How To Make Sourdough Cardamom Buns
These sourdough cardamom buns are a must-try. A sweet, sticky, and delicious Swedish treat, glazed with a mouth-watering brown sugar and cardamom glaze.
Prevent your screen from going dark
Equipment
- Digital scale
- Stand mixer
- Brød & Taylor proofer box (optional, but recommended)
- Muffin tin
Ingredients
Sweet Levain
- 45 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration, white
- 45 g whole milk cold
- 45 g all-purpose or bread flour
- 10 g sugar
Main Dough
- 550 g bread flour 11-13% protein
- 90 g sugar
- 10 g salt
- 2 g ground cardamom (1 tsp)
- 250 g whole milk cold
- 2 eggs small-medium sized
- 145 g sweet levain
- 110 g unsalted butter softened, cut into cubes
Cardamom Filling
- 100 g unsalted butter softened
- 90 g brown sugar
- 2,5 g ground cardamom (1,5 tsp)
Brown Sugar Glaze
- 50 g brown sugar
- 50 g water
- 1 g ground cardamom (0,5 tsp)
Instructions
Sweet Levain
- Start by mixing active sourdough starter, milk, flour, and sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Cover and rise in a warm spot for 4 hours or until the levain has doubled/tripled in size.
Main Dough
- Start by gathering all the ingredients. Add them all, except the butter, to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on medium speed until the dough comes together. Cover, and autolyse/rest for 30 minutes.
- Start your mixer again and knead on medium speed for 5-10 minutes.
- After 5-10 minutes: slowly add in the softened butter, one cube at a time.
- When all the butter is added, continue kneading at medium speed for 15-25 minutes until your dough passes the window-pane test.
- Place the dough in a clean bowl and proof in a warm spot, ideally at around 78°F/26°C, for two hours.
- After two hours, transfer the dough to the fridge to cold-proof for a minimum of six hours.
Cardamom Filling
- Add softened butter, brown sugar, and cardamom to a bowl. Mix with a fork until you have a spreadable paste. Leave at room temperature until you're ready to shape the buns.
Shape
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. You might want to leave it at room temperature for 10-15 minutes if it's really cold and difficult to roll out.
- With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 19x12in/50x30cm rectangle.
- Evenly spread out the cardamom filling using an offset spatula.
- Grab one of the long sides of the rectangle and fold it down to cover 2/3 of the dough, then grab the other side and fold it over the top (see pictures above for reference).
- Go over the dough a couple of times with a rolling pin to even out the sides.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 strips, roughly 1,5-2 inches each.
- Split each strip into three, leaving one side joined. Braid the strips to create a three-stranded plait. Grab the end of the plait and roll it up to create a bun—place all the shaped buns in a greased muffin tin.
- Loosely cover the muffin tin with cling film and proof at around 78°F/26°C for 9-12 hours until they've doubled in size.
Bake
- Preheat your oven to 355°F/180°C and bake the cardamom buns for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Meanwhile, you can make the brown sugar glaze:
Brown Sugar Glaze
- While the buns are baking, you can make the glaze. Add the ingredients to a small pot and heat up over medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved.
- When the buns are out of the oven, immediately brush over the syrup using a pastry brush. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool for 20-30 minutes before serving.