Julekake
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup water (110 degrees Fahrenheit)
2 teaspoons dry yeast
approximately 4 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins
Scald milk in a 2 1/2-quart pan; remove from heat. Stir sugar, salt, butter into hot scalded milk until sugar and salt are dissolved and butter is melted; let mixture cool to lukewarm. In the meantime, add yeast to warm water with a pinch of sugar, allowing yeast to soften. When scalded-milk mixture is lukewarm, add 1 cup of flour and mix in well. Add softened yeast and mix. Add 1 more cup of flour and mix well. Cover with a slightly damp cloth and set aside for 2 hours.
Mixture will look something like this (above) after two hours. Stir down and let sit for about 5 minutes. Add cardamom, blending in thoroughly. Add raisins, mixing to distribute evenly. Add remaining flour to make a soft dough, turning out of pan when mixture is firm enough to handle, working in remaining flour as needed. Knead dough 5 to 8 minutes. Raisins will pop out of dough--punch them back in as you work and when you are finished kneading, cover exposed raisins by pulling dough over them and pinching dough together. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with damp towel, and let rise for two hours.
After dough has risen, punch it down and let sit for 10 minutes. Divide the dough into two oval-shaped loaves (see photo above) and place on baking sheet covered with baking paper. Cover loaves with damp cloth and let rise for two hours.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. If bread seems to be getting too brown after about 20 minutes, cover top of loaves loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil. Let cool before slicing. Serve with butter. This freezes well (double-bag), so we usually freeze one loaf until we need it.
