Yule Limpa (Swedish Christmas Bread - No Knead Version)

This is an amazing bread.  It's a Swedish Christmas bread that my husband used to make.  I've adapted it to the no knead technique and now make it all year long.  It's a little more effort than some other breads but well worth it.  Yule Limpa is a light rye bread with a hint of orange.  It's best fresh, but will also keep fairly well for a couple days.  We've been known to eat an entire loaf in a day.

Yield: one loaf

Yule Limpa (no knead version)

Blend together:

1 1/2 C lukewarm milk (not above 100 degrees F)
1/4 C honey
2 T unsulfured molasses

Add to above and then let bloom:

1/2 t active dry yeast

Combine dry ingredients:

2 1/2 C white flour (I use bread flour when available)
1/2 C + 2 T rye flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 T finely chopped orange rind (about 1/8" in size)
1 1/2 t aniseed
1/2 t ground coriander
1 1/2 t salt

Add dry ingredients to wet and stir.  Beat in:

1 1/2 T softened unsalted butter

If needed add:

1/2 C white bread flour

The dough should be somewhat sticky, not dry like most bread doughs after kneading.

Let rise covered with plastic wrap or towel in bowl for 12- 20 hours (18 seems ideal) at room temperature. The dough is ready when its surface is speckled with air bubbles.

Butter and generously flour a circular bread pan (about 8" in diameter with 3" high sides).  Grease a work surface.  Turn dough onto it (the dough will be stringy as you remove it from the bowl) and shape into a ball.  (Do not punch down dough!) Place in the floured pan (seam side down) and let rise two hours covered. The dough is ready to bake when it has more than doubled in size and springs back lazily when poked. (I don't find it rises quite that much.)

Bake at 375 degrees F 50 minutes.

Mix 1 egg with a bit of milk.  When crust is dark brown, about 50 minutes, brush loaf thinly with egg mixture.  Return to oven for 5 minutes more to brown the top.  Transfer to a rack and cool.

Cinnamon/Cardamom Buns (No Knead Version)

For years I killed anything with yeast and had to beg my husband, the bread baker, to make bread, an all day, laborious effort.  But now, thanks to my neighbor Nancy who turned me onto Jim Lahey's  no knead bread book, My Bread, I now make bread once or twice a week (his foccacia recipe is sublime).  It's so easy that even a child could do it.  These breads have a lot less yeast in them and rely on a long rise to do the work of kneading.  The no knead method can also be easily applied to other yeast recipes.  I've adapted my husband's Swedish cinnamon/cardamom buns to the no knead method.

These Swedish buns are not like the overly sweet sticky cinnamon buns that we get in most bakeries.  These are slightly sweet buns for adults.  The recipe makes 24 buns and I confess the last time we made them, my husband and I ate 13 of them in one day (but we didn't eat much else)!  The hardest part of this recipe is rolling out the dough, adding filling and rolling the dough up.  These buns are not nearly as good the following day (like most bread).  The best way to store left overs is to freeze them.  To serve, pop the frozen buns into a 325 degree F oven for about 15 minutes and the buns will be almost as good as the day they were made.

Yield: 24 buns

Cinnamon/Cardamom Buns (no knead version)

Dough:
1/2 t active dry yeast
1/3 C sugar
7 T very soft or barely melted butter (90 degrees F, lukewarm to touch, not hot)
2 1/4 C milk
1 t salt
5 to 6 C flour

Filling:
 2-4 T butter  softened
1/3 C super fine sugar (you can use regular sugar, but it's not as nice)
2 T ground cinnamon or cardamom (we prefer cardamon)

Topping:
1 egg beaten
pearl sugar (optional)

Dough:
Heat up milk to room temperature or slightly lukewarm (90 degrees F, do not over heat or you can kill yeast, better to use cold milk than hot). Put in a large bowl with the sugar and stir.  Sprinkle yeast on top and let rest while you gather the remaining dough ingredients.

Measure the flour. Melt butter until lukewarm. Add to the butter to the milk/yeast. Add about 5 cups of the flour and salt and mix well.  The dough should be slightly sticky.  If it's too wet add more flour.  It should NOT be as dry as typical bread dough.  I found myself using about 5 1/2 cups flour, more on humid days.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 16-18 hours at room temperature (no need to put it in a warm spot, time will do the work). It will more than double in bulk and be filled with 1/2" diameter sized bubbles.  When the dough is removed from the bowl it will be quite stringy in texture.  Do NOT punch it down or knead.

Assembly:
Grease two rectangular pans (about 8"x11", we use pyrex pans) with butter and line with parchment paper.  Let parchment hang over sides to allow for easy removal of the buns later.

Mix together the super fine sugar and cinnamon or cardamom in a small bowl.

Grease a clean work surface with butter.  Divide the dough into two balls.  Grease your rolling pin. Start by patting out one ball to about 1/2" thick and then use the rolling pin to roll the dough into rectangle about 1/4" thick (about 8"x12" rectangle). 

Smear a thin layer of butter over the dough (I use my hands).  Sprinkle with half the flavored sugar.  Roll up the rectangle and cut with a greased butter knife into 12 equal pieces about 1" thick.  Place into one of the pans with the end pieces in the center.  Repeat with the second dough.

Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours at room temperature.  It should rise and fill in most of the gaps between the buns.  Beat the egg and brush the tops of the buns with a thin layer of egg. (Optional: sprinkle pearl sugar over top.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Grab hold of the parchment to lift out the buns from the pans and cool on a rack for at least ten minutes before snarffling your buns.

I usually start this the day before and do the assembly the following morning so that the buns are ready for lunch.

Brushing the buns with egg wash.  Notice that the odd sizes don't really matter as they all seems to increase to about the same size.

Dusting with rock sugar.