Today is the third Sunday of Advent. But it's also Santa Lucia, and this year, with the perfect excuse of this blog, I finally wanted to give Lussekatter a try, the saffron buns traditionally made in Sweden on this day of the year.
As I'm not really an expert with yeasted doughs, I asked Nando for help, whose hands you see on the second photo. It's him who usually bakes the bread (and pizza) at home, while I make all the sweet stuff.
Anyway, we've never eaten the original Lucia buns in Sweden, so we read a bit about them and then improvised.
We used a sweet dough without eggs, which Peter Reinhart calls "all-purpose sweet dough", adding some saffron for colour.
It was nice to work with, and I loved shaping the buns. And eating them for breakfast even more.
Recipe (adapted from Peter Reinhart's "Artisan Breads every day")
794 grams bread flour (we used 10% white spelt flour)
14 grams salt
50 grams golden cane
4 grams dry yeast
480 ml lukewarm oat milk (or any other milk)
113 grams butter, melted
a bit of lemon zest
some saffron threads
raisins for decoration
Leave the saffron to infuse in the milk or crush it with a bit of the sugar.
Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the milk, the butter (not too hot), the oil and lemon zest. Mix in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed for about a minute, or with a spoon. The dough should form a soft ball.
Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed for another 4 minutes, or by hand. Add flour or milk as needed to create a smooth sticky ball of dough. Increase the speed to medium and mix for another 2 minutes. The dough should be supple and soft, tacky but not sticky.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for a minute, form it into a ball and place it in a big, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days.
Remove the dough from the fridge 3 hours before you want to bake. Leave it until it has come to room temperature and doubled in size. Cut pieces off the dough, of max. 100 grams each.
Form each piece into a smooth ball; place a piece of dough on the work surface, cup your hand around it, and rapidly rotate the dough in a circular motion. Then roll each ball out into a long strand (make them thinner than you think...most of mine turned out too chubby in the oven!) and form your S-shaped lussekatter, or any other shape you like. Decorate them with raisins.
Place them on 2 lined baking sheets and leave them to rest for 20 more minutes. Brush them with milk or an egg wash.
Preheat your oven to 200º C and bake the Lussekatter for about 25 minutes or until golden and baked through. Baking time depends on the size of your buns.
Leave to cool on a rack and enjoy. They're best the day they're made.
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