Sprinkled more of the Sweetleaf stevia/cane sugar on top before baking in the oven. Bread looked beautiful as it baked, but took about 15 minutes longer than specified in the recipe to cook fully. In the end the bread turned out marvelously delicious despite all of my worries. My kids even liked it. Looking forward to eating a slice in the morning with my coffee! Will definitely make again!

We have so many Swedish Foods that are sweet...my family appreciates a BREAD like this instead of sticky sweet breakfast coffeecake on Christmas morning. The cardamom flavor is perfect. I do put thin-sliced almonds on top.

Very easy, time saver from doing it the way my mom did when I was a child. Love cardamom flavor!

This was a very simple recipe that turned out well for me. I used brown sugar instead of pearl sugar since I was unable to find any at the store. Next time, I think I would increase the amount of cardamom because I really like the flavor of it. I plan to use some of this bread to make french toast with and I bet it will be yummy.

Delicious. This bread is slightly sweet, with a soft center and crisp crust. Tip: save the egg white from the egg yolk you put in the bread and use it (instead of 2 additional egg whites) to eggwash your bread. I didn't need two egg whites. Overall, very easy and quick yeast bread to make with a good result. Braided breads like this also present well.

My family loved this bread. It was 2/3 gone 20 minutes after taking out of oven. We could tell there was a spice added but it was very subtle. I may try again and add more cardamom. Also, I didn’t have pearl sugar and didn’t want to wait so I possibly went overboard sprinkling with granulated sugar! Hahaha. Pearl sugar is on the list for next time. Good recipe

Really easy to make and yummy to eat. Love the cardamom taste!

made this for a meeting with the women and everyone wanted the recipe thanks for making me feel like a pro..... anytime we have a huge get together with alot of people I make these and they always disappear.... never any left over's

I made this recipe entirely in my breadmaker. It turned out perfectly! I will definitely be making it again. Thank you for sharing! Perfect amount of cardamom, too!

So delicious! I made this the whole Christmas season and nearly wore out my trusty thrift shop bread machine! For authenticity, use the fresh-ground cardamom - use less if you’re not sure cardamom is for you - and the pearl sugar. But there are no baking police, so make it your own! For the second rise, I put the shaped loaf into my microwave, where it’s generally warmer in winter and draft-free, and let it rise for around 45 mins, until it’s nice and puffy (totally depends on how active the yeast is). I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do - I’ve replaced my previous recipe we love it so much!