Finnish Pulla Recipe

As promised, here is the recipe used for the stick buns. After the event at the lake, I had to make them again. It is a fantastic recipe and easy, I definitely recommend that you give them a try!

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 9 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

• Prep
  30 m
• Cook
  30 m
• Ready In
  3 h 20 m

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Stir in the lukewarm milk, sugar, salt, cardamom, 4 eggs, and enough flour to make a batter (approximately 2 cups). Beat until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add about 3 cups of the flour and beat well; the dough should be smooth and glossy in appearance. Add the melted butter or margarine, and stir well. Beat again until the dough looks glossy. Stir in the remaining flour until the dough is stiff.
3. Turn out of bowl onto a floured surface, cover with an inverted mixing bowl, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead the dough until smooth and satiny. Place in a lightly greased mixing bowl, and turn the dough to grease the top. Cover with a clean dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down, and let rise again until almost doubled.
4. Turn out again on to a floured surface, and divide into 3 parts. Divide each third into 3 again. Roll each piece into a 12 to 16 inch strip. Braid 3 strips into a loaf. You should get 3 large braided loaves. Lift the braids onto greased baking sheets. Let rise for 20 minutes.
5. Brush each loaf with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
6. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Check occasionally because the bottom burns easily.

Enjoy and please check out my other posts! 

Afternoon group activity

So I am currently working in stroke rehabilitation facility that runs intensive courses for stroke patients. The main purpose of the courses is to improve the quality of life of the patient. They involve a daily assortment of various activities and incorporate multidisciplinary sessions with mainly physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Over the next few weeks I will be helping with these courses by running the hydrotherapy classes, which I will explain more about in a later post. These courses are extremely helpful for the patients when dealing with their current situation and are used as an education tool to teach them that they can still do things with their spare time and enjoy life. We spent the afternoon in the forest by the coast of the archipelago.

We ventured out into the wilderness about 20 minutes from the clinic on an adjacent archipelago island, the views were spectacular and I have added several photos to share the beauty with you. I had the privilege of helping the patients fish off a pier, unfortunately we didn’t catch anything but we all enjoyed the tranquillity of the calm water surrounding us. After an unsuccessful fish we ventured for sticks and attached a dough which is then cooked on a barbeque, this is known as a stick bun also known as ‘pulla’ which is a typical Finnish food and they are delicious!

We ventured out into the wilderness about 20 minutes from the clinic on an adjacent archipelago island, the views were spectacular and I have added several photos to share the beauty with you. I had the privilege of helping the patients fish off a pier, unfortunately we didn’t catch anything but we all enjoyed the tranquillity of the calm water surrounding us. After an unsuccessful fish we ventured for sticks and attached a dough which is then cooked on a barbeque, this is known as a stick bun also known as ‘pulla’ which is a typical Finnish food and they are delicious! 

Thank you for reading and take a look at my next post for the pulla recipe!