Home › Forums › Baking — Breads and Rolls › What are you Baking the week of December 6, 2020?
BakerAunt.Thanks for posting the link, Aaron. Lucia was considered a patron saint of Sweden, who supposedly brought food during a famine when the people were starving. Even though Sweden became a Lutheran country in the sixteenth century and saints were no longer considered intercessors, St. Lucia retained her special day. I'm not surprised that there was also a merging with pagan tradition, as that was common among the early Christian missionaries. I'd not heard about the devil connection before.
I read once that a lot of the butter rich, white flour pastries with almond fillings, citrus, and spices for which Sweden and the Scandinavian countries are known are actually nineteenth-century imports from European countries. That makes sense, since the growing period for grain favors heartier ones. I was very tempted to buy a recent book on Scandinavian baking that was said to explore the older tradition.
I've never used saffron (expensive).
One final note: the oil-based Lucia Buns I baked this year have grown on me, and they stay softer than the butter ones did.
BakerAunt;
Do you find that using oil instead of butter makes bread softer? My current bread is growing on me as I finish it up being softer than I expected and I used oil instead of butter in it. Its the oatmeal-maple bread which I thought was a pain to make, but i am enjoying the flavor more than I thought I would.
Skeptic--I've noticed with other breads that the oil tends to keep the bread softer. High sugar breads with butter, may be more accurate in terms of breads that stale faster.
I also use buttermilk in place of regular milk or sometimes part of the water, so that may make a difference as well.
The sugar reminds me of another reason that the famous pastries of Scandinavia are a later development.
