Finn Nisu Bread

Update 11/16/09: So I think there was a translation issue on the recipe card that I got this from...I believe the actual bread goes by "Nisu" or "Nisua" Bread, not Misua as originally posted.  I can understand how this may have happened through the years of passing down a recipe and so I'd like to try to fix it, if I can :).  This change is based on Google search (there's no way my little website could be the #1 hit on Google otherwise!).

Chris had a work dinner so what did I do to occupy my evening?  I made homemade bread.  BUT not just any bread, it was Finn Misua Bread!  As a tribute to my husband's Finnish heritage I asked what a popular dish was.  This bread was what Tom thought of and Mary Lynn had a recipe for it from a co-worker so I thought heck, I'd give it a try.

It made 4 very large loaves.  Our friend JJ came over as it was fresh out of the oven to help taste test and eat some.  The Finns apparently dunk this in coffee.  I'd say that for my first attempt at bread, it was pretty good.  Making bread isn't that difficult but it's time consuming so make sure you set aside a long block of time.  If I were to make it again, I would allow more time to rise (the 2 hrs instead of 1.5 each time) and add more sugar to the top.  The instructions said to "sprinkle" and did not give a set amount of sugar but Chris said it was not sweet enough so I'm changing the directions to "sprinkle liberally" :).

PS: The picture of the bread is the actual bread I made! It looked so pretty!  (Yeah in case you didn't know, I normally cheat and pull photos from the recipe/web!)

Finn Nisu Bread

Makes 4-5 loafs

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 2/3 stick margarine
• 1 1/4 cups sugar + extra for sprinkling
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large or 3 medium eggs
• 1 package + 1 tsp yeast (dry)
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 8 cups flour
• 10+ cardamom seeds (peeled and mashed) or ~1 tsp ground cardamom

Directions

1. On stove heat milk, margarine, sugar, and salt.  Don't let the mixture boil but allow it to dissolve and then pour into a large bowl and set aside to cool. 
2. Add ground cardamom seed to milk mixture.
3. In a small bowl, beat together eggs, yeast, and water.
4. Add beaten egg and yeast mixture to cooled milk mixture.
5. Add ~4-5 cups flour and mix by hand until a stretchy mixture is formed.  Add the rest of the flour 1 cup at a time, kneading with your hands.
6. Let dough stand in a warm place (a warm oven works well) for 1.5 to 2 hours.
7. Punch dough down and knead on a floured surface then cut dough into 4-5 pieces.
8. Cut each of the pieces into 3 pieces and roll then braid the 3 pieces together.  Repeat until all 4-5 larger dough pieces have been rolled and braided.
9. Grease a cookie sheet and place braids on sheet.
10. Beat another egg with 2 Tablespoons of water and brush over each loaf.  Sprinkle liberally with sugar.
11. Let braided bread rise another 1.5 to 2 hours in a warm place.
12. Bake at 375* for 25 minutes.