Finnish Pulla

This is pretty close to the recipe that me and my mom use here in Finland. Here is another tip to make it even more special: Instead of dividing the dough into 3 parts for braiding, form it into a one big strip and roll it out into a big rectangle. Then spread soft butter evenly on the dough and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top of the butter. I like to use all three generously ;) After this, roll the dough rectrangle into one long roll. You can make some cuts on the loaf if you want (every 2" for example), this is not necessary but the bread looks nice this way. Brush each loaf with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Very very excellent! My husband is Finnish-American and begged me to make this bread for his parents and I was kind of nervous. They said it tasted the same as the ones they buy at the Finnish bakery! It was very easy to make. Per my husband's request, I added about a cup of raisins to the batter (I would definitely recommend this, and sprinkled slivered almonds on the top of the egg wash/sugar (before baking) on two of them. On the third I made a glaze of confectioner's sugar, milk and vanilla extract (which I, personally, liked better). I also baked the three loaves in a convection oven at 375 for about 30 minutes and just kept checking them... I think 400 would have been too high. One more thing, i baked them on my pampered chef stones which are known for not allowing things to burn so the bottoms stayed nice and soft. This bread, though it takes a long time to make, is relatively easy and tastes as wonderful as it looks! According to my in-laws, it freezes well too (I didn't have any left because they took the remaining two loaves home!) Thanks for the great recipe!

I am 50% Finnish and this recipe is as close as I've been able to find for the wonderful Finnish Nisu that my aunt Hulda used to make! Her Nisu was the standard in the entire family. NOTE: Add 2 teaspoons (not 1) of cardamom (there is never too much cardamom in any thing). This bread does not have to be a "coffee bread" and it is delicious with orange juice or hot chocolate too. When I was a kid, my aunt would get her Nisu right from out of her freezer (on a really hot summer day), slice it and put some butter on it and serve it with juice - for any children visiting. What a memory!!!

I have always made Pulla rolls at Christmas. My parents are Finnish, and my mother taught me this recipe at a young age. I can't imagine Christmas without it. Like I read before, roll out, butter, sugar and cinnamon, roll, cut and bake. With parchment paper, you don't have to worry about the sugar burning on your bake ware, and there is less chance of the bottom burning.

My entire family loved this! It's not overly sweet and has a wonderful texture. The only change I made was to bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes (as in the nearly identical recipe for Finnish Nissua). The loaves turned out golden brown and perfect. I'll be making it again for sure!

Thanks for the recipe! I had never had, or even heard of, cardamom before and now I am in love! : ) After reading the reviews of what other people had to say, I gave making this bread a shot. It took forever to make (I am just learning to make bread with yeast from scratch by hand), about 6 hours for me! After all of the work, I think it was more than worth it. I added raisins; I took about 1.5 cups of raisins, added enough water to cover them and simmered them on medium until most of the water was gone. Then I let them drain on a paper towel (all this to keep the bread from getting dry. I have done this to all of my quick breads that call for dried fruit and it works like a charm). I added them last. I made a chocolate sauce and a cream cheese glaze to go over a couple of the loaves. My favorite way is served cold with butter and a glass of orange juice. : ) Tip: I used parchment paper to keep the bottoms from sticking and burning. Also, I took others advice and baked at 350 F for 20-30 minutes. It turned out PERFECT! I can't thank you enough,Kim B.!

I've made this bread for years for Christmas and Thanskgiving. It's ideal as it's sweet but not too sweet. We call it Finnish coffee bread (I'm of Finnish descent). Instead of ground cardamom we put the seeds in which for some reason really add WONDERFUL flavor. Each person in our family has modified the original recipe from my great grandmother from Helsinki so that the bread is either chewier and denser on one hand or light and airy on the other. In either case it's great. Enjoy and experiment.

I am not familiar with this type of bread but I love cardamom so I wanted to make it. It was easy to make and looked and tasted wonderful. I added a cup of raisins and an additional 1/2 teaspoon of cardomom. Next time I'll double the cardomom. Even with the increased cardomom, I could only taste a hint of the flavor. I forgot to sprinkle sugar on the bread before going into the oven so I made a glaze of powdered sugar and orange juice and drizzled it over the loaves and got rave reviews.

