Finnish Pulla Recipe – my mom’s recipe for a traditional Finnish bread scented with fragrant cardamom! Perfect for special mornings, gatherings, holidays or afternoon tea. Cozy and delicious!
I love you. It will end. Leave something of sweetness and substance in the mouth of the world.
Anna Bell Kaufman
Today is a very special day for me…it is what would be my mother’s 85th birthday. I thought I would share something special that she loved to bake which is very dear to my heart. It is called Pulla!
Pulla is a buttery Finnish sweet bread, scented with cardamom, perfect for special mornings, gatherings or afternoon tea. It is traditionally topped with Pearl Sugar as you see here.
My Finnish mother used to make this on special occasions like birthdays and holidays or when guests would stay with us. I will never forget how the house would smell when she would open the oven door and take the freshly baked Pulla out.
It smelled… happy.
Several weeks ago, I stumbled over her old Pulla recipe, written partly in Finnish. To see her handwriting again, brought back so many memories.
She came from Finland, a beautiful country, both modern and old. The countryside is filled with tall, white-trunked birch trees, red houses, saunas, and many many lakes. Three-quarters of the country is still covered by forest, and there over 100,000 lakes.
In summer, the sun barely sets. The days are long and sparkly and bright, the air effervescent and light. It feels charged with something magical.
In contrast, winters are extreme – long, dark and very cold. My Egyptian father only lasted one winter there before pleading with my mom to move to warmer like California. She would always say, to live there you must be strong.
There is no exact translation, but my understanding is… it is a strength and perseverance that comes from the deepest part of ourselves. My mom had this.
Here she is, happy as a clam, sitting on her sister’s steps in her hometown of Souenjoki, where they are known for growing strawberries, during our last visit there together.
I think of that last trip we took together often. I drove her around the whole country, visiting her family and friends for almost a month when she was 82. Truthfully, there were times she drove me crazy – she was a total backseat driver, I nicknamed her Miss Daisy.
But what I wouldn’t give to be in that car again listening to her crackly voice. I can’t express enough how taking that time to be with her was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I thought I did it for her, but in fact, I see now how all along, it was a gift for me.
A little story about her: Lea Halonen was born in 1927, and grew up on a little farm in Sounjenjoki. During the war with Russia, Russia took over part of their country. Her family, like most families there, took in the many refugees, even though food and resources were extremely scarce.
She remembers those years as being very lean and feeling very hungry most of the time, eating mainly potatoes in winter. After high school, she left for Sweden, where she got her nursing degree.
In her 30’s, still unmarried, she left for Nigeria (Africa) on a boat, to be stationed at a small Seventh Day Adventist hospital where she became a midwife. It was a tumultuous time there in Nigeria. After being there for 5 years, she took a little vacation to Egypt with her friend Sarah. It was there that she met my dad, and where Sarah met Abraham. They were assigned by the church to be guides. Something clicked in those 3 days, as they took them around to visit the pyramids and the Nile.
She went back to Nigeria to work – and they continued to keep in touch writing letters for two years before my dad proposed to her. She left Nigeria to marry my father in Cairo. But Egypt, back then, was not as accepting of her nursing skills- women were supposed to “stay home”.
She lasted a year before she convinced my dad to move to the more progressive country of Finland. My dad had never imagined a winter like that, had never experienced ice or snow- it was shocking! The cold and language were huge barriers. He was a minister by trade, so it made things difficult.
So they decided to move somewhere warm, where they could both speak English. They landed in Los Angeles, where I was born. My mom was 40 at that time.
The star ingredient in Pulla is cardamom seeds. In this recipe, you can use the seeds, or if pressed for time, ground Cardamom is a great substitute. It is a very ancient spice originating in Southern India where it still grows wild. It is most commonly used in savory Indian dishes and curries.
Over a thousand years ago traders carried cardamom along the spice routes from India and eventually made its way through Constantinople brought by the Vikings to Scandinavia where it became very popular among the Finnish and Swedish in baking bread and pastries.
