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I baked the "Norwegian Coffee Buns," from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book (Little Brown, 1988), p. 95, on Saturday evening into early Sunday morning. I needed a quantity sweet roll recipe that would make 2 dozen for a last-minute announced breakfast event at my church on Sunday morning. I chose this one from the coffee bread section because it made 2 dozen, and it did not require the 4 hour or overnight refrigeration of dough before shaping and the second rise.
Here are the ingredients:
2 packages active dried yeast (I reduced to 4 tsp. from that 4 1/2 tsp.)
1 cup warm water (105-115F; I used 110F)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup melted butter. (I melted a 4 oz. stick), cooled
1 tsp pulverized cardamom seed. (I crush with a mortar and pestle; I used 3/4 tsp.)
2 cups milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm (I used 2 cups buttermilk and did not heat it.)
6-6 1/2 cups flour (I used KAF AP, and ended up using 7 cups)I used my Cuisinart 7-qt. stand mixer. I proofed the yeast as directed, then I added the rest of the sugar, the cardamom seed, the buttermilk, and the melted butter. (I held out the salt, which she added here.) I mixed in 4 cups of flour, using the flat paddle. Then I let it sit covered for 15 minutes. (She actually mixed in 3 cups of the flour, then the rest until the mixture would not absorb any more flour, and then let it stand 15 minutes.) I changed to the kneading spiral, then mixed in the 2 cups of flour combined with the salt. I quickly realized that would not be enough and added the "extra" 1/2 cup, then put in yet another cup. I went ahead and kneaded it for 4 minutes at a speed of 3. It was still pretty sticky, but I figured it would absorb more in the first rise.
I let it rise for an hour, and it certainly did! When I punched it down, it was clearly still a rather sticky--as in all over the hands!--dough. She said to turn it out onto an oiled surface, divide into 24 pieces, and shape "into smooth balls." It was a challenge to weigh out the dough to get even balls, and even with damp fingertips, it was not possible to shape them into balls. I did not use an oiled surface but my silicone mat. I would get them into the best half-rounded shape I could, then use my scraper to plop them on parchment-lined cookie sheets. The second rise was supposed to be 45 minutes, but I only let it go for almost 30 minutes before brushing them with a slightly beaten egg and 2 Tbs. milk (1 %), and sprinkling with pearled sugar. They bake at 375F and had nice oven spring, but they did spread more than I would like to see--and ran together a bit. (Next time, I will use my wide Reynolds parchment.) I baked for 17 minutes rather than the given 15 minutes, since I use heavy cookie sheets that require this adjustment.
This morning, my husband and I did Quality Control on one. They have a lovely, airy texture, and wonderful taste (3/4 tsp. of cardamom was enough), so I took them to my church function, and they got rave reviews. Only two returned home with me. People want the recipe. I had to tell them that it is a very difficult dough to work with (one lady of Norwegian ancestry said that she has a sweet bread recipe that if you are not silently cussing to yourself while shaping it, you are doing it wrong), and I'm not sure that I'd try it without a stand mixer. I told them that I'd like to tweak it and try it again before passing it on. (Only one of these people is somewhat of a serious baker.)
If you have suggestions about this recipe, I'd like to hear them. Beatrice Ojakangas does not give detailed instructions on kneading or on handling such a wet dough, nor does she specify what kind of flour she uses, other than an AP flour with a protein of 11-12 grams per cup. Should I add more flour--perhaps bring it up to 7 1/2 cups or 8? Is the issue that I need to find some tutorial on working with a rather slack/sticky dough? I do have a note on another coffee bread recipe in this section that I tried a long time ago that the dough when shaped was so sticky that I really had to flour my surface to shape them, and even then, I recall having some difficulty. (This was before I had a stand mixer or a silicone mat. I've come a long way.)
I'll see what I can find on YouTube. I don't want to use bread flour, since she says that it will make the pastry less tender, and cautions against using it unless the recipe specifies to do so.
BTW--the buns were definitely superior on the first day. There was a drop off in texture and taste when I ate most of the last two on Monday morning. (My husband also sampled a piece and agreed.)
Beatrice Ojakangas does have a WordPress site, so I have posted a question there. The last post was a couple of years ago, so I do not know if there will be an answer, but I will let everyone know if there is.
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