I can't believe how tasty this bread is! I'm not much of a cook, okay I'm horrible, but this bread is the one thing I really enjoy making and it's tasty to boot. I've gotten rave reviews from friends and colleagues and am always finding people reqesting this delicious bread. Try it, you'll LOVE it!

It was good bread with a nice twist of cardamon. The bread turned out dryer than I like it, but I have a feeling that can be fixed fairly easily.

This is a great recipe.YUM!!! Here are a couple of tips to make it taste more like it does in Finland: 1. Use king Arthur white flour - huge difference in texture. (closest thing I have found outside of Finland that matches their flour) 3.use much more Cardamom than 1tsp 4.add a very tiny dash of vanilla 5.consider making small pullas, same baking time- these are more "foolproof" and are likely to bake more evenly (roll into a pall/patty roughly golf ball size) you can add different things to each- a sugar cube in the middle, dried fruits etc. 6.also, you can always add a little more butter to the dough- while not healthy it is delicous and makes it a little more moist!

Yummy bread. We used cinnamon in place of cardamon. Also, as with the previous reviews, the oven temperature must be lower, 350 or 375. You just really have to watch it. My husband's foster father was Finnish and made this when my husband was growing up. He would coat the finished baked bread loaves with Karo syrup, which we did. Then on each of the three loaves we sprinkled either brown sugar, large decorator sugar or cinnamon sugar. Slice it thin, and enjoy. Oh, one other thing you can do is watch some "how to" youTube videos on how to roll and braid the bread.

This is a delicious bread that our family has loved for years, northern Minnesota is prominently of Finnish orgin and you find Finnish Bisquit aka (Pulla) everywhere. I have been making this for years, and have found that if you use whole milk, and real butter, and knead it till it shines, you will get a perfect bisquit, also reduce your oven temp to 350, and you can actually make 5 smaller braids out of the dough. I also brush with egg and sprinkle with lump sugar before baking. It is wonderful fresh with butter, and also delicious toasted with coffee in the morning! I usually add just a little more than a teaspoon of cardamom, the fresher the better, you can find cardamom already ground at whole foods coops which are really reasonably priced, and very fresh.

My Mummu (Finnish for Grandma) was well known for her Pulla and cinnamon rolls. We only used milk (no water) and melted the butter in the milk on the stove (just warm, not hot). Look for something called pearl sugar in the Swedish part of the international section of your grocery store. It's like a puffed sugar that's great on this. The other commenter mentioned the cinnamon rolls - they're awesome, but we used brown sugar instead of white (I'm sure either is good). Also, when you roll it up, you can cut it at an angle and then press down with the back end of a knife on the short end (imagine a short side with two 45' angles out to the long side) to squish out the sides a bit - hope that makes some sense... http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa278/crudo20/Pulla.jpg

I made this bread as Christmas gifts. One friend called and told me her 13 year old son said, "This bread makes me smile." Another friend told me if I kept making this for my friends they might not like me. She could not quit eating it. I also up the cardmom to 1tablespoon. Might use even a bit more next time.

This bread was delicious. But I did bake the first loaf at 400 degrees for 25 minutes and it was way too dark. The next loaves I baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and they were perfect. Yummy!

Being of Finnish descent myself, I grew up on this delicious bread, and it seems that just about everyone who makes it has a slightly different recipe, but they're all good. An extra delicious way to eat pulla is to toast it so that it's warm and your butter or margarine just melts into it. YUM!!!

I found that if 10 cups of milk are added, as well as 5 cups of white sugar and candy canes, it taste terrible. so i just made it like your supposed to!

Excellent! Great for French toast.

