Swedish Cardamom Braid

"From Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads, posted for ZWT 3, Scandinavia."
 
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photo by Luschka photo by Luschka
photo by Luschka
photo by Bergy photo by Bergy
photo by Bergy photo by Bergy
photo by Bergy photo by Bergy
photo by Bergy photo by Bergy
Ready In:
3hrs 5mins
Ingredients:
12
Yields:
1 loaf
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ingredients

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directions

  • In a mixing bowl, measure 1 cup flour and add the dry ingredients.
  • Blend with a wooden spoon. pour in the hot water and stir with 25 strong strokes, or for 2 minutes with the mixer flat beater.
  • Cut the soft butter into several pieces and drop into the batterlike dough.
  • Add the egg, cardamom and raisins.
  • Stir in additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time, first with the spoon and then by hand, or with the beater and then the dough hook.
  • The dough will form a rough mass and clean the sides of the bowl.
  • Because of the large amount of butter, the dough will not be sticky. It should be firm, but not stiff.
  • Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. With a strong push turn fold action, knead till the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, or knead with the mixer under the dough hook for the same length of time.
  • Return the dough to the bowl; cover with plastic wrap and put aside at room temperature till the dough has doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
  • Punch down the dough and turn it onto a floured surface; knead briefly to work out air bubbles.
  • Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. Roll each part under your palms into a strand 14 inches long.
  • Beginning in the middle of the strands, braid loosely to one end. Reverse the loaf and again braid from middle to end.
  • Pinch the ends closed and place on a baking sheet.
  • Cover the dough with wax paper and leave till doubled in bulk and puffy to the touch, about 1 hour.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F 20 minutes before baking.
  • Before baking, brush the braid with the egg white glaze.
  • Bake till the crust is rich brown, about 45 minutes.
  • A wooden toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
  • Remove braid from the oven. Use a metal spatula to lift it off the baking sheet, because the hot loaf will be fragile and might break.
  • Cool on a wire rack.
  • This bread keeps well and toasts beautifully and also freezes well.

Questions & Replies

  1. I noticed that the amount of butter for 1 loaf and 2 loaves are exactly the same and I'm wondering if anyone could comment on that. I had inherited this exact same recipe from my ex-husband's grandmother. I just made 1 loaf last weekend with 1.5 sticks of butter. The loaf had a really hard time getting baked all the way on the inside (center, especially). I kept baking it but then the crust got over-cooked. Should the amount of butter for 1 loaf be just 3/4 stick instead?
     
  2. I brought cardamom SEEDS from Morocco.do I have to crush them? Or whole will do
     
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Reviews

  1. I thought this sounded familiar. I lost my copy of Clayton's book 3 years ago and have been trying to find one as good. Can't do better than this!
     
  2. My DH and I would rate this much higher than 5 if we could. We loved the combination of the raisins and the cardamom. So delicious we ate the loaf morning, noon and night! I guess the key is for me to make some more :) Thank you for posting this Patti! Perfection all the way around!
     
  3. I'd never have thought of putting cardamom in a bread before! In the end I only used 1/2 cup butter which still seemed to work fine. I also made it in a loaf tin rather than plaiting it. I had to go out during the day so it had hours to rise and it got huge!
     
  4. This bread is so delicious! The cardamom makes it smell wonderful too. Be sure to let it rise long enough; I wasn't patient enough and my loaf turned out a bit too dense. It was still great bread though. I love this authentic recipe!
     
  5. Yummy and buttery! This was wonderful. Not too much cardamom, too. Instead of brushing the outside with egg white, I brushed with butter and sugar when it came out. The crust was flaky and the middle was soft goodness. I let it do the 2nd rise in the fridge overnight. Thanks, pattikay!
     
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<p>Welcome to my page! It's a good place to start looking if you need to find me since I come here nearly every day for inspiration as I pursue the noble occupation of feeding family and friends. <br /><br /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/353579/half%20marx-brothers-a-night-at-the-opera.jpg alt= /> <br /><br /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/353579/2640.jpg alt= /> <br /><br /><img src=http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/353579/kaiserklan.jpg alt= /> <br /><br />My family moved across the country to southern California&nbsp;7 years ago. The first time I ever set foot on California soil (or anywhere in the West, for that matter) was the day I moved here. I experienced a form of culture/environment shock for about a year&nbsp;- even the air is different out here! For the first year, I would look at the roads and driveways that wind steeply up and down the foothills and think, Man, how does anyone drive on those in the winter? Then I would remember&nbsp;- they do it the same way they do in the summer&nbsp;- with their windows down, wearing shorts and flip-flops. I love the fact that we are near a large city, near the ocean, near the desert, near the mountains&nbsp;- what more could I ask for? And yes, even though I swore it wouldn't happen to me after living for more than 40 years in places with many weather extremes&nbsp;- I now get chilly when the temperature dips below 70 and can barely bring myself to go outdoors if it's raining. However, I do NOT wear a parka and mittens when it's 65 degrees&nbsp;- a sweatshirt or light jacket will do. <br /><br />My husband and I met while attending seminary (I dropped out before finishing one semester but he got a Master of Divinity) and we got married after knowing each other for 6 months. We are quick to tell other people that we do not advise this course of action, but we celebrated our 27th anniversary this year, so I guess sometimes rash decisions work out quite nicely. So with my husband's MDiv and my undergraduate degree in religious studies, we now both work in pharmaceutical marketing research. Just what you would expect, right? I telecommute to the east coast for work each day; I'm primarily a writer/analyst. When I was in college, writing so many research papers and unable to decide what I wanted to do when I grew up, I used to jokingly say that I should find a job writing research papers. More than 20 years later, that?s basically what I do. Cool, huh? <br /><br />Our wonderful son was born when we were married just one year and a mere 15 years later our bright-eyed redhead came into our lives (okay, so she was totally bald till she was nearly 2, but she's definitely red now). 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