Spelt Cardamom Bread (made two ways)
Ingredients
Dough (see note 1)
- 250ml (1 cup) milk
- 50g (3½ tbs) butter
- 1 egg
- 400-450g (3⅓ - 3¾ cups) spelt flour (see note 2)
- 50g (¼ cup) sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 7g (2 tsp) dried yeast (see note 3)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 beaten egg (for an egg-wash before baking)
Additional Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- icing sugar (enough to make a very thick paste)
- sliced almonds
- pearl sugar
Instructions
DOUGH
Bread Machine:
- Add the milk, butter, and egg to your bread machine pan. Then add 400g (3⅓ cups) of flour, and the remaining ingredients. Take care to keep the yeast and salt separate as much as possible. Set your machine to make dough.
- On a very well-floured surface (the dough will be very sticky) work in just as much flour as you need to make a soft, pliable, but still a little tacky, dough.
Stand Mixer:
- Add the milk, butter, and egg to your stand mixer bowl, and give it a quick mix. If the butter is straight out of the fridge, it won't combine with the other wet ingredients too much, but that's okay.
- Then add 450g (3¾ cups) of flour, and the remaining ingredients. The dough should be sticky, but if you need more flour, just add a little at a time. Be careful: too much flour will result in dry bread.
- Switch to a dough hook (if you have one) and allow the mixer to knead the dough for around 10 minutes, just until soft. The dough will still feel a little tacky to the touch, but will be able to slowly drop off the hook.
- Cover the dough and leave to proof (until it has doubled in size - usually about an hour).
- When the dough is ready, knock it back, and on a floured surface, form into a rough ball.
Small Cardamom Breads
- Using half of the dough (see note 4), divide into 5 equal parts.
- Take each part and divide into three.
- Roll each bit out until it is a thin rope of around 15cm / 6" in length.
- Take the three parts, pinch them together at the top and plait together. Tuck both ends under.
- Continue with the remaining 4 bits of dough so that you are left with ten small plaited buns.
- Pre-heat the oven to 175℃ / 350℉ and line a large baking tray with paper.
- Place the dough shapes on the tray (allowing space in between).
- Cover with a tea-towel and leave to rest for around 30 minutes.
- When ready, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sliced almonds and pearl sugar.
- Bake for around 12 minutes, just until they are golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve warm.
Large Cardamom Plait (Braid)
- Using half of the dough (see note 4), divide into 3 equal parts.
- Roll each bit out until it is a thick rope of around 25cm / 9¾" in length.
- Take the three ropes, pinch them together at the top and plait together. Tuck both ends under.
- Pre-heat the oven to 175℃ / 350℉ and line a large baking tray with paper.
- Place the plaited dough on the tray and cover with a tea-towel. Leave to rest for around 30 minutes.
- When ready, brush with egg wash.
- Bake for around 15-20 minutes, just until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Drizzle (see note 5)
- Mix the milk and vanilla together and add just as much icing sugar to make a thick (slow dripping) paste.
- Drizzle along the lines of the plaited loaf. Sprinkle with sliced almonds and slice. Enjoy!
Notes
- I have made the dough using both a stand mixer and bread machine with identical results. I have not made the dough by hand, but I see no reason why you couldn't do so!
- You can use spelt or regular flour for this recipe (just use the same amount).
- In Sweden we have something called dried yeast. It is used both in warm liquid to proof and also added directly to flour. I am aware that the US has two options for dried yeast, and I believe dry active yeast is the most similar to our dried yeast.
- The dough will make 5 small buns and one larger one. However, you could use the dough any way you like, perhaps making 10 small buns or just one large loaf.
- I used an icing drizzle only on the large loaf. Of course you can use it on the smaller ones, too!