It has a very warm pungent aroma, a little like eucalyptus. There are several kinds of cardamom pods , two I am familiar with, the green cardamom pods and dark brown pods. My mom always used the green cardamom pods because she said they had better flavor. I never tested this theory, but I’ll take her word for it.
During one of her lasts visits to Spokane, she was too tired to make pulla but insisted on making it anyways….so I became her hands. She was stubborn about certain things….adamant!
No cutting corners. “No” to using the ground cardamom I had in my cupboard and “no” to using my stand mixer with the nifty dough hook, and “absolutely not” to using my efficient coffee bean grinder to grind the tough cardamom seeds.
This would be done her way, totally old school. But in the end, worth it.
What seemed like a mountain of cardamom pods needed to be cracked and the tiny seeds extracted. This took a substantial amount of time and patience.
I found it’s easier to slice the pods in half lengthwise with the tip of a sharp knife. After slicing about 40-50 of them, scrape the tiny dark seeds out. It takes a lot of pods to make 1 Tablespoon. You could do this ahead. Or use ground cardamom, I won’t tell or judge.
Then, after I thought all the hard work was done, there was more. Grinding the cardamom seeds with a mortar and pestle.
This seems easy, but I assure you it is not. They are the toughest little seeds and it takes serious muscle power to grind them down. And she of course wanted them crushed down to the consistency of fine sand, making sure to carefully examine my work. It was no easy task.
At the time, I never imagined that someday I would miss the way she would order me around the kitchen. But I do.
My mom loved Pulla so much she named one of her cats Pulla. Actually, her full name is Rusina Pulla. She’s a light-colored calico with dark spots all over her. Rusina means raisins. Raisin Pulla. It was strangely fitting!
Anyways, so after all the work with the cardamom seeds, the rest is easy. And like I said, feel free to use ground cardamom.
You’ll make a soft dough and let it rise until doubled. If using active dry yeast, this may take 2 hours. Fast-acting yeast will cut that time in half so I usually opt for that.
Oil the dough, and cover. Place in a warm spot ( 85F) to rise. I like to turn my oven to low and place the dough on top of the stove.
Once the pulla has just about doubled, shape into rolls or 2 loaves or make two traditional Finnish braided loaves like this.
My mom would often add sliced almonds and raisins and roll up the dough into small sweet rolls. Those were good too. To make the braided loaf, divide the dough in half, then into 3 balls each, and make long “ropes” out of them. Braid them and tuck the ends under. Let rise for another 1 – 1/2 hour.
Brush with an egg wash, or milk and sprinkle pearl sugar over the top.
You can also bake the braided roll in a loaf pan for easier slicing, tucking the ends under.
Bake the Pulla at 375 F until cooked through and golden ( Internal temp of 200F).
This can range anywhere from 30-50 minutes, depending on size.
If baking in a loaf pan, bake at 350F for roughly 40 mins, and you may need to cover with foil, to prevent over-browning lightly.
Slice, toast, and butter.
This is really delicious in the morning with your coffee…and the leftovers make excellent french toast!
You can also make Pulla into rolls!
However you choose to make Pulla, you will love its flavor.
The nice part is you can wrap it up tightly and freeze for when you need something cozy and warm.
This poem below found its way to me shortly after my mother passed away… and it reminded me of the pulla I had in the freezer, the last batch we made together. I found it profoundly beautiful…and I especially love the last paragraph.
Every time I make Pulla now, I feel her in the kitchen with me. We make it together- even still.
Love and cheers.
Cold Solace
by ANNA BELLE KAUFMAN
When my mother died,
one of her honey cakes remained in the freezer.
I couldn’t bear to see it vanish,
so it waited, pardoned,
in its ice cave behind the metal trays
for two more years.
On my forty-first birthday
I chipped it out,
a rectangular resurrection,
hefted the dead weight in my palm.
