When I looked at the photo of this beautiful bread wreath in the book, I was worried! Could I
possibly reproduce this? Well I did! I must say I would need a bit more practice to get a really nice even wreath, but I was happy with my first attempt. And the taste–wow! I loved it! It’s a wonderfully sweet bread that is laced with small black flecks of cardamon.
We ate the first pieces as soon as it was cool enough to cut. Then I sliced the rest of the wreath and put it in the freezer.
It certainly didn’t last long in the freezer. I kept making toast to have with our morning coffee. This would be a great bread to give as a gift.
If you would like to try this wonderful bread you can find the recipe on page 106 and 107 of Baking with Julia. Erin of The Daily Morsel was the host for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie assignment and she posted the complete recipe. All the recipes in Baking with Julia are contributed by different people. This one was contributed by Beatrice Ojakangas. It’s from her cookbook entitled, The Finnish Cookbook. I requested her book from my library and found that she offers many other options for shaping this festive bread. I’m planning to make this again soon and try my hand at Christmas “Pigs” or the Bishop’s Wig.
December 31st Addendum:
For Christmas I made another recipe of Finnish Pulla dough and shaped it into what Beatrice calls “Christmas Pigs”. Here’s her instruction for shaping as found on page 37 of her book – “Pinch off balls the dough (each about the size of a large egg) and roll between your palms and the lightly floured board into strands about 12 inches long. Arrange these on a greased baking sheet in the form of an S” I love this bread!
createdbycarlene 
I was worried too when I saw we were making this.
Your wreath looks great. I had a hard time braiding. (is so much harder than doing hair!) But the flavour of the bread totally won me over. The cardamom is wonderful in it. And I can’t wait to make this again. But next time I think I’ll make loaves.
On Christmas I tried the S shape “Christmas Pigs” I just added an a note and photo to my post.
So beautiful! I’ve got some in the freezer too
Yours looks great too! This recipe was a keeper for me too!
This is a wonderful bread. I plan on making it again for a gift. Your loaf is lovely!
Thanks Cathleen–I gave a bit away as well. I love this bread!
That’s interesting that there are many other shapes to try – I’ll have to see if our library has it!
I made this again for Christmas day in the “Christmas Pigs” shape and added a picture of it to my original post.
Love the shapes you made for christmas!! I like individual servings. Great job!