Ullas mammas saffransbröd
Lucia is celebrated in Scandinavia, with Sweden as the absolute epicentre. It is however a tradition from Northern and Southern Italy (not central Italy apparently...), imported to Sweden in the 19th century, perhaps as a way of attempting to exchange the drunken party frenzy of Swedish youth taking place on the particular day of December 13? If that at all had been the idea it failed miserably: Swedish adolescents still get drunk, fight in the streets and generally misbehave to such an extent that parents fear the date. This is an absolutely unknown phenomenon in Norway and Denmark, where Lucia arrived as it had been imagined perhaps by the Swedish importer of the fair young brides of light wandering dark halls in white nightgowns and flickering candles in their hair – nowadays serving saffron buns to other kids, the old and frail, and parents with eyes full of tears.
This recipe is the best I have ever tried. It is absolutely reserved for December. You need more butter because of the saffron. If you don't up the butter the buns will go a dry. A gluten and lactose free recipe will follow.
Original
125 gr butter (DO NOT exchange with margarine as that adversely affects the taste)
3,5 dl heavy milk
25-30 gr yeast
0,5 gr of saffron
1 dl sugar
10 dl wheat flour (plain)
a pinch of cardamom
a handful of raisins
an egg yolk for brushing (can be exchanged with some sugar dissolved in a bit of water or milk)
Melt the butter, take it off the heat and add the grind saffron, put a lid on and and let cool slightly before you add the milk. Get temperature down to body temperature before adding the yeast and a teaspoon of the sugar. Let the yeast dissolve while you measure and mix sugar, cardamom and flour. If you want raisins in the buns add the handful here, but save some for decoration of the buns. Then mix the milk and butter with the flour mixture by hand or in a mixer. When silky and a little bit clingy, set aside to double in size under cling wrap or a tea towel somewhere there is no drought.
When the dough has rested, roll it out on a floured table top, knead it into a nice blob you can divide into four equal sizes. Set three to the side under the cling wrap or the towel. Roll the fourth bit into a long 'sausage' of maximum one inch thickness (if you want big buns) and divide into 20 cm long bits. Roll each bit into S'es with a good twirl at each end, making sure that the end tails are really tucked in in the middle of the swirl. Put aside under a tea towel to rest to double size again. Then press a raisin in the middle of each twirl and whisk all buns with the mixed egg yolk (the white can be made into the most delicious mayonnaise!).
Bake at 225-250°C depending on whether you bake them in a hot-air or regular oven, for 8-10 minutes. Let the buns sit until they are just luke warm and serve with Glögg and butter!
Gluten and lactose free (easily made vegan)
(easily make vegan by exchanging butter for a vegan alternative, which tastes like butter such as Naturli's Vegan Bredbart Ekologisk)
200 gr lactose free butter (DO NOT exchange with margarine as that adversely affect the taste)
5 dl heavy lactose free milk
50 gr yeast
1 gr of saffron
2 dl sugar
12 dl gluten free flour mix (with no raising agent)
a pinch of cardamom
a handful of raisins
an egg yolk for brushing (can be exchanged with some sugar dissolved in a bit of water or milk)
Melt the butter, take it off the heat and add the grind saffron and let keep it two minutes on the heat. Put a lid on and and let cool slightly before you add the milk. Get temperature down to body temperature before adding the yeast and a teaspoon of the sugar. Let the yeast dissolve while you measure and mix sugar, cardamom and flour (and raisins if you want). If you want raisins in the buns add the handful here, but save some for decoration of the buns. Then mix the milk and butter with the flour mixture by hand or in a mixer. When silky and a relatively sticky let the dough rest and settle for a few minutes. When settled, it should no longer be sticky and you need to work it relatively quickly for it not to dry out. divide the dough into four parts, keeping the three under a humid tea towel or cling wrap. You might also choose to set the dough aside to double in size under cling wrap or a tea towel somewhere there is no drought, and then roll the buns out. My experience with gluten free baking though is that the dough will not really rise well if you follow the 'normal' gluten flour procedure of two or more periods of rising.
Roll it out on a floured table top, knead it into a nice blob you can divide into four equal sizes. Set three to the side under the cling wrap or the towel. Roll the fourth bit into a long 'sausage' of maximum one inch thickness (if you want big buns) and divide into 20 cm long bits. Roll each bit into S'es with a good twirl at each end, making sure that the end tails are really tucked in in the middle of the swirl. Put aside under a humid tea towel to rest to double size. Then press a raisin in the middle of each twirl and whisk all buns with the mixed egg yolk (the white can be made into the most delicious mayonnaise!).
Bake at 225-250°C depending on whether you bake them in a hot-air or regular oven, for 8-10 minutes. Adjust time to the size of the buns. Really small ones might take around 5 minutes, the bigger sized around 10 minutes. Let the buns sit until they are just lukewarm and serve with glögg and butter!
