Basic Finnish pulla dough – Soft sweet buns with cardamom
This basic sweet bun pulla dough is my go-to recipe for any Nordic sweet roll. I have carried this recipe with me since the age of 14, when I worked at a farmers’ market in an old villa, baking cinnamon buns every first Sunday of the month. The favourite sweet bun dough for making Finnish cinnamon rolls, cardamom knots, or even plain sweet buns – basically, the only dough you’ll need to learn by heart to make Nordic buns.
One batch of dough yields approximately 24 to 30 rolls. You can easily double the amount if you’re preparing treats for a party or want to stock your freezer. I made three or four batches early in the morning at dawn, baking in the quirky old villa known as Nature House, which served as an educational center for young people about nature.
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What kind of sweet buns you can make from this basic recipe
I love having a super basic sweet bun recipe with cardamom (it’s a Nordic recipe, and we are crazy about cardamom in sweet buns over here). Pulla, which means sweet bun in Finnish, has several forms. Most commonly, we use cinnamon as well in the filling, but here are a few options for how to use this recipe:
Basic sugar buns, pulla
Plain “pulla”, sugar buns, round buns with just plain pearl sugar on the top. Do the egg wash before adding the pearl sugar to get the beautiful golden color!
My grandmother used to cut a small cross with scissors on the top of the risen bun to make it open decoratively in the oven, so that it doesn’t seem so plain. You can also sprinkle some almond flakes instead of pearl sugar.
Cinnamon buns, korvapuusti
To make Finnish cinnamon buns, roll out the dough and spread it with butter and sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar, and roll and shape the cinnamon bun traditionally into a flattened ear shape.
Vanilla-quark sugar bun rolls, Boston pulla
Start vanilla-quark sugar bun rolls, “Boston pulla”, by rolling out the dough and spreading a sugar-quark-vanilla filling on it. Roll as a long bar like a roly-poly cake and cut slices that are a few fingers large.
You can bake Boston buns separately on an oven tray or in a pie tin close to each other as a pull-apart style serving. A sugar icing on the top when they are cooled is a cherry on top.
Butter eye buns, voisilmäpulla
Start the Butter Eye Buns (voisilmäpulla) by shaping simple round buns. Make a dent with your thumb in the middle and fill it with butter and sugar to make the sweet eye the yummy treasure of the sweet bun. Decorate with extra pearl sugar to make the Nordic touch.
Braided cardamom bread, pullapitko
You can make a pullapitko, a simple yet stunning-looking sweet bread loaf that is braided. Many add raisins to the dough when kneading and sprinkle some pearl sugar on the top. Just divide the dough into two to make two braids. Divide each into three and roll long, evenly thick bars to braid. Tuck the ends in. Bake on an oven tray or in a bread loaf tin.
Shrovetide buns, laskiaispulla
The traditional laskiaispulla, (shorvetide bun) is a basic round bun that is filled after baking. Fillings are traditionally whipped cream with either jam or almond paste. (And people fight for what is best.)
When baking the buns, spread the egg wash first. Then sprinkle on the top some pearl sugar for jammy ones and almond flakes for those with almonds for extra decoration.
Blueberry quark bun, mustikkarahkapulla
Make mustikkarahkapulla starting with round buns and flatten with a dinking glass to create a small nest in the middle. Fill with blueberry-quark-sugar filling so that it looks like a mini blueberry pie, but with a sweet butter bun dough edge.
Poor knights & rich knights – köyhät ritarit & rikkaat ritarit
To make poor knights and rich knights, you can use a few days-old buns. Specially sliced cardamom breads, and braided buns that are already a bit dry and not that soft to eat like that anymore, go well. Soak them in milk and egg butter and fry with butter.
Seriously, can anything go wrong with that combination?
Poor ones are served with only sugar sprinkled on the top, the rich ones with strawberry jam and whipped cream.
Other Scandinavian twists and cinnamon buns
Other Scandinavian twists and buns, such as Swedish kanelbullar and cardamom knots or Danish kanelsneglar, can be made out of this same recipe by just swapping the fillings and twisting and shaping accordingly.
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Ingredients you need for sweet bun dough
- Milk: I prefer whole milk, for it gives a richer flavour, but you can use the milk of your preference. I have tried this recipe at least with oat milk, almond milk, and plain water.
- Fresh yeast: can be substituted with about 22 grams of dried yeast
- Caster sugar: Can be substituted with brown sugar, which might affect the dough structure a bit.
- Cardamom: I use ground cardamom, but you can use whole and grind them for a more aromatic flavour.
- Vanilla sugar: Can be left out or substituted with 1 tsp vanilla paste.
- Egg: For the dough and the eggwash. You can also brush the buns with milk instead, if you prefer lighter-colored buns.
- Wheat flour: You can use all-purpose flour too.
- Sea salt: Can be substituted with another salt.
- Butter: Softened at room temperature so you can easily fold it into the dough. It can be substituted with margarine, but butter gives better flavour and is so much softer in use, so it blends into the dough better than margarine. Use soft butter at room temperature and not melted butter. With soft butter, the bun will have more smoother and softer consistency, and add it after kneading for a while to not disturb the gluten forming.
- Pearl sugar: For sprinkling on the top of the buns after eggwash and before baking. Pearl sugar is a granulated sugar that does not melt in the oven and is traditionally used on the top of Nordic buns. Can substitute it with caster sugar, or you can dust with icing sugar after baking to get that little sweetness on the top of the bun, though visually it will not be the same.
You can find the exact measurements on the recipe card.
