Lussekatter - saint lucia buns

"On 13 December the Swedes celebrate the Italian Saint Lucia with a remarkable enthusiasm, surpassing any Italian festivities devoted to the same lady. One mandatory constituent in the celebrations is a saffron-flavoured bun, in Swedish called a lussekatt, a "Lucia cat". The shape of this bun might vary somewhat, but is always based on bread designs dating back to earlier Christmas celebrations in Sweden."
Recipe by: wieske

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Preparation Time:

20 Min

Serves:

Difficulty:

Moderate

Cost:

Main Ingredients:

300 ml milk
1 g saffron
50 g fresh baker's yeast
150 g sugar
125 g butter or margarine
700 g all purpose flour
1 egg
salt, raisins

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

Proceed as follows:
Melt butter or margarine in a pan and add the milk and the saffron. Warm the mixture to 37 oC (100 oF). Use a thermometer, the correct temperature is important!
Pour the mixture over the finely divided yeast, then add the remaining ingredients (except for the egg and the raisins), which should have a temperature of 21-23 oC (72-75 oF). Mix into a smooth dough.
Cover the dough with a piece of cloth and let it rise for 30 minutes.
Knead the dough, divide it into 25-30 pieces and form each piece into a round bun. Let the buns rest for a few minutes, covered by a piece of cloth..
Form each bun into a string, 15-20 cm long, then arrange the string in a suitable shape, e.g. like an S or a double S. Regardless of the shape, the ends of the string should meet. Press a few raisins into the dough.
Cover the "Lucia cats" with a piece of cloth and let them rise for 40 minutes.
Whip the egg together with a few grains of salt. and paint the "Lucia cats" with the mixture.
Bake them for 5-10 minutes in the oven at 250 oC (475 oF) until golden brownish yellow.