I am Finnish on my mothers side and she loves my pulla! I use my breadmaker to do the dough on the 2hour 25 min mode and i put in all the ingredients (extra cardamom!) as listed and then after bread had risen and gone thru 2 kneading cycle i add raisins for one more kneading cycle (otherwide they get chopped up) I then divide the dough as instructed and make the braided variety with the egg wash , and slivered almonds. So easy i make on the event day ie Christmas , Easter or whenver i need it, My family is always so happy i can do this as my mother is happy to have someone else do it! I love this pulla!!

Wow. I just finished this (and I mean JUST; it's cooling now), and I had to take time out to write a review. THIS IS AMAZING. Best bread I've had, best recipe I've tried from this site. I wish I could give 10 stars. I don't know if there will be any left to take to my family dinner tonight! :)

PERFECT. This works with soy milk, which is what I used. My grandpa is a linguist and has done quite a bit of service in Finland, he knew exactly what this was when he saw it. I had some trouble in the mixing process-- no bread mixer, so didn't get as much beating into it as hoped, but it didn't cause any problems. 2nd stage of rising I put it in the oven @ 170 degrees F for about an hour. Beautiful bread. Oh, I cooked only one loaf at first, and it does NOT need 30 minutes.. it started getting too done at 24, I'm guessing 20-22 would've been even better.

Thanks to my Finnish maternal grandmother and her friends, I grew up on this delectable stuff, but, what's with the Christmas thing? We ate pulla all year 'round when I was a kid. Gramma would always have a few loaves in the freezer (it freezes well) for our use, and for when friends would drop in for afternoon coffee. I've made it on several occasions myself, but, even though it CAN be made without cardamom, it just doesn't taste right without it, and cardamom is SO expensive, so, because of that, I haven't made it in quite a while. (The next time I do, though, in addition to loaves, I want to make a few pulla pretzels with any left over dough. The rolls that my Gramma used to make with left over dough are SO boring!) Also, making pulla is pretty much an all-day project, so you have to allow for that. BTW, for those of you who haven't tried it, I'd like to suggest eating pulla toasted. OMG! Toasted pulla is one of THE most DELICIOUS foods you'll EVER put in your mouth! :)

Oh, how I love this recipe! :) I've been wanting to make this for a long time, and I had some time today, so I gave it a shot. I used my Kitchenaid to mix the dough most of the way, and then took it out and kneaded it for a few minutes (after letting it rest 15 min.) I messed up and forgot to add the butter until I had added all the flour, but I went ahead and added the butter, with a tiny bit of flour and I was able to mix it well. I cut the recipe down to make 2 loaves, and used 1 cup of whole wheat flour. I doubled the cardamom, and I still think it could have used more. This dough had a great texture and was a pleasure to work with. It also rose very nicely. I sprinkled it with coarse organic sugar and it looked so professional. It's tasty too- I'm looking forward to having some with hot chocolate. I'm glad I tried this recipe, and I'm so glad it came out so well.

This bread is amazing! I agree with the many others who say to increase the cardamom. I used 1 1/2 crushed seeds, fresh from the pod. Also, a note to bread novices, the dough maybe very sticky and wet during that first turn out of the bowl, but it will firm up as you knead more flour in.

I personaly was not happy with the result. It has a great taste, but I don't think all the work is worth it. I probably wont make this again. It also browns to fast. I would think about turning down the heat to maybe 375 degrees

Perfect! Having 3 loaves to deal with wasn't a problem! This reminded me of my wonderful semester abroad in Rovaniemi, Finland. When I opened up that jar of cardamom, it brought back so many good memories :) Best served warm with coffee, like the Finns do!

This was only my second time making bread and it was sooooo good. I thought braiding the loaves would be really difficult but it really wasn't. My biggest problem was actually rolling out the braid logs lol. It was so sweet and had such a great flavor. I ended up making 6 mini loaves. I will definitely making this again. The time it took was definitely worth it.

Wonderful! I put sliced almonds on top before baking along with the granulated sugar and it was beautiful as well as delicious. Unless you have a large kitchenaid, try making half a recipe for a more manageable size. I got 4 loaves out of the whole recipe and 2 when I halved it.

