Get ur fika on: Bullar

My husband and I recently traveled to Sweden for vacation, and I have since become enamored with all things Scandinavian. A custom I fell in love with in Sweden is that of fika. In her cookbook The Swedish Table, Helene Henderson explains, "Fika means taking coffee and sweets, but it is more than that. It is a social event, it is a way of life, it establishes who your true friends are and where you stand with them.... The day begins and ends with fika, and it also happens many times in between." Fika can be as simple as going out for a coffee and a pastry with a friend or as elaborate as inviting friends over for a selection of many pastries, cookies, and other sweets.

The mainstay of fika are bullar, which are moist, chewy, slightly sweet yeast-dough buns flavored with cinnamon, cardamom, and sugar. From what I have picked up on in internet research, everyone's family has a bullar recipe and they all believe theirs is the best. While proportions of butter and flour are sometimes different, and people argue the merits of using fresh ground cardamom over dried, the basic idea is always the same.

Bullar are usually brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with pearl sugar before baking. You can find pearl sugar at Scandinavian specialty shops or online fairly easily, or you can chop sugarcubes to produce a reasonable subsititute. Sugarcubes aren't all that easy to find these days either, though, so I recommend buying the pearl sugar online. (Scandiafood.com carries it.) Alternatively, you can top bullar with a powdered sugar glaze right after you remove them from the oven, but that is less authentic.

Bullar (from The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson, University of Minnesota Press, 2005)
Makes 16-18 rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 c. warm water
• 1 package dry yeast (1/4 oz. or 2-1/4 tsp.)
• 3/4 c. milk
• 3/4 c. salted butter
• 1 egg
• 3-3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 T. sugar

filling:

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 T. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cardamom, ground fresh -or- 1/2 tsp. dry
• 4 T. unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 egg, beaten (to brush the rolls)
• pearl sugar or 1/2 c. powdered sugar, dissolved with 1 T. water (for the topping)

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine 1 teaspoon sugar, warm water, and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast begins to bubble and foam. (MG -- I used a regular mixing bowl and a hand mixer for this recipe, and that worked just fine.)

In a small saucepan combine milk, and butter. Heat until warm and butter is melted, but do not boil. Let it sit for 8 minutes or until temperature falls below 110 degrees. (MG -- If you don't have a thermometer, you can do the "baby bottle test" and put a drop on your wrist. If it feels uncomfortably hot on your wrist, it's too hot for the bullar.) Pour into the yeast mixture. Add egg, flour, and 3 tablespoons sugar and beat with a dough hook until combined. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 1 minute. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled (or buttered) bowl, cover loosely with plastic food wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, in a small bowl combine sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. Preheat over to 400 degrees F.

Toll dough into a 20 x 15-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Brush top with the soft butter and evenly sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Fold dough in half and cut into 1-inch-wide strips. Hold one end of each strip and twist in opposite directions. Coil the twisted strip around your finger to create a tightly rolled bun. Place inside muffin cups or on a baking sheet covered with a Silpat liner (or parchment paper). (Alternatively, bullar can be made jellyroll style and cut into 1/2-inch sections.) Let rise for 30 minutes more.
















Brush rolls with the beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar if desired, and back for 10-12 minutes. Alternatively, you can drizzle rolls with powdered-sugar glaze after they are baked.