Before it thawed,
I sawed, with serrated knife,
the thinnest of slices —
Jewish Eucharist.
The amber squares
with their translucent panes of walnuts
tasted — even toasted — of freezer,
of frost,
a raisined delicacy delivered up
from a deli in the underworld.
I yearned to recall life, not death —
the still body in her pink nightgown on the bed,
how I lay in the shallow cradle of the scattered sheets
after they took it away,
inhaling her scent one last time.
I close my eyes, savor a wafer of
sacred cake on my tongue and
try to taste my mother, to discern
the message she baked in these loaves
when she was too ill to eat them:
I love you.
It will end.
Leave something of sweetness
and substance
in the mouth of the world.
Pulla (Traditional Finnish Cardamom Bread)
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 3 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Finnish
Description
A traditional recipe for Pulla – a buttery Finnish Cardamom Bread that tastes and smells heavenly. Think of this as Finnish Coffee bread- perfect for mornings or afternoon tea. This makes 2 extra-large braided loaves, feel free to halve the recipe. Allow 3 hours rising time (30 mins hands-on time)
Ingredients
Units
Scale
***Makes 2 loaves -feel free to halve.
- 14–20 cardamon pods (or sub 2–3 teaspoons ground cardamon)
- 2 cups whole milk, soy milk or half and half
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 extra large eggs
- 2 tsp salt
- 6 –7 cups all-purpose flour, more for the counter
- 1/2 cup soft butter
- 1 egg (for egg wash)
- coarse sugar for sprinkling
optional additions: raisins, sliced almonds, coarse sugar (pearl sugar). Feel free to sub other dried fruit and other nuts! You can sub turbinado sugar instead of pearl sugar.
Instructions
- If using whole cardamom pods, crack open the pods and lightly toast the seeds in a dry skillet for 45-60 seconds, stirring over medium heat until fragrant. Grind down to the consistency of sand with a mortar and pestle. You could do this step ahead, or use ground cardamom.
- Heat milk to lukewarm, not over 110F. Add a pinch of sugar and stir in yeast and let stand for 7 minutes. Check that yeast is dissolved and frothy indicating it is active.
- In a stand mixer or large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add the frothy milk and yeast, cardamom, and salt and beat until smooth.
- Mix in 2 cups of flour cup by cup, mixing until smooth and no lumps.
- Add the softened butter and mix well – the dough will get beautifully glossy. Continue adding the flour, a 1/2 cup at a time, mixing to incorporate, adding flour until stiff enough to knead, yet still soft about 6 cups. Knead using a dough hook or by hand, adding a little more flour as needed until the dough pulls away from the edges, and is satiny, about 5 minutes. (The key here is to use as little flour as possible.) Alternatively, kneed by hand on a well-floured surface, for 6- 7 minutes, adding a little flour at a time, dough will be slightly tacky but not sticky. At this point, if you wish, you could knead in some raisins and almonds. Shape into a ball.
- Place in an oiled bowl, turning to coat the top, cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm area (80F) until it doubles in size. (I like to turn my oven on at the very start at the lowest setting, then turn it off, letting the dough rise inside, or place it on top of the stove.)*** Having a warm spot for it to rise is imperative here.
- TIP: You can also place this in the fridgeovernight- and shape and bake in the morning.
- After it has doubled, divide it in half. This will make two extra-large loaves. (Or make rolls see notes)
- To make 2 braided loaves, divide each half into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into long ropes about 1 1/2- 2 inches thick. Braid the 3 ropes and tuck under the ends. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or in lightly greased, or parchment-lined loaf pan-see notes).
- Beat the egg with a tablespoon water. Brush the loaves with the egg wash. Sprinkle with pearl sugar over the top and sliced almonds if you like.
- Let rise again until doubled. Place in a preheated 375-degree oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until skewer or toothpick pulls out clear (or internal temp is 200F) and the top is nicely golden.