Great recipe! 1 Tbsp cardamom is essential to bring out the flavour and smell. It seems like a lot and the initial smell is overpowering but when cooked becomes a more subtle. Definitely, watch the oven. The tops were slightly burnt after 25 min but unharmed otherwise. I would bake for 20 min next time. Without the cardamom, the dough recipe lends the right texture to making cinnamon rolls or monkey bunch bread. A versatile recipe. Thanks for sharing it.

Delicious! BUT BE CAREFUL with bottom burning! I guess I had it coming to me since I used different pans b/c I just moved and didn't have baking sheets so each loaf cooked a little differently. I burned some but not so bad that you can't eat it. The ones that didn't burn are amazingly delicious and soft! I read a review that said 350 for 30 min. instead of 400...I agree. I will def. try this next time!

This really is the best holiday bread ever! It reminds me of being a kid with mummo cooking for us at Christmas. Nowdays I'm the Pulla maker and this recipie is the same my family uses - I prefer to used whole Cardomum freshy crushed and I LOVE the flavor so I use a Heaping Tablespoon! If you like a refreshing holiday variation try adding more and using fresh ground.

Love this recipe! My family truly enjoys this bread when I have made these. Very easy to use.

We really like this bread. I LOVE cardamom and this bread is so soft. I followed another's advice and doubled the cardamom, which I am glad I did because I don't think I would have tasted it otherwise. I also made it into two large cinnamon roll logs and baked them on stoneware, I didn't have any problem with burning. They baked beautifully. We ate one of the logs and used the other for bread pudding, which was the best I have ever had. Wonderful recipe!

When my grandma made nisu, I had the pleasure of being the only other person allowed in the kitchen. I didn't pick up the whole recipe (I was 4 at the time) so I've been spending the last year reconstructing grandma's nisu from memory. I discovered that if I roll the dough out into a rectangle, brush a little egg over it and cover it with a mix of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and sugar before I roll it into a loaf to bake it comes out amazing. My friends have taken to calling it the bread crack. Haven't been able to get a loaf to last longer than 10 minutes yet.

Yum yum yum....this recipe converted me..now I'm a huge fan of cardamom. I followed the advice of others and increased the cardomom to 1 heaping tablespoon, makes it great!

Great recipe! I make this bread for my grandparents whom are from Finland. They love the cardamon so I usually use a tablespoon, maybe even a little more...I feel you dont really get that taste if you only use a teaspoon. It takes a long time to make but definitely worth it.

Thank you for this recipe, my gramma and Mom used to make this at Christmas and I haven't found her recipe in her books - I think it was so memorized, it didn't need to be written down. When I was little and this got "stale" Grannie used to cut it into small pieces like biscotti brush with melted butter, add sugar and cinnamon and bake in the oven until crisp - then we used to dunk it in our coffe - which we could have on Sundays.

I don't have anything to compare this to, and I have never had it before but I was very pleased with the results. I doubled the cardamon because it is such a wonderful spice and it still was very subtle in the bread. As another suggested, I topped with a glaze flavored with almond extract and then topped with slivered almonds.

Very delicious! I scaled down the recipe to make 2 loaves (so I could use my mixer). I increased to 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom and made 1 with orange juice/powdered sugar glaze and 1 with sugar/almond mixture as suggested by another reviewer. I preferred the glazed loaf. Next time I will add a little orange zest and some raisins to the dough. Baked at 375 for about 25-30 mins. Can't wait to have a slice for breakfast with my coffee. Thank you!

I had never heard of Pulla before, but this recipe sounded good. And, I'll tell you I was not at all disappointed. This was not hard to make (as yeast breads go), and is fantastic as a breakfast bread. Cardamom is my new favorite spice....

I'd never baked with cardamon before, but it really leaves a pleasant subtle flavor on your tongue. This bread is perfect for breakfast, or with a cup of coffee for an afternoon snack.

As a major pulla fan living outside Finland, I just HAD to make these for my family this week - its Christmas! This recipe was spot on and I managed to understand it clearly enough to have a major success. This is the very first time I have ever baked anything and I am super happy with the results. Thanks a lot, will definitely polish up with extra cardamom in the future.

