Ingredients

The following ingredients have 4 Servings
  • 260 ml (1 cup + 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp) unsweetened non-dairy milk (soy is best)
  • 60 g (¼ cup) vegan block butter (I use Naturli Vegan Block)
  • 400 g (3 cups + 2 Tbsp) white bread flour
  • 8 g (2 ½ tsp) instant yeast
  • 60 g (¼ cup + 1 Tbsp) caster or granulated sugar
  • 1-2 tsp freshly ground cardamom seeds (I use 1tsp, about 15 pods)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • non-dairy milk for brushing

Instruction

  • To make the dough, place the milk and butter in a pan over a low heat and stir until the butter has melted. Set it aside to cool until it is lukewarm. Do not add it to the other ingredients while it is hot or it may kill the yeast. You should be able to comfortably hold your finger in the milk. While the milk is cooling, I take this time to shell and grind up my cardamom seeds.
  • Once the milk has cooled, place the bread flour in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast to one side and the sugar, salt and ground cardamom to the other. Mix to combine.
  • Add the butter and milk mixture and stir to form a rough dough then knead on a medium speed for 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and stretchy. It should still be a bit sticky but should pull away from the sides of the bowl cleanly. If it seems too wet you can add a little more flour, a tablespoon at a time but be careful not to add too much or the bread will be dry.If you don’t have a stand mixer then you can knead the dough by hand on an unfloured surface.
  • Place the kneaded dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size – about 1-2 hours in a warm spot or overnight in the fridge.
  • Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and give it a very brief knead to knock out the air then divide it into four equal pieces (or three if you want to do a three strand braid). It is best to use a scale to do this so that each piece is the exact same weight. Shape each piece into a ball.
  • Roll one of the pieces of dough out into a thin oval shape. If the dough is sticking you can lightly oil the worksurface and rolling pin.
  • Starting at one of the long edges, roll the dough up tightly into a sausage. Roll over the sausage with your hands, starting from the middle and working outwards, to form a long, thin strand. Increase the pressure from your hands at the ends to taper them. You want the ends to be pointy and the strand to be thicker in the middle.
  • Repeat with the rest of the portions of dough, making sure that all of the strands are the same length.
  • On a lightly floured surface, arrange the four strands parallel to each other. At one end, gather the tips of the strands together and pinch them tightly so they stick together.
  • To make a four strand plait you just have to repeat the following: take the strand that is furthest to the right and weave it over, under, over the other three strands. Repeat this same process, always with the far right strand, until the whole loaf is plaited. Be careful not to plait it too tightly or the loaf may split in the oven.
  • Pinch the ends of the strands together tightly so that it doesn’t unravel. Transfer it to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and loosely cover it with cling film or a clean tea towel.Set it aside to rise in a warm spot until it is puffy. About 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on whether you refrigerated the dough and how warm out it is.
  • The bread is ready to bake when when it has visibly almost doubled in size and if you gently poke it with a finger it springs back slowly most of the way but leaves a small indentation. If it springs back quickly and fills in completely then it isn’t ready yet.
  • When the bread is nearly ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4.
  • When the pulla is ready, brush it gently all over with non-dairy milk then bake for about 30 minutes. It is ready when a probe thermometer inserted into the centre reaches at least 90°C/194°F. If you don't have a thermometer then a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf should go in and out smoothly with little resistance and come out clean. It should also sound hollow if you tap it on the bottom. Cover the pulla loosely with tin foil partway through baking if it starts to get too dark.
  • Slide the baked loaf onto a wire rack and allow to cool completley before slicing. Once cool store in an airtight container.