- Pull it out of the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Slice and slather with butter.
Notes
Instant yeast will cut the rising time in half.
Store the pulla, covered tightly on the counter. Or freeze (sealing well) for later.
This makes two large braided loaves. Or use loaf pan loaves. You could easily halve this recipe!
To make rolls: visit this Cardamom roll post
I often divide the dough in two, make one braided loaf, and make rolls out of the remaining dough.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 300
- Sugar: 15.7 g
- Sodium: 134.6 mg
- Fat: 8.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 49.6 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 6.3 g
- Cholesterol: 47.4 mg
Hello! What a delight to find this recipe. I have loved your sourdough no-knead recipe and videos. What a surprise when I was literally reading every recipe for Nissu and Pulla that I could find, to find yours! I am recreating this bread for a friend who so badly misses this bread of her heritage. So, I found a very old recipe and have been experimenting and bringing it to her and getting her suggestions with each loaf.
I disagree now, after many tries with your opinion on ground cardamom, that is is NOT the worth using. I bought the seeds at Penzey’s Spices and used my coffee spice grinder. WOW! I am not sure I will EVER use ground cardamom again. I even ground extra once a few months ago, and while it smells more than my store-bought ground, it is NOTHING compared to freshly ground after a month’s time. I can NOT imagine taking them from the pods, I love you pictures and explanations of the process, Grinding the seeds is still amazing. I appreciated your explanation of the pods and the mortar and pestle. So fun and I was trying all those kinds of details myself. I heard your voice in the background often.
I adapted it to my mixer and I use the seeds, ground. Wow, what yummy bread! Thank you for this beautiful tribute to your mom and to the heritage of Pulla/Nissu and old world craft.
Thanks, and glad you found fresh seeds!
I love the subtle flavor and sweetness. I got better results when I lowered the temperature to 350°F after the first 10 minutes. Perhaps my oven runs hot.
Ok, thanks Danny, good to know!
Hi Sylvia – I ran across your recipe and can entirely relate to your story. My mom was Greek and died a number of years ago. But to this day I make her tsoureki (Greek Easter bread) and it never ceases to be special. I couldn’t wait to try your Pulla and finally made it yesterday. Love it! Took your suggestion and made 1 loaf and rolls for the remainder. (Wish I could attach a photo!) Thank you for a great recipe and an even more special story.
Thank you so much Mary. I’ll have to look up your mom’s Greek bread- sounds interesting!
A most beautiful post; thank you for sharing these loving memories of your mother with the world. I have long loved pulla and can’t wait to try your and your mum’s recipe! Sending love and light.
Thanks so much Sarah!
I recently discovered your website and wonderful recipes! I just read this post and haven’t made this bread yet. I really enjoyed your story, memories and the poem. An interesting and beautiful post. I miss my mom too. And I look forward to trying this recipe. Thank you!
Thanks Katie. I’m so glad the post found you and resonated with you. ❤️
Yes, tis’ the season of missing… I feel you.
Hi Sylvia. I located your pulla recipe just now to find out how to freeze a baked bread. Pulla never lasted long enough to freeze any… Today I made my own pulla using my Aunt Hulda’s recipe, almost identical to yours. My mother and all her family were Finnish but it was my Aunt who was the best baker! She was the first to attend university in our family and got her degree–in Home Economics!– in the 1930’s at a school in the UP where so many Finns immigrated. My own background is entirely Nordic–Finnish mom and Norwegian dad. Reading your moving comments about your mother brought back so many memories. Thanks so much.
Thanks so much for sharing Vickie. So many amazing stories out there. We keep them alive by telling them…❤️
I did up the sugar a but as well as the salt. I used 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 AP flour so it was a bit lighter. Great recipe and brought back many Swedish memories.
thanks – glad this worked for you!
