Swedish Coffee Bread (Tea Ring) Recipe

Dough:

1. Put milk into a small saucepan and heat on medium heat until steamy (but not boiling). Remove from heat. Stir in the butter and sugar until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. Pour into a mixing bowl. Mix in yeast mixture and egg.

2. Mix in salt and cardamom. Slowly add in 2 cups of the flour. After the first two cups of flour gradually add more flour until a soft dough starts to form a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl.

3. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead dough for 7 to 10 minutes until smooth, OR use a dough hook in a stand-up mixer and knead the dough that way for 7 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep the dough from being too sticky. Note that the dough should remain soft, so take care not to add too much flour.

4. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean tea-towel or with plastic wrap. Let rise for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

5. Press the dough down to deflate it a bit. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Take one part (saving the other for wreath number 2) and use fingers to spread it into a 8-inch by 16-inch rectangle on a lightly floured, clean, flat surface.

6. Brush the dough with melted butter, leaving at least a half inch border on the edges so the dough will stick together when rolled. Mix together the brown and white sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle the dough with half of the mixture (saving the other half for the second batch of dough).

7. Sprinkle on more fillings, as desired, such as raisins, slivered almonds, or almond paste.

8. Carefully roll the dough up lengthwise, with the seam on the bottom. Carefully transfer to a greased baking sheet. Form a circle with the dough on the baking sheet, connecting the ends together.

9. Using scissors, cut most of the way through the dough, cutting on a slant. Work your way around the dough circle. After each cut, pull out the dough segment either to the right or to the left, alternating as around the circle. The dough circle will look like a wreath when this is finished.

10. Repeat previous steps with the rest of the dough to form a second wreath.

11. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm area for a second rise. Let rise for about 40 minutes to an hour; the dough should again puff up in size.

12. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together the egg yolks and cream. Use a pastry brush to brush over the dough.

13. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes of baking, if the top is getting well browned, tent with some aluminum foil.

14. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Whisk together powdered sugar and water to create a final glaze (optional).

15. Add more water if the glaze is too thick to drizzle, add more powdered sugar if the glaze is too runny. Drizzle the glaze in a back and forth motion over the pastry.