Cardamom Buns

SWEET THINGS!?

Sourdough Cardamom Buns (Surdeg Kardemummabullar)

October 4th is cinnamon bun day (kannelbullar dag) in Sweden; a newish tradition introduced to me by my friend Ida about five years ago. If there's something such as a savory-tooth, that's what I've got, so I don't really make sweet things unless there's some random occasion like this (pancake day, anyone?). I've been baking a tiny bit (bread post to follow),  had an active sourdough starter going, and I have never made cinnamon or cardamom buns before, but thought I'd give it a shot. I browsed a few recipes on the internet, and totally winged it. 

Mixed some KA whole wheat white flour (~400g) with my discard starter (about 120g) with warmed-then-cooled-back-down milk (~250ml) and half a stick of melted (in the milk) butter (~55g), some sea salt (~10g), about a tablespoon (~7g) of ground black cardamom, and some light brown sugar (~75g) -- left this to rise overnight in the fridge. 

For the filling (can wait till the dough is ready), I mixed room temp butter (60g) with more brown sugar (40g) and a teaspoon (1-2g) of ground black cardamom. 

When the dough was ready to go, I rolled it out into a big rectangle (3-4mm thick), spread the filling mixture on one half of the dough, then folded it over and pinched the edges to seal. From there, I cut the dough into 2cm-wide strips before stretching/twisting/tying them into the final shapes you see here. Brushed with an egg wash, baked at about 200C (392F) until I got the color I wanted (~15min). 

Turned out better than I hoped. The sugar amounts can be tweaked (as above, it's not that sweet), you can add cinnamon to the dough or filling (or sub it, if you don't enjoy cardamom), and you can use different types of finishes for the bun (sugar water, yolk-only wash, milk-egg, etc..). Rock sugar as a final topping can be very pretty, and seems to be the usual way of making these stand out - sliced nuts work too. I'm also told there are many tutorials on youtube for making some really attractive knots, if that's your pleasure. I'm pleased, but looking forward to turning out an even better batch next October.