More Swedish Buns - From a real Swede!

Thought I should get something out there after my last post! Now this was a fun day! My neighbor Malin had guests visiting from Sweden and so I made them MY Swedish Buns. Then Annica said at Christmas they always make Saffron Buns and Lussekatts or St. Lucia Cats so I said come over and show me! It was really fun and challenging translating from her Swedish recipe into my American ingredients (for one thing they have fresh yeast cakes and we do not!) and American measuring abilities! The coolest thing is that we don't have to worry about changing Celsius to Fahrenheit because my oven has an option to do both. Now if you are not so lucky it's totally googleable! Anyway - now we have lots of photos - and I even am going to post my first videos! Fingers crossed they work!

This first video is of Annica rolling the saffron buns - this is her traditional shape. All 3 styles were made with the same Saffron Dough.

First cut in the "twist" shape

Making slits in the dough

Fully risen, decorated and ready to bake

Here is the other video so you can see how the little "twists" are made - they were my favorites!

Swedish Saffron Dough  - Please note we were improvising from her recipe so forgive our "translations"it will really help if you have a scale.

200 Grams of unsalted butter (about 14 tablespoons)
16.9 oz milk (a little over 2 cups)
4 and 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 "packet" of fresh yeast if you are lucky enough to find that!)
6.76 oz granulated sugar
1 gram saffron (recipe calls for one packet ground saffron - I only had the threads so we ground them in a mortar and pestle - I don't think we had a whole gram so maybe only 1/2 - they had plenty)
1 teaspoon salt
900 grams flour (hold out about 1/2 cup when you add this for rolling dough, adding more if it's too sticky)
1 egg beaten for brushing dough
melted butter for dipping
sugar for dipping

Melt the butter in a pan and then add the milk - bring to 98 degrees then add the yeast and the sugar and whisk and let sit off heat for 10-15 min or until bubbly. Then pour it into a mixer stir in the saffron and add the salt and flour and mix with a dough hook for about 7- 10 min until smooth. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed a few min. until smooth. Place in a large oiled bowl covering with cling wrap and set in a warm spot for about 45 min. When nicely risen - shape into desired buns, and let rise on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat for another 30-45 min. Brush with egg wash and bake 425 degrees (actually 250 celsius) for 7-10 min depending on shape and size. When nicely browned remove to cool on a rack. This recipe with split into 3 pieces and made each of the shapes below - recipe says it makes 40 I'm not sure how many we ended up with!
1. Annica's round buns ; ) This is the first video - she broke off small pieces of dough and rolled them into a prefect circle. After cooking and when cool she brushed the tops with melted butter and then dipped in a small bowl of granulated sugar. Adorable.

2. Lussekatts - these are traditionally baked with raisins but since I hate those we used dried cherries - which I think were perfect! She rolled the dough into strips and then turned it around on itself to shape into 2 eyes and then place the dried cherry in the little "eye" circles.

3. The "twists" I don't know what to call this shape as Annica didn't know what they were called - in Swedish or English! Whatever you want to call them they were my favorites. First roll out the dough into a rectangle. Then she spread it all with about 4 tablespoons room temp butter then grated over the top about 2 oz of almond paste (remember if you choose to do only this shape this is only the measurements for 1/3 of the dough!) Then she folded over one half and then the other to make a smaller rectangle. Next she cut them into strips about 1 and 1/2 inches wide, then cut a slit down the middle leaving the top and bottom intact. Now the video shows how you take the top part and turn it under and through the slit and pull it through to create the twist. After rising she brushed with egg wash and then sprinkled on the top chopped almonds and pearl sugar - I still can't find Swedish pearl sugar - the one I did find was too big - oh well - next time!

ANYBODY UP FOR A FIKA? 

That's Swedish slang for cup of coffee and a treat!