Looking forward to trying this recipe. Made cardamon bread/rolls yesterday, but didn’t put in enough cardamon so I search for a recipe. I test to see if it is done by tapping the bottom of my baking container which is usually a loaf pan or cake pan. This method is in the Joy Of Cooking. If it sounds hollow I know that it is done.My mother was Finnish too so she would make “Christmas” bread with cardamon. And my daughter makes Pulla now too using the braid method. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks for sharing the technique Julie! I’ll have to try that!
I haven’t made this yet, but I’d like to pass along a tip. Rather than contend with whole pods or settle for preground in a jar, you can buy a bag of cardamom seeds in an Indian grocery, and grind them in a spice grinder or by hand if you prefer.
Hi Janet- I just recently discovered those myself! Will have to try them here! thanks!
I am also a pulla lover and Finnish daughter. So many of your observations were spot on for me. I’ll bet you pronounce sauna the proper way! My mother suffered no fools.
And what a fascinating life your mother chose to live! My mother was a nurse also, born in 1914, had five children, and widowed at 43. I miss her, too.
Thanks for sharing this Mary. I understand the missing.❤️ And Yes, I can still hear my mom say “sauna” the proper way! 🙂
Could this be made in a bread machine? I forgot to check the box to be notified by email if someone comments on the last post. Please publish this one?!
Hi Amiee, I’ve never used a bread machine, so I’m afraid I’m not much help here.
Hoping to make sure- if making the rolls, we should let them rise again after rolling and placing in a pan or on a sheet?
Thanks,
Ann
Yes, I would!
Your mom’s story has touched my heart and I’m sniffling Iike a baby. She was very special to strike out on her own like she did back then to learn and help others during that time. My mother was special too but in a different way, she was my sister’s and my best friend even though we were all different. She was 100% there for all of us always. And a great cook thankfully! We miss her like crazy too! Maybe you can post some more of your mom’s Finnish recipes, but I refer to yours constantly! I am making your cauliflower sage soup right now. Delicious, the whole house smells heavenly! Thank you!
Thanks Michele- appreciate you sharing about your mom. There is nothing quite like a mother’s love. I was just thinking about how I needed to post more of her recipes…thanks for the inspiration!
Hello Sylvia,
Thank you for this recipe and your story. My mother was also Finnish and born in 1929. She had me at the age of 21 so I’m considerably older then you. We left Finland in 1958 for warmer climates like Australia. That inner resilience known as sisu is in your DNA bestowed on you via your mother.
Hi Hannele- thanks for this. I wonder if our moms know each other. 🙂 Sisu: I feel it in me, and thanks for the reminder. We are made of all the mothers before us. xoxo
This recipe has been fun to play with. About a month after I was experimenting with it, I had the opportunity to have a peach danish that we correctly identified as having cardamom (both ground and a small smattering of just the decorticated seeds) in the dough and then a ginger-peach (with a hint of lemon) in the filling. We are in the process of perfecting a sweet roll using this dough and having a ginger-peach filling with about a 1tsp. or so of the decorticated seeds to heighten the cardamom flavor to balance out the ginger-peach. Heavenly!
Sounds amazing Cynthia!
Turned out amazing. My husband said it was just like his mom’s, but “not so dense.” It was gone in a flash so, here I am making it again, second day in a row. Thank you.
Awesome!
Hi Sylvia,
I have been receiving your emails for a while now and have made a number of your recipes but this is the first time I am leaving a comment.
A few years ago, I was looking online for a zucchini fritter recipe and found your website. We had zucchini growing in our garden and I wanted some new recipes to use them in. I made your Zucchini Fritters with Feta and Dill. They are delicious and a family favourite now. Your website is a great source of recipes and ideas as my daughter is vegetarian and the rest of us want to eat more plant based meals.
The story you shared about your mother and the Pulla is so similar to one of my own, that I wanted to leave a comment to thank you for sharing such special and personal memories.
My mother passed away three years ago after being diagnosed with dementia ten years earlier.