Wow! This is remarkable. I had never tried Pulla before and now I'm hooked. It wouldn't be difficult to eat an entire loaf in one sitting. It took me a very long time due to the dough being slow to rise but it was well worth the effort. It turned out great. I used an egg wash with a little milk and sprinkled with sugar before I baked and after it came out I made a glaze of 1/4 c. sugar & 1/4 c. water heated on the stove and brushed the bread. Yummm!

My family is Finnish and we make this every year for Christmas! This version is very similar to what we use, however we use 1-2 tablespoons of fresh ground cardamon (the flavor is just delicious!) Like other reviewers have mentioned, we generously add a mixture of melted butter and brown sugar to the top before baking. So glad others enjoy Finn food! :)

I've tried a few recipes for Pulla, and this is the closest to the heaven my Finnish grandmother used to make. Like her, I glaze my loaves with 1/4 c water and 1/4 c sugar boiled for a couple of minutes, and top with coarse sugar. She used to make pulla doughnuts, deep fried and tossed with sugar in a bag. I haven't tried this because I know I will eat at least 23! As per others, lower the temperature as the sugar in the loaves burns easily. I use a scant tablespoon of ground cardamom or crushed cardamom seeds.

This is a great recipe. It rivals the pulla that I buy at the local bakery. In fact, it might even be better! I could not for the life of me get the dough to rise the first few times; wasn't the yeast or the rising temperature I don't think - I didn't beat the dough enough to get it elastic. On the third try, I beat the dough a good long time and had no trouble getting it to rise. Excellent recipe, thanks!

I have always loved this bread. both my parents are finnish and my mum has always made it. Mum puts slivers of almond as well as sugar on top before baking.

This is actually a recipe published by B.A. Ojakangas in her book "The Finnish Cookbook". I have my grandma's copy from 1964 (2nd printing). If you look to her book, you will see there are several different patterns in which to form the bread. The "Christmas pigs" are my favorite. Mrs. Ojakangas has published several cookbooks, all of which are outstanding!

Lots of work but worth it.

It was very good. I too am trying to work with homemade bread to, was a good recipe to follow. My kids love this bread!!1

Very yummy, just a subtle sweetness. However, even only baking at 350 degree for 25 minutes, the bottoms burnt. So next time I would lower the temp to 325. I also divided the dough further so I ended up with six mini braids. This would have been perfect for holiday gifts.

I followed the oven temp.that it called for and the bread burned. So i lowered the temp to 350 and it still burned on the bottom,what a disaster.I can't be the only one this happened to!

This bread is quite good. I didn't want to add more cardamom bc it is such a strong flavor, but I wish I had taken other reviewers' advice and done so anyway. This bread can handle it. It also does darken really fast, so keep an eye on it. I let mine bake a bit too long. I halved this recipe but still ended up with a large braid, and small braid, and enough to make a cinnamon sugar roll which was about the size of a regular loaf of bread. I like the cinnamon sugar roll the best, but it is all excellent. I think I might add cinnamon and more cardamom, plus raisins or craisins the next time I make this. Thanks for the recipe!

great recipe...I cheat and put a bit of orange zest in - it brightens up the flavour and as other people have noted...the bread is great with juice.

I scaled the recipe to 2 loaves. Substitutions - water in place of milk, slightly reduced the sugar, lard in place of butter, 50% more cardamom. 3 rises. whole egg only wash. 3 strand braid baked at 375 till internal temperature of the loaf is 190. 5 star result with a unique flavor (never tasted cardamom before). Great crumb, great crust, everybody I gave a sample to liked it. Will make again if I need a dessert type of bread. Probably will add a glaze or granulated sugar to the egg wash, cardamom and sweet go together, I think.

It takes a long time to make but so is well worth the wait! My husband and kids love it! Being Finnish American I had to try it at least once!

