Wednesday Baking | Cardamom Braids

Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.

This bread recipe comes compliments of my grandmother, who saw it in a magazine and sent it to me. She’s from Norway, where cardamom is a favorite spice, so this recipe caught her eye.

Unfortunately, she lives in Illinois, which means that the odds of me being able to share a loaf with her are slim to none. Pictures will have to suffice. 😉 Although if she comes to visit, I will be sure to bake a loaf or two.

This recipe produces a soft, relatively dense bread, much like cinnamon bread except without the cinnamon. So if you don’t like the peppery taste of cardamom, you could always just leave it out, and you’ll end up with a plain sweet bread.

We’ve sort of tried it that way, though not on purpose. The first time I made this bread, I used cardamom that was past its prime, so the bread really didn’t taste like cardamom at all. It was a good sweet bread, but there was barely even a hint of cardamom. So, this time I bought cardamom from an open bin so that I could buy only as much as I needed, and the bread I made with this fresh cardamom was much better.

I give a different variety of bread to my parents each month of the year, and last week, I brought one of these loaves to their house. Unfortunately, Joshua placed our heavy swim bag smack dab on top of the loaf, which made it very…dense. Ahem.

However, my parents still ate the entire loaf and even enjoyed it, so perhaps there’s no way to mess this bread up!

To start this dough, combine yeast, water, and a bit of sugar.

Then heat the milk, sugar, butter, and salt together to 115-120 F. Pour the milk mixture into a mixer bowl and add eggs, cardamom, and 3 cups of flour. Once that’s mixed together, add the yeast mixture.

The dough will be pretty runny at this point.

Add enough flour to make a soft dough, and turn the whole mess out onto a floured counter.

Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes, or until it’s smooth and elastic.

Place the dough back into the bowl, cover it with a wet tea towel, and let it rise for an hour. Punch it down, divide it into 6 pieces, and roll each piece into an 8 inch rope.

Braid 3 ropes together and repeat with the other 3 ropes.

You can place the braids, as-is, onto a greased baking sheet, or you can do like I do and place them into 4×8 loaf pans.

Cover the braids with a wet tea towel and let them rise until they’re doubled, about 30-45 minutes, depending on the temperature of your house.

Brush the loaves with a beaten egg and sprinkle them with a bit of white sugar.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the loaves are lightly browned. Because this dough is fairly dense, you’ll not want to err on the side of underbaking, or you’ll end up with doughy loaves.

If you choose to bake the braids on a baking sheet I imagine the baking time would need to be shortened. I haven’t tried that myself, though, so you’re on your own. I’d start with 20-25 minutes, and then just keep an eye on the loaves until they seem done.

Remove the dough from the pans/sheets and let it cool on wire racks.

Cardamom Braids-makes 2

Printable Cardamom Braids Recipe (my printable recipes now have a photo. Yay!)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
4 1/2 cups flour
1 beaten egg for glaze

In a small bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Set aside.

Heat 1/2 cup sugar, milk, butter, and salt to 115 F. Pour into a mixing bowl and add beaten eggs, cardamom and 3 cups of flour. Mix well; add the yeast mixture. Mix until combined, then add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead 3-5 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise 1 hour.

Punch dough down; divide into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into an 8-inch rope. Braid 3 ropes together to form a loaf; repeat with remaining ropes. Place loaves into 2 greased 8×4 inch loaf pans. Cover with a wet tea towel; let rise 45 minutes, or until doubled.

Brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 30 minutes, or until loaves are brown. Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.

Today’s 365 post: Normally, I like to get in close.