Lussekatter: Swedish Saffron Buns for Saint Lucy
Lussekatter are the S-shaped saffron buns Swedes eat on 13 December for Saint Lucy, on the darkest morning of the year. The two things that decide the outcome: the saffron is ground with sugar and steeped in hot milk —left whole it barely colours anything— and the dough carries a lot of butter, so it rises slowly and will not be rushed.
Ingredients
- 600 g plain flour
- 1 g saffron threads (1 sachet)
- 100 g sugar
- 100 g butter
- 300 ml milk
- 25 g fresh yeast (or 8 g dried)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 100 g quark or cream cheese (the Swedish trick that keeps them moist)
- To decorate: 32 raisins and 1 beaten egg for brushing
Method
- 1
Grind the saffron threads in a mortar with a teaspoon of the sugar until powdered. Whole, it only tints the surface; ground, it perfumes the whole dough.
- 2
Heat the milk with the butter until melted and add the ground saffron. Steep for 10 minutes and cool to 37 °C.
- 3
Dissolve the yeast in that milk. Mix the flour with the remaining sugar and the salt.
- 4
Add the liquid, the egg and the quark and knead for 10 minutes into a smooth, elastic dough of a deep yellow.
- 5
Prove for 1 hour, covered, until doubled. With this much butter it rises more slowly than ordinary bread: give it time, not more heat.
- 6
Divide into 16 pieces, roll 25 cm logs and coil each end in opposite directions to form an S.
- 7
Press a raisin into the centre of each coil and prove for another 45 minutes on the tray.
- 8
Brush with beaten egg and bake at 200 °C for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. They bake fast: overdone they dry out and lose the saffron aroma.
- 9
Eat them the same day, warm. The next day, 3 minutes in the oven brings them back.