I made this for my boyfriend's parents who were visiting for the weekend. They are from a Finnish family and their grandmother makes Pulla often-they said mine was just as good! Great recipe. I halved it and it made a good size loaf to share. Nice and easy too!

Lovely, chewy texture & a hearty, yeasty taste. Just sweet enough with a thin icing glaze on top. I did have to use a lot more flour than the recipe called for to be able to handle the dough w/o it being sticky. More like 8.5-9 cups. Yummy!

Perfect recipe and a very nice unique flavored bread. I have hand made bread a few times. Working with this dough was easier than I thought it would be, even though I have Carpal tunnel problems with my hands. I think I would prefer adding raisins and an icing topping to make this a sweeter bread, as it seemed a little "flat" tasting. Or maybe a little more salt would compliment the wonderful Cardomon flavor.

This recipe is very close to the one that my family makes each Christmas so it must be good. I won't be straying from my family recipe but for those of you out there making this bread here's a tip: Put at least 1 tablespoon of cardamom in. If you're worried about the spiciness of it, don't, there is plenty of sugar in there to balance it out.

Koitos! Just like mummo used to make!

I too am of Finnish descent and have loved this bread since a child. I just added moer caramom to it as well. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe!

Absolutely delicious. I sprinkled it with swedish pearl sugar instead of granulated. It looked beautiful.

This was a hit with my kids. It tasted great and was easy to make. Thanks

This is absolutely amazing. Makes A LOT! Good for holidays!

This bread came out delicious! I had never made bread before, and the dough was alittle hard to work with, and I also reduced the cooking time by about 3 or 4 minutes. Bread came out delicious! Not too sweet, and just enough flavor. My husband used it today to make a sandwich too, and he said it was delicious! I will just take his word fro it :) Thanks for sharing this recipe!

This pulla recipe is the same as her mother-in-law would make and it's the one I was taught to make as a child. During the winter months I make a single or double batch every weekend (I give a few loaves away regularly) and I have yet to have one last long enough to get notably stale. Kneading 18 cups of flour gets easier eventually. This bread is a staple and as the washes go, we use a whole egg and sprinkle a bit of sugar and almond slivers before the loaves go into the oven. I use quite heavy baking sheets and thirty minutes at 350F gives me perfectly golden brown loaves.

I am half Finnish and this is one of my absolute favorite homemade breads. I love cardamom so I use at least 2 teaspoons and have used 3 without it being overwhelming. You can also add another fourth cup of sugar if you prefer it a little sweeter. I bake it at 350 because it does tend to bake too fast on the outside at higher temps. As others have said, the bread freezes really well so it's worth it to make extra loaves and put them in the freezer.

Time consuming, but very tasty! Makes great french toast too!

I've made this bread several times and it always gets rave reviews, even from my Finnish mom, and takes me back to when my Mummo (grandmother) used to make it when I was a child. The only things I did differently was double the cardamom, and I melted the butter and added it at the same time as the milk, instead of adding it separately later. I probably only use about 8 cups of flour. I also bake it at a much lower temperature because otherwise it will definitely burn (I need a baking stone...) I am surprised by people who found it dry, because it's not. It freezes very well, too. Delicious, and well worth the effort.

I have been looking for this recipe for years! It taste just like I remember but I use Cardamom seeds and not the ground. So happy I finally found it, Thanks!

I made this for Christmas morning breakfast/brunch. I wouldn't venture to do this in the same fashion--staying up all night before so I can wrap gifts and make batter. But, it really paid off!! Definitely need a kithenaid mixer for this, I'd go insane doing this by hand. Cardamom is a great spice and a generous amount is helpful. Next time, I'll bake it at 375 and see if that might lessen the browning on top. At 400 it was a little too crunchy on top, but the middle still stayed moist and yummy, not dry. I had reaheated the leftovers next day in the oven and it still tasted delicious. What a great recipe for a family with 3 kids!!

I have been making pulla for years now,like my grandmother i like to hull white cardamon pods, crush them and when warming the milk you let the cardamon steep in it .

