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This Swedish Braided Cardamom Bread recipe is a traditional holiday loaf that’s a delicious enriched dough that’s topped with pearl sugar. This puffy braided dough is perfect when paired with warm homemade hot chocolate or a gingerbread latte.
I’m leaving you with this beautiful braided Swedish Braided Cardamom Bread from Melissa’s new book, Scandinavian Gatherings.
Spices in Scandinavian Baked Goods
When I was in Copenhagen a few years ago, a woman, who was an ardent baker, told me that people in Scandinavia used A LOT of spices because years ago it was indicative of how much money you had. The more spices you used, the more money you had. Spices came from far away places and it signified that you could afford such spices. Interesting fun fact, eh?
That’s why you’ll find cardamom cookies and cardamom breads with a really liberal amount of spice added to them. And I’m absolutely down. (I obviously love spices; see my Chewy Chai Masala Snickerdoodles.)
How to Make Swedish Cardamom Braided Bread
- Warm and combine the milk, sugar, butter and yeast. This will make the yeast all foamy and perfect.
- Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the hook attachment.
- And then add some of the flour, salt, ground cardamom and egg.
- Next, add 1 more cup of flour and it’ll all come together.
- Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and let it rise for 1 hour. As a result, it’ll double in size.
- Punch down the dough and knead it for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 6-equal pieces.
How to Braid the Dough
Braided dough seems a lot harder than it looks. It’s truly not that difficult. You divide the dough into six (because we have two loves). And then you braid those strands into three. It’s a wonderfully soft dough that is super easy to handle.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely. Bake them the night before you want to serve them. I like to wrap them in plastic wrap and store them at room temperature. And then you can warm them up just before serving.
You don’t need to serve these warm but if you’d like to wrap them in foil and place them in a 200F oven. Keep them in there for 10 minutes until warm.
More Cozy Christmas Recipes to Make
Holiday
Fluffy Gingerbread Rolls
Desserts
Sticky Toffee Persimmon Pudding
Desserts
Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Holiday
Cranberry Margarita
If you tried this Swedish Braided Cardamom Bread Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Swedish Braided Cardamom Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 packets active dry yeast or instant yeast
- 6 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 2 large eggs, divided
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- 2 tablespoons Swedish pearl sugar
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine the milk and sugar; whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Add the butter, and heat over medium low, stirring gently, until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat.
- Allow the milk mixture to cool to the temperature of a warm bath (not hot!), and stir in the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes to make sure the yeast is active and alive. You should see bubbles on the surface (don’t be alarmed if it’s not super foamy), and the mixture should grow in volume.
- When you are certain the yeast is working, in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the milk mixture. Add 2 cups of the flour, and the salt, cardamom, and 1 of the egg. Mix until combined.
- Add 3 more cups of the flour and stir until it is completely incorporated. Add the remaining 1 cup of flour a little at a time until the dough forms a ball and is no longer super sticky when lightly touched with your finger. You might not use the entire cup of flour.
- Transfer the dough to a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Punch down the dough, knead by and for 1 to 2 minutes on a well-floured surface, and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Divide the dough into six equal portions. Roll each portion into a skinny rope about 15 inches long. Line up three dough ropes side by side on the counter in front of you. Pinch one end of the rope together, then gently braid the three ropes into a loaf. When you reach the end, pinch the remaining dough together and tuck it under the loaf slightly. Repeat with the other three dough ropes to make a second loaf.
- Place each loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and let it rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- To make an egg wash, in a small bowl, whisk the remaining 1 egg and the milk together. Brush the top and sides of both braided loaves with the egg wash, then sprinkle each loaf with 1 tablespoon pearl sugar.
- Bake the loaves until browned on top, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I make these gluten free
I’ve never tried it but you can try it with gluten-free all-purpose flour.
Both my husband and I love this bread. As mentioned in previous comments, it needs more cardamon, I will be adding 1 more teaspoon
My husband and guest could not get enough of this bread—wonderful soft, cushiony texture and balanced sweetness. However, I agree with other comments that it needs more cardamom. Will add another teaspoon at least, next time, and try to use pods if I can find them. I baked both loaves on one extra large cookie sheet and sprinkled the tops with sanding sugar. One loaf has disappeared in 28 hours, and the other flew out the door with our guest.
Will most likely be baking these again for Mother’s Day this weekend!
Ahh love to hear it!!
Recipe reminds me of my grandmother. She had baked it all the time, and she was from Sweden. She came over here back in the day and was a Baker for a well to do household. I am so fortunate that I stumbled upon this recipe. I enhance it with a teaspoon more of cardamom. on the top of the bread I put an egg wash with cinnamon, a little nutmeg and sugar. I do recommend if you can purchasing the pods and grinding them gives you a stronger flavor of the cardamom
Aww this makes me so happy. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I want to make this bread but the Cardamom is really expensive. Anything I can substitute?
you can replace it with cinnamon if you like.
My family always had Swedish coffee bread for Christmas and I never thought I would find a recipe that would come close. This is perfect. Well liked by whole family!!
Ahh amazing. I love to hear it, Marissa. 🙂
Loved the recipe and it turned out as good or better than the recipe I used years ago. I do have family that is gluten intolerant and tried to use gluten free flour. Doesn’t handle as good and has a tendency to dry out pretty bad. Will have to work with it a little more to improve on the gluten free product. Thank you so much!
I made this recipe for the second time. I felt that the original recipe did not have enough cardamom. I added an extra heaping teaspoon this time. Easy adjustment. The bread came out amazing. I am actually going to be making this again in February 2025, as my Mom requested it the next time I go to visit her.
AMAZING so glad you loved it.
Can you do a combination of ground cardamon and seeds from the pods?
i fear that would be way too much cardamom.
Nancy- I made a version of this years ago where the milk was simmered with whole cardamom pods and then strained, as well as ground cardamom in the dough . Perhaps this could work!
I just made this recipe and it came out gorgeous! Waiting now for it to cool so we can enjoy it.
I have made this recipe twice and I rolled the dough to 15 inches and my loaves end up too long and they spread apart in the middle and will not brown. What am I doing wrong? Do you bake both of your loaves on one pan because mine would never fit. I am in the process of trying again and plan to shorten the loaves. Any suggestions would be appreciated.