Finnish Cinnamon Buns (Pulla)

Every Nordic family has their own recipe for cinnamon buns. In my family, the recipe is my grandmother’s “pulla”- that’s bun in Finnish. What makes this recipe special is the addition of ground cardamom in the dough and the usual combo of cinnamon and sugar. For me it’s also the many memories this treat holds with it. My gran, Virve, my Mummu, was of the few people that really was good, through and through. She was an active woman, foraging berries and mushrooms in her wind suit in the autumn, skiing through the Karelian forests in winter and a teacher and a mother figure to her own children, grand children and her six younger sisters. She was also an avid baker. I unfortunately never got to know her as well as I wished, as she got stroke induced Alzheimer’s when I was a teen and unfortunately passed away in 2019. I don’t remember her much before her illness but the memories I do have of Virve is in her summer house kitchen baking. My siblings and I were always welcome in the kitchen to help out and my favourite job was helping shape the buns and stealing the dough scraps for a snack.

When I asked my mum for the recipe it turned out it had already been translated to English for my gran’s many international friends who had fallen in love with this treat. My gran would usually use margarine in this recipe (she’d save the butter for special occasions) and adjusting it to your diet is Virve approved. I’m glad to get to continue her legacy and be able to share this recipe with the followers of Reasons to Be Cheerful and hope it gets you in the Holiday spirit.

Virve’s Pulla

Dough:

750ml Milk (or alternative)

100g Fresh active yeast (or 40g dry active yeast)

2oog Sugar

3 tsp Salt

2 tsp Coarsely ground cardamom

150-200 g Melted margarine or butter. 

1500 g All-purpose flour (Virve’s comment: preferably a little less)

Filling:

Spreadable margarine or butter.

 Caster Sugar

Ground Cinnamon

1-2 eggs for brushing

Pearl sugar for decoration

 Method

Warm up the milk until lukewarm, so that when you dip your finger in it’s just above body temperature. Crumble in yeast, add sugar, salt and cardamom to the milk. Slowly start adding in the flour little by little and mix by hand. Add in the melted margarine and knead the dough until it no longer sticks. 

Cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rise for about an hour in a warm spot. You can help the yeast by creating a water bath in the sink. Once the dough has risen to double its size, knock back the dough and knead out the air bubbles and section he dough in to two or three. Now you can start assembling the cinnamon buns.

On a floured surface roll out a thin rectangle about 35x50cm and about half a cm thick. Spread a layer of margarine or butter on the dough with a knife, then sprinkle an even layer of cinnamon and thirdly a layer of caster sugar. 

Roll the dough in to a tight roll staring on the long end. Cut the roll into triangle shapes like so /  \  /  \ /  \  so that the pieces are wider on one side than the other. Stand up the bun so that the wide side is the base and the swirly cut edges are on each side. Point your index fingers at each other and push down on the middle of the roll so that there is a dip in the middle and the swirls flare out. Repeat with every bun. Transfer them to a sheet covered oven tray and cover with a tea towel for 40 minutes for a second rise. 

Brush with egg mixture and sprinkle pearl sugar on top. Bake in a 200-225c° oven for 10-12 minutes. 

Siiri Nordlin