January | 2021 | The Finnish Dish

I haven’t blogged any recipes in awhile, but it’s not because I’m not cooking. I’ve tried some new things, taken all the photos, made my notes, and the finished products were not worthy of blogging or ever even making again. I subscribe to a few food magazines. I tear out the pages with recipes that appeal to me and put them in spiral binders. I have a LOT of recipes in those binders. When I’m tired of cooking the same old things I get a binder out and go in search of something new. One such recipe I pulled out recently was for chicken and spinach calzones. Those took me an entire Sunday afternoon, came out of the oven looking beautiful, and they tasted awful! Last night I tried a new recipe for a Middle Eastern Chicken and Chickpea Stew. That recipe will not be going back into the binder. Maybe if I fussed with them and made modifications the second time around they would be good, but there are so many options out there I can always find something new. Failed dinners are so sad.

Last spring when the pandemic first began I, like so many other people, started making more homemade breads. When we couldn’t find yeast we made sour dough. Making bread, when it’s successful, is such a satisfying pursuit. And the smell of bread baking is one of the best aromas. There’s nothing like a cup of coffee and a slice of warm bread with butter melting on it, or a glass of wine and a slice of good crusty bread with a piece of cheese. Last spring my friend Jane and I experimented with a lot of bread recipes. Some were more successful than others. Each one was a learning experience. We all now have more bread making tools. We have lames and proofing bowls and baking steels and cloches.

While looking through one of my binders, the one with bread and breakfast recipes, I came across this recipe for the Japanese Milk Bread Rolls. It’s a King Arthur recipe. I love their products and I’ve had decent success with most of their bread and other recipes. My daughter had just sent me pictures on Sunday of these beautiful Japanese pancakes she had made. They were very light and puffy looking, kind of like a soufflé. So when I came across this recipe I found it intriguing and decided to give it a try. The flour to yeast ratio is different as is the addition of the ”tangzhong.” Tangzhong is cooking a portion of the raw flour with liquid until the starches in the flour gelatinize. The purpose of this technique is to produce a soft, fluffy bread. The rolls are very good and they remind me a little of potato rolls.

Ingredients:

Tangzhong (starter)

3 T water

3 T whole milk

2 T Bread Flour

Dough:

2 1/2 cups Bread Flour

2 T nonfat dry milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 T instant yeast

1/2 cup whole milk

1 large egg

4 T unsalted butter, melted

First we make the tangzhong. Measure out the milk, water, and flour and whisk together in a small saucepan until no lumps remain.

Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until thick and the whisk leaves lines on the bottom of the pan, about 3-5 minutes.

Transfer to a small bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature.

Once the tangzhong has cooled to room temperature combine it with all of the remaining dough ingredients. Mix and knead until a smooth, elastic dough forms. Shape the dough into a ball and let it rest in a lightly greased bowl for 60-90 minutes. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel.

Dough will get puffy but won’t necessarily double in bulk. Gently deflate the dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and place in a lightly greased 8” or 9” round cake pan. Cover the pan with a towel and let the rolls rest for 40-50 minutes, until puffy. While the rolls are resting preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Brush the rolls with an egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 T cold water).

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown on top and a digital thermometer inserted into the center of the middle roll reads at least 190 F. Remove the rolls from the oven and allow them to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy these with dinner or for a midnight snack with a slice of cheese and cold meat.

NOTE: I think these would hold up well as slider buns.

The recipe is actually very easy as yeast breads go. But you always need to be attentive to the process. I threw the first batch of dough away after forgetting to add the melted butter. I can assure you, once all of the other ingredients have been incorporated, 4 T of melted butter cannot be worked in.

I belong to a Facebook group called Finnish Cooking, and there were so many people posting pictures of this beautiful bread during the holidays, I felt compelled to try making it myself. I found a recipe on the site, however the recipe was written in Finnish. My first challenge. My Finnish vocabulary is limited . I know that muna is egg, voita is butter, and maito is milk. Much beyond that and I am guessing, a particularly bad idea when you’re baking. I have a friend that figured out how to get a copy of the recipe translated to English which was extremely helpful. The remaining challenges were measurements and my daughter helped me with the conversions. The first time I made this I think that a few things were lost in the translations and the bread over baked and was dry. Today I reviewed the recipe and compared it to my pulla recipe and my cinnamon roll recipe and made some modifications going in. The dough felt much better and the end result was much more eye appealing. And best of all, the bread is moist and tastes wonderful, especially fresh out of the oven.

This bread has the distinct taste and aroma of cardamom. There is cardamom in the dough and in the filling. While it was in the oven, the aroma was reminiscent of my grandmother’s kitchen when she was baking her cardamom bread. We all loved that bread. It made wonderful toast or French toast and was great dunked in your coffee with a good smear of butter. It just evokes the best memories.

The ingredients listed below reflect my modification of the original recipe.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp dry yeast

4 T sugar

4 T melted butter

3/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

4 cups flour

Combine the milk and buttermilk and warm to hand temperature. In a large mixing bowl combine yeast, melted butter, sugar, salt, egg, warm milk and cardamom along with 1 cup flour beating for a minute or two. Continue stirring, adding 1/2 cup of flour at a time. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead until you have a soft smooth dough. About 8-10 minutes. If necessary add a little additional flour. You can also do this in a stand mixer using a dough hook, but I like kneading dough by hand. Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl covered with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until it is double in size, 1 hour or so depending on how warm your kitchen is.

I like to use my grandmother’s bread bowls because I believe there is still some of her magic in those bowls. While your bread is rising you can make your filling. The original recipe called for hazelnuts but I used pecans. Pecans are one of my favorites for baking and hazelnuts are sometimes difficult to find.

Filling Ingredients:

5 T melted butter

3 oz sugar

1 T gingerbread seasoning

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cardamom

3.5 oz ground pecans

Combine all of the filling ingredients and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 380 degrees and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Once the dough has risen punch it down, and dump it onto your baking mat. Divide the dough into four equal parts. I weighed mine and tried to keep the discs equal in size. Roll out your first disc of dough into about a 9-10 inch circle. Put the dough on the prepared baking pan and spread 1/3 of the filling on it.

Continue rolling, stacking, and spreading the filling until you have used all of the dough. Place a circular mold of some kind on the top center of the circle. Using a sharp knife cut into 4 quarters and cut each quarter into 3 wedges taking care not to cut past the mold in the center.

You should have a total of 16 cuts. Taking 2 claws at a time twist them outward 2 or 3 turns and pinch and bottom edges together. Repeat all the way around.

Cover the bread with your kitchen towel and allow it to rise for 20-30 minutes. Brush the bread with an egg wash and sprinkle a few chopped nuts in the center. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack. The bread tears easily into individual servings. Enjoy!!

NOTE: I did not have gingerbread spice so I had to make my own. 2 T allspice, 2 T cinnamon, 2 T ginger, 1 T cloves, 1 T nutmeg, and a pinch of fresh ground black pepper.

The first time I made this I over-baked it. Each oven is different, but be careful not to leave it in too long.

Note to self, I need to brush up on my Finnish.