Tools you may need
- Pot, to warm up the milk
- Large bowl, big enough to dough rise double in size
- Measuring spoons
- Scale
- Whisk
- Tea towel
- Oven pan and parchment paper
- Small brush, to brush the egg wash on the buns
How to make the pulla dough for sweet sugar buns
Step One: Mix warm milk and fresh yeast
Heat the milk in a pot to a bit higher than body temperature about 40°C (104°F). Just warm enough to wake up the yeast.
| TIP: If you are using a glass, ceramic, or metal bowl that is feeling a bit cold heat the milk a bit warmer for the milk gives quickly away its heat to warm up the bowl.
Crumble the yeast into milk and whisk lightly to get it to melt in.
Step two: Add seasoning, sugar and egg
Add cardamom and vanilla sugar (if using), sugar and egg into the milk mixture. Whisk to combine.
Step three: Add flour gradually with salt
Add about one-third of the flour and sea salt and combine. Don’t be tempted to add the salt earlier to not to kill the yeast function!
Ditch the whisk and continue with hand adding remaining flour a bit by bit.
The dough should be rather too sticky than too dry. You might not need to use all the flour or need to add some.
Step four: Combine with the soft butter
When the dough feels right and kneaded, squeeze the soft butter with your fingers to get it spread well into the dough. (You can call me weird, but I love this part!)
Fold and knead the butter in the dough until you have a beutiful soft dough and cover it with a clean tea towel.
Step five: Proof the dough
Let the dough double in size in a draft free place for about one hour.
TIP: I let my dough proof in cold oven, it keeps the temperature steady and no draft what so ever.
Step six: Shape the sweet buns
This one basic sugar bun dough with cardamom is so versatile, you can do basically any Finnish pulla with it. Scroll up to see the options for different buns from this same dough to get inspiration!
I normally divide the dough into two or three big dough balls to make it easier to work with. It is also simpler when you have divided the dough into three parts, to make ten buns of each part, to keep the size right.
The appearance and portion sizes are something that has stuck in my mind after all that time working in the café and restaurant. When you keep the sizes equal, the buns will bake equally, and look all similarly perfectly golden after the oven. Half of the taste of the bun is in the appearance, I can tell you.
How to store sweet sugar buns
Pulla is best when eaten on the same day. It is ok, still a few days but store airtightly to keep it moist and it tastes so much better if you warm it up on the top of the toaster or put in the still a bit warm oven before enjoying it.
Freeze leftover buns, preferably on the baking day already. Lasts for up to 6 months. When you want to serve them, toss them still frozen into the oven after cooking the dinner until it is soft and warm. Beware not to let them get too long or they will dry – and dry buns are not good…
What to eat drink or eat with pulla
Finnish pulla, like other Nordic buns, is almost without exception enjoyed with a cup of filtered coffee. I love to eat a soft and delicious bun with my homemade Moroccan spiced coffee mix, for it has cardamom in it as well, so it is truly a match made in heaven.
Though Nordic sweet buns are made for fika, and considered the best friends of coffee, don’t be afraid of enjoying them with your favourite tea or spicy teas like chai tea or chai tea latte.
Share your sugar buns!
Have you made buns with this recipe? Share in the comments or on Instagram! Tag me with @blueteatile, I would love to see how they turned out!
You can find the recipe card below!
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Basic soft sugar bun dough with cardamom (Pulla)
This is the favourite bun dough for making Finnish cinnamon rolls, cardamom knots, or even plain sugar buns - basically, the only dough you’ll need for versatile sweet buns.
One dough makes about 24-30 pieces. I always made this dough double and three or four sets of it in the morning when I started at dawn, baking for the farmers' market in the quirky old villa.
Ingredients
Pulla sweet sugar bun dough
- 0.5 L whole milk
- 50 g fresh yeast
- 200 g sugar
- 1 tbsp cardamom
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar (optional)
- 1 egg
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 790 g wheat flour (or more if needed)
- 200 g soft butter (room temperature)
Simple topping
- Egg, for eggwash
- Pearl sugar
Instructions
- Step One: Mix warm milk and fresh yeast
Heat the milk in a pot to a bit higher than body temperature about 40°C (104°F). Just warm enough to wake up the yeast.
| TIP: If you are using a glass, ceramic, or metal bowl that is feeling a bit cold, heat the milk a bit warmer for the milk gives off its heat to warm up the bowl.
Crumble the yeast into the milk and whisk lightly to get it to melt in. - Step two: Add seasoning, sugar, and egg
Add cardamom and vanilla sugar (if using), sugar, and egg into the milk mixture. Whisk to combine. - Step three: Add flour gradually with salt
Add about one-third of the flour and sea salt and combine. Don’t be tempted to add the salt earlier to not to kill the yeast function!
Ditch the whisk and continue with hand adding remaining flour a bit by bit.
The dough should be rather too sticky than too dry. You might not need to use all the flour or need to add some. - Step four: Combine with the soft butter
When the dough feels right and kneaded, squeeze the soft butter with your fingers to get it spread well into the dough. (You can call me weird, but I love this part!)
Fold and knead the butter in the dough until you have a beutiful soft dough and cover it with a clean tea towel. - Step five: Proofing the dough
Let the dough double in size in a draft free place for about one hour.
|TIP: I let my dough proof in a cold oven, it keeps the temperature steady and no draft whatsoever. - Step six: Shaping the buns
This one basic sugar bun dough with cardamom is so versatile, you can do basically any Finnish pulla with it. Scroll up to see the options for different buns from this same dough to get inspiration!
Notes
- Turn on the oven to 225°C (437°F).
- Bake in the oven for 8-12 minutes, depending on the size of the buns.
- Check up on the post for different Nordic sweet buns you can make from this same dough.