This recipe is exactly like my mom's, except that she is so frugal that she wouldn't use 4 eggs when 2 would do. 4 eggs is way better. I used this to make the traditional pulla ring for Christmas. I added raisins and currants to the dough and decorated with sliced almonds and fancy sugar. I also used this for cinnamon rolls. All turned out great. I increased the cardamon as was suggested. Tis is a recipe that more people should try. It is SO good.

Mine came out beautiful and tasty! I didn't have cardamom so I used cinnamon instead. I also barely had enough flour which was scary but they came out great. They didn't actually rise at all but it's also my first time making a yeast bread. They taste great and I'm gifting them with some jars of strawberry rhubarb jam. I think I'll make these every year!

I just got into baking, and this is actually the first bread I ever made, and it still turned out amazing! I ended up using Cinnamon instead of cardamon, but thats ok because I have a love obsession with Cinnamon! While preparing I didn't realize that the ingredients were set for 3 loaves! That's going to be too much for 2 people people to eat, hopefully we can find someone to give at least one of the loaves to. Also, I let it rise 2 times naturally, then put it in the fridge overnight and it rose again. Someone told me that the best taste comes out that way. I highly suggest people cook it at 350 for 30-35 minutes. At 400 the crust bakes too fast, and it can actually remained uncooked inside! After the first loaf I adjusted my temperature and the rest came out perfect. They turned out with a nice shell, but it wasn't too hard. The inside was nice and soft, but still thick and not overly fluffy. It had a sweet taste, and it looks beautiful too. Its actually very easy to tear off into portions instead of cutting because of the braided portions, and I feel like this would go really well with a holiday dinner instead of baking traditional biscuits. I highly recommend,and hope I find more yummy bread recipes ^.^

This was my first time baking bread. It turned out great, and I got a lot of compliments! As other reviewers suggested, I doubled the amount of cardamom, and it tasted just right. I will definitely make this again.

Absolutely awesome bread. I did make some mistakes the first time that I will correct the second time. First, it seemed to make 3 overly large breads. Next time, I will make 5 smaller braids that are longer than they are wide. (I had a problem with 2 of the breads being too wide and they didn't bake inside.) Next time, I will also put cinnamon and sugar with butter inside, and roll up the bread tightly and seal it so it doesn't seep out. (One of the breads that I didn't tightly seal seeped, and the bottom of the bread burned on the seeped sugar.) My bread (the one that came out perfect) looked like #10photo, with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top. Next time I will also try some icing. Wonderful bread. Similar to a bakery bread.

Absolutely delicious! I had never heard of cardamom before and it's one the neatest spices i've ever used. Unfortunately I have't been able to get it to come out quite right yet. I'm having trouble keeping it warm while it rises in the middle winter where I live.

I think I saved this recipe right before Christmas and I've made it 4 times already! Everybody raves about this bread. I took the others' advice and have been adding 1tbsp of cardamom. I think that's the key. Also, I like making smaller braids so I've been cutting the dough into 18ths rather than 9ths. With the smaller braids, I turn the oven down to 325 degrees and cook for about 25 minutes. Instead of the egg wash and sugar, I baste the bread every 10 minutes with some melted butter and in the last 5 minutes sprinkle some mexican sea salt over the bread. I've also done a garlic butter baste with fresh minced garlic. That turned out really tasty. To keep the bottoms from burning I spread corn meal on the bottom of the cookie sheet. Thank you for this recipe! It goes great with just about anything, but we love it with soup and spaghetti.

..My brother opened a cafe in Conneaut Ohio and sent me a loaf of bread that is made by a local bakery. I came across this recipe and found it to be very similar. It was fairly easy to make and tastes very close to the one from Ohio. I added at least 1 Tbls of cardamom (love it) and dusted with crystal sugar like they did..So good!

Turned out so well! Used a heaping tablespoon of cardamom.

I love this one. And as a Finn would say, Hyvää ruokahalua!

Good recipe. I've been looking for one like this for a while now.

