Kardemummabullar, Swedish Cardamom Buns

How to prepare kardemummabullar, swedish cardamom buns

1. For the dough, start with the tangzhong: mix the flour and water in a small saucepan and place over heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until you get a thick cream, like a paste (about 2 minutes). Put the paste in the stand mixer/bread machine.
2. In a cup, put the yeast, a pinch of sugar and the warm milk. Leave for 10 minutes in a warm place (I put it near the stove burner), until it foams on top. Pour this starter over the tangzhong.
3. Then add to the mixing bowl the eggs, melted butter, flour, sugar and salt. Knead for 8 minutes in the stand mixer (or one cycle in the bread machine).
4. Remove the dough to a bowl greased with a little oil and let it rise in a warm place (I put it in the oven at 30C) for 1 hour.
5. While the dough rises, remove the seeds from the cardamom pods and grind them in a coffee grinder (or a mini food processor) together with the sugar, to get a flavored powdered sugar. Set aside 1 heaping teaspoon of this flavored sugar.
6. Rub the butter with the flavored powdered sugar.
8. Remove the dough onto a floured work surface. Roll it out into a 30cm x 50cm square sheet, as evenly as you can.
9. Spread the sheet with a thin layer of flavored butter. The butter spreads easily using a spatula or the flat side of a table knife.
10. On the 50cm side, fold the dough in thirds, like a letter. Gently roll out the rectangle obtained, to get a thinner sheet, approximately 1cm thick. On the long side, with a pastry wheel, cut strips 2cm wide. I got 16 strips.
11. Make knots from each strip, following the pattern in this video. Place the knots on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
12. Put the tray in a plastic bag and let the knots rise in a warm place (this time I place them next to the hot radiator) for 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C.
14. Bake the rolls at 200C for 15-20 minutes, just until nicely browned.
15. Let the buns cool for 10 minutes. After this time, brush them either with melted butter or with honey heated together with water to make the buns shiny. When they're almost completely cool, you can lightly dust them with the reserved flavored sugar. They're best the day they're baked. They're great with a glass of milk.

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