Cinnamon

Cinnamon-Cardamom Kringel Bread

March 13, 2014
4
6 Ratings
  • Makes 1 loaf
Author Notes

The kringel is a celebration loaf from Estonia, Northern Europe. I love the technique for forming the loaf. Essentially, you roll up a cinnamon roll dough, slice the dough tube in half lengthways instead of into slices, and weave the two strands into a ring. This creates a lovely shape as it bakes and each layer rises. —Poires au Chocolat

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the dough:
  • 250 milliliters whole milk
  • 75 grams unsalted butter
  • 450 grams white bread flour
  • 70 grams sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 10 green cardamon pods
  • 7 grams instant yeast (1 packet)
  • 1 large egg
  • For the filling:
  • 60 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 40 grams brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Directions
  1. Put the milk and butter for the dough into a small pan and heat over medium until the butter has melted, then turn up and bring to the boil and scald. Pour into a bowl and pop into the fridge to cool, which may take some time.
  2. Crush the cardamon pods with the side of a knife and remove the seeds, then finely grind the seeds.
  3. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cardamon in a mixer bowl and stir. Add the yeast and stir to combine. Beat the egg lightly in a bowl. Then, once the milk in the refrigerator has cooled to body temperature, add it to the bowl along with the egg. Stir until you have a shaggy dough.
  4. Put the bowl on a stand mixer and knead with the dough hook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the dough comes away from the sides and passes the windowpane test. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise for roughly 45 to 75 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size. (You can also leave it in the fridge overnight.)
  5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into a 16 x 12-inch (30 x 40-centimeter) rectangle. Beat the soft butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt together with a spoon. Spread the mixture all over the dough.
  6. Roll the dough up from the long side, then use a serrated knife to split it in half lengthways. Transfer to a sheet of baking parchment.
  7. Weave the two strands together with the cut side up. Bring the ends together, then weave together to make a ring and press the two loose ends together.
  8. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for about 30 minutes until puffy -- if you press it with a finger, it should make a dent. (You can also place into the fridge overnight to rise slowly -- take out to warm up ten minutes before baking.)
  9. While it rises, preheat the oven to 350° F (180 °C). Use the parchment to shift the ring onto a tray.
  10. Put into the oven and bake for ten minutes, then reduce the temperature to 320° F (160° C). Bake for 30 to 40 minutes more until the ring has risen, turned a deep brown, and sounds hollow when knocked.
  11. Remove to a wire rack to cool. The kringle is best eaten the day it is baked, but it toasts and freezes well if you happen to resist consuming the whole thing in one sitting.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Emily Love
    Emily Love
  • Ida-Maria Skavhaug
    Ida-Maria Skavhaug
  • Amanda {Striped Spatula}
    Amanda {Striped Spatula}
  • LakeladyP
    LakeladyP
  • jocelyn
    jocelyn
Emma Gardner. A baker, blogger & food history/literature geek.

38 Reviews

David February 12, 2022
10 green cardamon pods? Love it when people write recipes with seldom used ingredients with no explanation of them or substitutes. Think you are a show off, but more likely a dummkopf. Grams? See above!!
 
heather February 11, 2022
This is now a go-to recipe for me. I LOVE cardamom and cinnamon together and the twist shape is quite stunning. I also started using a kitchen scale for a lot of baking, I love having the ingredients listed by weight. And I haven't tried it yet but wonder if anyone has made just small cinnamon rolls with this dough? It would eliminate the fancy presentation but the dough is SO GOOD. Just wasn't sure how to adjust baking time and temp. Any advice?
 
Michelle April 23, 2020
I've made this recipe twice in as many weeks. A definite keeper and a great way to 'wow' guests. I modified it to work as a no-knead recipe. I simply popped the covered bowl of dough into the fridge for about 24 hours, then let it warm up at room temperature for another 3-4 hours. Turned it out and kneaded a couple times until smooth, before rolling out as recipe indicates. It turned out marvelously tender and moist. I also used AP flour and 1.5 times the cardamom to great effect.
 
heather April 20, 2019
I have made this before but today it has taken FOREVER to get the dough to the window pane pass. I alternated between my mixer (which does not seem to be the right height but i have adjusted it as far as it will go) and kneading by hand. Did i ruin the dough? Maybe i didn't use bread flour before?
 
Emily L. December 14, 2016
I made this for a work holiday lunch and it was great! I was trying to find something unique and different from the usual Christmas cookies and this was perfect. I cooked for the full amount of time suggested in the recipe and probably could have done 5 minutes less - my loaf never got as dark on the top but was delicious nonetheless. I will definitely be making this again!
 
David February 18, 2016
More like a chemistry experiment. Grams? You must be shi...............
 