Excellent recipe! Much easier than the one my Finnish grandmother left me, and tastes just as good - maybe better! Like others, the only thing I changed was adding more cardamom - 2 tsp. Thanks so much for the recipe!

A family tradition and I had lost my great grandmother's recipe (mumu) thanks so much for sharing this, heading to the kitchen right now. We used brown sugar and cinnamon on top or a butter cream frosting with halved marichino cherries on it. Very pretty at Christmas time.

Not impressed, very dry even when reduced baking time a lot. Dough did not taste nearly as good as most sweet dough recipes, even imagining without cardamom. Dough was easy to work with & did turn out pretty. Used extra cardamom as many suggested, but was too much for me. Better as cinnamon rolls with currants. Would like to try adding just a bit of cardamom to my favorite sweet dough recipe.

Wow. I am Finnish(American) and this was the first time i made this. My husband ate a loaf and the kids finished off the rest, Froze one and gave a gift to the new neighbor. On top of the egg-wash i added a topping of sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom. Depending on the size of loaves this will make more than 3. The house smells amazing.

I did try this recipe (have made other recipes for pulla before) and it turned out wonderfully. I made 3/4 of the recipe and made 6 little braids that look so cute. In fact, one pan is still in the oven. Both my husband and I are 100% Finnish, so we grew up with this!

Having both parents born in Finland, I have made this exact receipe for years. I use only 2 eggs in my receipe to make a lighter but still moist bread. I cook in a 350 degree for 30 mins. Using whole cardamon grounded makes a more flavourful bread or using 2-3 teaspoons ground, works well. Another yummy treat you can do is to a protion off the bread and roll and spread in a 8 x11 rectangular pan then add blueberry pie filling ( homemade or bought) and bake for about 20 -25 mins. Everyone in my family LOVES this delicious treet. We have even used this for cinamon toast and french toast. This is a big staple in our family and has been for years.

Delicious! This recipe was spot-on. I doubled the cardamom and changed the baking time to 30 minutes @ 350. The bread had a light crust and a too-good-to-be-true moist center. It tore right off the loaf. This strikes me as a great King Cake recipe as well. The amount of dough made could easily be rolled up into that South Louisiana confection. I think next time I'll try adding cinnamon and sugar between the twists of the loaf to give it more of the King Cake feel. Overall, this is an excellent bread to know how to make. Thanks!

The dough came out a little tough, but I loved the taste! Really wonderful scent and it got rave reviews.

I made a half recipe. It was easy to manage without a mixer and made two reasonably sized loaves. I took others advice and used 1/2 Tbsp cardamom and baked at 350. I topped with Swedish pearl sugar. The texture is wonderful, moist and tender. The big problem with this is to save enough to give for gifts. I'd really like to sit here and eat the whole batch myself!

This recipe is very close to the recipe my Finnish Grandmother brought to the States and passed down to us Grandkids. The first time making it may seem a little overwhelming, but by the second or third try it'll be old-hat. I have added raisins and even (grandma, please forgive me) chocolate chips. Both versions were actually really good, though I prefer sticking to raisins since it’s more traditional. Everyone who has tasted this recipe has LOVED it. Perfect warmed up with a little butter and cup of coffee on a chilly autumn morning!

I've lived in Finland for the past 13 years, and this is very close to the recipe I've always used to make pulla. If you can get fresh yeast, you can substitute 50g (about 2 ounces) of fresh yeast for the dry yeast. You can also use this dough to make just about any shape you want. I usually bake it as individual buns, topped with pearl sugar.

I use more than one tablespoon of cardamom. I purchase the black cardamom seeds from the spice store and grind them in the blender or coffee grinder just before I need it for this recipe. The pre-ground that you purchase in the grocery store has no flavour compared to fresh ground. Try it! It takes the pulla to a whole new level of yumminess!

not sure what this was supposed to taste like, but I tried to follow the recipe exactly, and it was delicious! Nice sweet bread that was just beautiful, and the recipe makes a TON!

great recipe!!!! since i was a child, everybody used to made these in our village for chirstmas... i love these!!!!