pulla, pancakes & fish dinner

during the week i spent a few days at my brother's house. since the kids are back to school, i had the mornings to myself. my nephew always wants me to make american pancakes (regular buttercream pancakes, our pancakes are more of the crepe sort) for breakfast. as there was no way i would get up 6.30 on my day off, i made some for him for after school snack. and if there is something that disppears quickly in my brother's house, it is pulla, my brother being the culprit!

the finnish recipe calls for cardamom, i use a lot of it. the recipe for pulla is on every package of all purpose flour in finland, i use this recipe, the amount of flour depends on the humidity and how the starts happen to be aligned when you're baking







i use handheld mixer, experts like my mom, do this part by hand







adding the vegetable oil/butter mixture (or you could use all butter. note to self: find out if there is something similar in US)







over the years i've learned to stop mixing at the right time, still a bit sticky and almost impossible to handle







that day the yeast puffed the lid of the bowl! luckily, little niece had just come home from school and noticed it







divided the dough in half, rolled one part out to ½ cm thickness







spread out some butter on the dough and sprinkled sugar/cinnamon mixture on top







rolled the dough into a log







cut the log to equal pieces







then pushed down in the middle with my thumbs and pulled outwards a little. this form of pulla is called korvapuusti, a slap in the ear...it does kinda remind the ear, kinda?







repeat with rest of the dought and place under teatowel for another rise (approx 30 mins)







after which time they look like this







after egg-wash and 10 mins in 225C oven. leave any on the kitchen counter and they'll disappear overnight...







i do have an apron, even at my brother's house, why don't it use it!







this is my recipe for american pancakes:

3,5 dl all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
3/4 tspt baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
5 dl buttermilk (often use half sour cream (kermaviili) and milk)
3 tbsp melted butter, plus some for pan







this old cast iron pan makes the best pancakes, heat on medium-low







these puffed up quite a lot as well...







almost out of control...







i was on a roll and made dinner as well, pike-perch and oven roasted veggies with mustard caper butter, but took little liberties with martha's recipe...







chopped the capers...







added them and some mustard to softened butter, mixed well







places on parchment paper







rolled into a log and palced in the fridge to harden again







mom and dad had been fishing again, therefore the abundance of pike-perch filees (we don't complain! you should see what these cost at the grocery store, it's outragious!)







as i had the oven going anyway, i scrubbed some red potatoes and sweet potatoes, cut them to vedges, poured on some olive oil, sprinkled with thyme and cooked in the oven for 45 mins. the colors are a little bland here, the taste was not!