Scandinavian Recipe #4: Norwegian School Bread (Skolebrød)

Skolebrød or School Bun is a Norwegian type of sweet roll. They are filled with a rich vanilla cream or vanilla pudding and a dough that is slightly sweet, with a light cardamom flavor. Traditionally they are a special treat to include in children's lunches or prepared for special school gatherings, like a bake sale. This seemed like the perfect addition to the Norwegian portion of the table.
 

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 pkg. active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. freshly ground cardamom
• 4 cups flour
• 1 pkg. (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 egg, well-beaten
• 6 Tbsp. powdered sugar plus 1 Tbsp. water, mixed to form a light glaze
• Shredded coconut

Preparation:

Combine milk and butter and heat in saucepan over medium-high heat just until milk is scalded (when small bubbles rise uniformly across the surface of the liquid). Remove from heat and cool until "finger-warm."

Stir yeast and sugar into lukewarm milk and allow to sit for 10 minutes. The surface should begin to bubble as the yeast proofs. After 10 minutes, stir in cardamom and flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl. Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

The dough coming together.

When dough has risen, punch it down, remove to a floured surface, and knead until smooth and shiny. Use your hands to roll dough into a thick 18"-long "snake," then cut this length into 20 equal pieces. Roll each piece between your hands into a spherical bun and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cover the buns again with the towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Prepare pudding mix as directed, only reducing milk to 2 1/2 cups. Allow pudding to thicken at room temperature while your buns rise.

Preheat oven to 375º. When the buns have risen, gently press down the center of each one to form a well. Fill with 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp. pudding (you'll probably have some pudding left over). Allow to rise an additional 10 minutes.

Brush well-beaten egg on to the edges and sides of the buns. Place in heated oven and bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Brush sugar glaze on the top of the buns, around but not over the pudding "eye." Dip into shredded coconut.

Yield: 20 buns.

    In the end I discovered that this was not the easiest recipe for me. It wasn't the preperation, but the bun shaping and pudding depositing. I checked a few cooking and/or ethnic websites for pictures of the finished product to check mine against. They all resemble the general shape of what I ended up with, flying saucer with a pudding dome. However, I had difficulty keeping the pudding from running over the side while they cooked in the oven. Each one took a slightly different amount of pudding and therefore some ran and some did not. If I didn't make a deep enough depression in the buns or I added a little too much pudding is when I'd encounter my issue. While this might not seem like a huge deal it kept me from acheiving true repeatablity. Under normal baking-for-a-family-event or just-for-myself situation I wouldn't mind this type of minor problem. If I wanted to repeat the recipe 2 or 3 more times between now and December I'm sure I could figure out the best method of bun production. However, I do not want to spend my practice time trying to perfect this particular recipe. It is a bit of a shame because they did get really positive reviews from my co-workers and family.

As of right now the Skolbrød will not be on the final menu.