She had a special Italian Easter Bread that she made for us every year. It was very similar to your mum’s Pulla except for the cardamom. Mum flavoured her sweet bread with orange zest and vanilla. It was lovely.
After reading your Pulla post I wanted to make the Pulla in honour of both of our special mothers. It turned out perfectly and my family loved it. The flavour was delicious, slightly different to my mum’s but the texture was the same.
Thank you Sylvia for sharing such a special story and recipe. They have brought back some beautiful memories.
Warmest regards,
Maria from Adelaide, South Australia.
Awwww, thanks so much for sharing this Maria, and I’m sorry about your mom. So hard. Her Easter Bread sounds delicious, I’ll have to look for that. Glad you enjoyed the pulla. xoxo
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story, Sylvia! I haven’t been to Finland (yet) but I’ll definitely save this recipe. All the best to you, Marlen
I was pulled to read your post about pulla because it was something new to bake and I was curious about the bread. Savored every word of your post because of the heartwarming story of your mom! Thanks for sharing! Crying now!
Thanks Jana!
You’ve shared a beautiful
Story for your readers. I visited my mother’s family in Finland two years ago. We will return in two years.
Haven’t mastered pulla yet. Your complete instructions will take some of my fears away.
Thank you
Jan Madsen.
Thanks, Jan! Isn’t it a beautiful country? So glad you visited.
Your story reminds me of my Finnish grandmother, Mummi. This recipe turned out wonderfully for me as well! I just made one loaf and halved the ingredients but it was fantastic. Mine ended up very light and fluffy.
This is a delicious recipe, but following my Finnish neighbor’s recommendation used 1T rather than 2t ground cardamom. Also I made three smaller braided loaves rather than two larger loaves. We ate one loaf, froze one loaf, and gifted our neighbor Pirkko with a loaf. She loved it! She said in Finland they keep pulla on hand to serve with coffee to friends and guests who pop in, but they serve it “plain” rather than with butter as we do here in the U.S.☘️
Wonderful! Made sure it didn’t over-brown, tastes great! My loaves were a bit sunken in the middle, but still delicious.
Sylvia, Could one use coconut milk in this recipe? I have a sensitivity to cow’s milk. I can digest goat milk, but have only been able to find canned. I love Cardamom!!! Can’t wait to try this bread. Thanks so much for sharing.
By the way, I just LOVE your little anecdotal notes about your mom … I lost my mom a few years ago, too. When I mentioned to my mother-in-law that I didn’t have any parents anymore she said (with her arms held out wide), “but you’ve got me.” She has lived with us for several years, now. Back in March she turned 100 years old!!! Still walks on her own with a walker … thanks for all you do … I just love your site. I’m a little slow with getting pictures. I hope I don’t forget again when I bake this bread.
Aloha,
Sue
Awww…Aloha, and thanks so much for sharing Sue. I have not tried with coconut milk- so I’m only guessing here, but I think should work?
I made this bread today, cutting the recipe in half to make one loaf. It turned out good but it got really dark on the top after only about 12 minutes in the oven at 375°. I covered it with parchment (maybe should have used tinfoil) and turned the temp down to 360° but it still got too brown on top. Any other suggestions? I only added 3 cups flour but it still seemed a bit dry. Otherwise, the flavor was amazing! I love anything with cardamom. I can’t wait to try making it again! And I loved what you shared about your Mom. She sounds like she was an amazing woman, a good soul.
Thanks Michelle. I’d place it lower down in the oven ( lower third). Also check that your oven temp is calibrated. Did you use convection?
Thank you Sylvia! I use my oven’s Bread setting. I bake it at 350° now for longer and I cover it with foil after about 12-15 minutes. This recipe is delicious!!!
My daughter made this today. We cooked it at 350 on Convect bake for 25 minutes. Half way through we put foil on top. If regular bake I would still do it at 350 for 40 minutes. Keep an eye on it.