1. I deliver freshly made Saffron Buns and coffee to Mum in the morning wearing a white nightgown with a red sash around it. Nope, too cold for that. Try two pairs of sweatpants and a Forever Lazy.
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| My crown. |
3. I sing the Santa Lucia song in Swedish whilst carrying in the tray, my candle crown the only source of illumination, my voice the only sound in the silence of the early morning. Nope. Youtube video of gorgeous blonde Swedish girls singing a song I have found singularly impossible to memorise, and the paper-clipped-batteries barely give off the wattage of a penlight, so all the library lamps had to be on too.
This is what I'm supposed to look like today:
This is what I look like at 6 am during the winter:
BUT THERE WERE SAFFRON BUNS AND COFFEE. I DID MANAGE THAT.
AND THAT STILL COUNTS.
Sweatpanted, batteried, and youtubed, we still managed to have a lovely early morning Lucia breakfast.
I do wonder if there's some sort of correlation between using Saffron on Lucia morning and it being, to use the New England vernacular, "wicked cold outside and dark all the time." Saffron is GORGEOUS. It's such a bright coppery orange colour, and the flavour is so deep and rich and . . . I don't know . . . filling? nourishing? whole-making? I don't know how to describe it. But somehow it makes you feel like yes, there is a girl with candles on her head coming at you and yes, that means that the sunlight will return, and yes, your mouth is full of saffron and butter and yes, that means that warmth and fullness and bounty will return.
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| It is singularly impossible to be despairing . . . |
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| When all you can smell is saffron and butter and yeast. IMPOSSIBLE. |
If for any reason you want to hear and see a proper Lucia celebration, here is a link to a full Swedish one. It's depressingly pretty, and makes you realise that, in my case at least, you will never be tall and blonde and successful. Have at it.
Happy Lucia, everyone! And if you feel like Wikipedia today, you too can find out that the original Saint Lucy apparently swore her body and soul to Christ (like you do), then, when a young man wanted to marry her and expressed admiration for her eyes, she . . . um . . . gouged them out herself to fend off his advances. They were apparently restored after she was beatified.
Personally, I'd rather have another bun.
LUCIA BUNS
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 package yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups milk, scalded and cooled
- Pinch powdered saffron
- 7 1/2 - 8 cups white flour
- 4tbs melted butter
FOR THE GLAZE
- 4 tbs melted butter
- Pinch powdered saffron
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| Just that much saffron is enough to make the entire house smell incredible. |
*this is where you switch from the beater to the dough hook if you are using a mixmaster
Add the first four cups of flour, beating well after each one. The batter will be very springy. Add the melted butter. Add the remaining 3 1/2 - 4 cups of flour, one at a time. Stop adding when the dough gets stiff. (I normally have to stop after 3 1/2, I rarely make it to 8 cups.) Knead either with your own hands or the mixer until the dough is smooth.
Place the dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl and let it rise 1 - 1 1/2 hours, until doubled. Punch it down and let it rise again 30 minutes - 1 hour.
SHAPING THE DOUGH
There are varying opinions here. Beatrice favours a four-leaf clover style of bun, where you make a long rope, then slice the ends length-ways and curl them around. I prefer the "S" bun. You still make a long rope of dough, but just twist the ends so that it resembles an "S".
Once you've shaped the buns, lay them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cover with Cling Film. Let them rise another 20 minutes or so until they're puffy again.
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| "S" is for . . . "Santa Lucia"? "Solstice?" "Self-imposed blindness?" |
Bake them at 375 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden and brown on the top. Glaze whilst they are still warm.
THE GLAZE
Beatrice uses a glaze made of coffee and sugar in her cookbook. Far be it from me to speak ill of ANYTHING that woman uses in her kitchen, but I'm always afraid that a coffee glaze will cancel out the saffron, and then you defeat the purpose of putting saffron in the buns in the first place. Last year I came up with the glaze above instead, which is just melted butter and a bit more saffron.
My thinking is if you're going to go saffron, GO SAFFRON. Save the coffee glaze (which, it must be said, is perfectly acceptable) for a regular sweet bun later on.
For the LL's, because OF COURSE THEY HAVE TO PARTAKE TOO. Instead of another million S buns, I did the traditional Pulla loaf, Finnish coffee bread style. Divide the dough into three long ropes and braid them together. I baked it in the same oven for the same amount of time and it came out quite nicely.
BEETLE NOTE: This is best, hands down, when stuck in the toaster oven or warmed in a regular oven for a few minutes before hand. It softens the saffron-butter glaze on top and softens the dough too, which can lean towards the stiff side.
ONE MORE NOTE: Some people use raisins, putting one at the hook of each S, or in the middle of each four-leaf clover. I have done this in the past, and find the results to be middling. I am of the same camp for this as I am for the coffee glaze. Why detract from the Saffron with a raisin or two? Save your coffee and your raisins for another day, dear reader. Keep these simple and saffrony.
THAT'S WHAT S IS FOR. SAFFRON. DUH.
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| All wrapped up for my LL's. |
It must be said, I plan on wearing my crown ALL NIGHT LONG. POSSIBLY EVEN TO FOLD THE LAUNDRY.
I only get ONE candle-crown day per year, so I'm going to make the most of it.
Just cross your fingers the paperclips don't catch fire.
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