Santa Lucia Buns
Information and recipe from Baking Bread with Children
The feast day of Santa Lucia is celebrated throughout Sweden as a festival of lights. On 13th December, in the early hours of the morning, a young woman dresses in a white gown with a red sash and a crown with blazing candles. She goes from house to house delivering fresh baked saffron buns and warm milk to all the children. Every village has its own Lucia and these are the buns she carries in her basket.
Makes 12 buns
500g plain flour
10ml dried yeast
125ml natural sugar
5ml saffron powder
180ml warm milk
60ml softened butter
10ml sea salt
60ml raisins or currants
2.5ml ground cardamom
2 eggs
For topping:
beaten egg for brushing
30ml chopped almonds
15ml coarsely crushed sugar
1. Dissolve sugar, yeast and saffron powder in warm milk. Leave in warm place for 10 minutes until frothy.
2. Beat 1 egg. Add this to yeast.
3. Stir in salt, cardamom and flour.
4. Cut in butter and add raisins
5. Knead thoroughly, return to greased bowl, cover and allow to rise for 1½ hours or until doubled.
6. Preheat oven to 200C
7. Divide dough into 12 pieces. Roll into 20cm long snakes. Coil snakes starting from both ends and meeting in the middle, making a spiralled 'S'.
8. Put on a greased baking tray. Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with coarse sugar and almonds. Let rise ½ hour or until doubled.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden
10. Cool and serve with warm milk or coffee.
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