Ida-Maria S. April 7, 2015
This recipe is making me homesick (for Norway - never knew that kringle was also a thing in the Baltic region!). I remember once having an argument with a sales person in Whole Foods (in California) when they advertised kringler shaped like bars... They got it wrong but you got it very right - it's beautiful!
 
taikobaker April 21, 2014
A dull knife and hot kitchen resulted in a panicked rush to weave the bread and total dismay while watching part of the filling run out once it was in the oven. However, the aroma was amazing and the crumb was moist and tender. It was a fantastic Easter morning treat! No cardamom pods, so I used 1/2 tsp, but will use a little more next time. Mahalo (thank you) for the weight measurements. An inexpensive scale is a baker's boon!
 
Amanda {. March 30, 2014
What beautiful bread! I've been looking for a good recipe to use the cardamom pods I recently purchased at my local spice shop. Can't wait to make it!
 
Poires A. April 2, 2014
I love the little pods - the smell is amazing when you smash them open and grind the seeds. Hope you enjoy it if you try it!
 
michelle March 28, 2014
Wow! That bread looks incredible I can't wait to try it. On a side note: I love that the recipe is in grams (a mass based measurement). US customary measurements are a mess. To each their own, I suppose.
 
Poires A. March 29, 2014
I'm glad you like it - and that you like the grams!
 
Joanrich March 27, 2014
Thanks. i see what you mean about twist and connect. I thought that is what you described, but these photos really helped.
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
I'm glad it made it clearer - it's not too difficult when you get your head around which ones to connect :)
 
LakeladyP March 27, 2014
Grams? Really? I would love to make this, but when I tried to translate into measurements that we normally use, it was an impossible task. It's a shame, as I would love to make this. How about in the future you give us an option?
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
I'm sorry about that, I'm British and find the cups system extremely confusing (as you say, it's an impossible task, especially as every conversion table seems to be different).
 
LakeladyP March 27, 2014
I do have a scale, and it might give me grams (not something that I had checked) so it may be easier than I thought to use your units of measure. So many on this site are in grams, so I wonder...is this a British site? If so, then it's my bad for complaining, lol.
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
It may well do grams - I know my scale can do imperial & metric. Even if it doesn't, it'd be easier to shift to imperial than cups, as they're both weight rather than volume. It isn't a British site but they do ask international people to contribute :)
 
Ellie D. March 27, 2014
A short video of the weaving process would be helpful (hard to visualize - unless it's a simple "twist" and joining the ends together). It's a beautiful looking "loaf".
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
A video is a nice idea - there are more photos on the main article if that helps: http://food52.com/blog/9976-how-to-make-kringel-at-home
 
Ellie D. March 30, 2014
These are perfect! Thanks.
 
Mormor March 27, 2014
One cardamom pod is equal to 1/8 tsp. ground.
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
Thanks for your help. I wonder if your pods are bigger than mine, though, as I'm pretty certain that the 10 pods for this are less than 1 and 1/4 tsp - I haven't measured it but I'd say it's less than 1 tsp.
 
jocelyn March 27, 2014
Gentle message from the typo police... it's cardamom, not cardamon ;) Looking forward to trying this beautiful-looking recipe!
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
It's actually a variant spelling, both are correct (for instance: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cardamom) I think it might be more common in Europe.
 
Danielle G. March 26, 2014
This looks yummy! Anyway we could get the measurements not in grams? Also, I only have powdered cardamom - what is the measurement if not using pods?
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
Hi - I'm afraid I'm British so I don't deal in cups and didn't want to use some online table when they all seem different with a relatively complex recipe that hadn't been tested in the new measurements. As for the cardamon, I'm not 100% - perhaps 1/2 tsp?
 
Joanrich March 26, 2014
Can you do a step by step to the cutting and twisting, if possible?
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
Hi - there are step by photos on the main post: http://food52.com/blog/9976-how-to-make-kringel-at-home Hope that helps.
 
Sheila 4. March 26, 2014
Recipe sounds really good. Noticed typo though--should be "cardamom" not cardamon.
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
It's actually a variant spelling, both are correct (for instance: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cardamom)
 
PA-PETE March 25, 2014
Cardamom pods may not be available or inconvenient to use. How about translating the amount of cardamom seeds required for the recipe into teaspoons/tablespoons?
 
Kristan March 26, 2014
Pretty please! I live in Alaska and can't always get the pods.
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
Sorry about that, I've never bought ground cardamon so I'm not sure. I think my ground pods would be roughly 1/2 tsp but I've never measured it like that so that's a guess - maybe up to 1 tsp? It's not a huge amount, they're pretty small pods.
 
QueenSashy March 24, 2014
i love everything about this bread, the cardamom and the cinnamon and most of all the shape!!!
 
Poires A. March 27, 2014
I'm glad you like it!