Cardamom rolls – aka Varme Hveder

I have the day off today and looking forward to a long weekend. Today is a holiday in Denmark called Great Prayer Day (Store bededag) It is a holiday that dates back to 1686 by King Christian V, as a consolidation of several minor Romas Catholic holidays. The day was introduced as a more efficient alternative to individually celebrating a number of holidays honoring various minor saints in the spring

In the evening before the holiday, it was customary to buy and eat varme hveder, (warm wheat rolls) a traditional bread, because bakers were closed on holidays and people bought bread for the following day.

We still eat warm wheat rolls today, even though bakers are usually open on holidays now. It’s a simple wheat roll with a hint of cardamom. We toast them and enjoy them with a spread of butter.

I usually buy the wheat rolls from the supermarket or a baker, but this year I decided to bake them myself. Something I might just do from now on, because they are easy to make and home baked bread of just better (for the most part) than store bought.

Makes 16 rolls. 

Ingredients:

100g soft butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 dl milk

40 g of fresh yeast

2 eggs

450g plain wheat flour

Method:

Warm the milk to about 35 degrees C. Stir eggs, yeast and sugar in the warm milk. In a  separate bowl mix flour, salt, cardamom and the soft butter crumbled in flour mixture. Now knead the two mixtures together until the dough becomes smooth. Set aside to prove for1 hour. Pour the dough out onto your kitchen table dusted with flour and knead it well. Divide the dough and form 16 rolls, place them close, but not touching each other on a baking tray with baking paper. Cover with a clean tea towel and prove for an hour.(the rolls are supposed to touch once they are baked so that you take out a little bread of the oven and break a rolls of to eat)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Brush the rolls with egg, then bake for 12-15 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack.

Cut a roll in half and toast it. Enjoy with a spread of cold butter.