Ingredients

  • Dough
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 3/8 cup softened butter
  • 1/4 ounce dry yeast (1 packet)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup superfine sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 cups wheat flour
  • Finnish Filling
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup Quark (a.k.a. maitorahkaa)
  • 1/4 cup vanilla cream flour
  • Alternative American Filling
  • 8 ounces cream cheese (1 package)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest or 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
  • 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
  • Icing
  • 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 3 teaspoons fresh orange juice or 3 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 dash water, to desired consistency

Method

  • Prepare filling by mixing ingredients into a smooth paste. Refrigerate until needed.
  • In a saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and butter to about 40C/104°F.
  • In a bowl, crumble the yeast into the warm milk and butter mixture. Add sugar, salt and egg. Mix together well until the yeast is dissolved.
  • Add flour gradually until the dough forms a ball. Add more flour only if it's still sticky and add only a little at a time.
  • Knead dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
  • Place a towel over the bowl and let the dough double in a warm, draft-free place for about 30 minutes to 1 hour [warming the oven to ~40C/100F works very well as a proofing box].
  • Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Gently shape dough into rough rectangle with long side nearest you. Lightly flour dough and roll into a 16-inch x 12-inch (40cm x 30cm) rectangle.
  • Spread filling on the dough leaving a 1cm/.5in border on the far edge.
  • Beginning with long edge nearest you, roll dough into taut cylinder.
  • Firmly pinch seam to seal and roll cylinder seam-side down.
  • Very gently stretch and roll to cylinder of even diameter and 18-inch/45cm length; push ends in to create even thickness.
  • Using a sharp serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, slice cylinder in half, then slice each half in half again to create evenly sized quarters. Slice 3,8cm/1.5in pieces from the rolls and place into a rectangular pan using a spatula.
  • Cover with a towel and allow to rise for about 30 minutes while the oven warms to baking temperature.
  • Make icing.
  • Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200-225C/390-435F for about 13-15 minutes.
  • Cut pulla apart and drizzle icing over the tops.
  • Try not to eat them all in one sitting. :).