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Sourdough Lussekatter (Soft Swedish Saffron Buns)

These sourdough lussekatter are soft, golden, and naturally leavened with active starter for a cozy Swedish Christmas bake. The dough rises overnight, so your saffron buns bake fresh in the morning. This recipe includes easy directions for adapting to your own flour (whether strong or weak), so your buns turn out perfect every time!
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A basket filled with freshly baked sourdough lussekatter, or Swedish saffron buns, is presented on a green and white striped tea towel on a chipped white wooden surface.
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Prep Time:15 minutes
Cook Time:10 minutes
Bulk Ferment & Proofing Time:9 hours
Total Time:9 hours 25 minutes
Servings:20 lussekatter
Calories:140kcal
Ingredients

Dough Ingredients

  • 255 ml milk - (1 cup + 1 tbsp) See Ingredient Notes to adjust the recipe to your local flour.
  • 100 g butter - (½ cup butter)
  • 0.2-1 g saffron, ground or in threads
  • 450 g all-purpose or bread flour - See Ingredient Notes to adjust the recipe to your local flour.
  • 60 g sugar - (¼ cup + 1 tbsp)
  • 120 g sourdough starter, active and bubbly - (½ cup)
  • 2 pinches salt

Egg-Wash

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp milk
  • handful of raisins
Instructions

Dissolve Saffron

  • In a small pot over medium low heat, warm the milk, butter and saffron, just until the butter has melted. Let the mix cool down to under 42°C (107°F). If you dip your finger in, it should feel neither warm nor cold.

Knead and Ferment Dough

  • In a medium large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) combine flour, sugar, salt and sourdough starter. Add the saffron milk mix and knead the dough for 7-10 minutes, using a stand mixer, hand mixer or your hands.
  • It will be sticky at first. Keep kneading until the dough becomes smooth and elastic and can be gathered into a smooth, tacky ball. Cover and ferment at room temperature overnight (around 8 hours).

Shape & Proof Buns

  • When the dough is puffy and doubled in size, turn it out onto a clean kitchen counter (skip dusting with flour). Divide the dough into 20 small pieces. Roll each piece of dough out into a long, thin rope beneath the palms of your hands. Roll the rope up from both ends at the same time, to create small S-shaped buns.
  • Place the shaped buns onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-2 hours at room temperature.
  • In the meantime, cover the raisins with hot water in a small bowl, to soak and soften.

Egg Wash & Bake Buns

  • When the buns have risen and puffed, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) fan, or 220°C (425°F) convection. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of milk and egg wash the buns. Stick a raisin into the swirls on both ends of the bun.
  • Bake for 8-15 minutes, or until the buns are turning golden. Keep an eye on them towards the end of the baking time—they brown very quickly!

Cool Buns

  • Rest the baking sheet on a wire rack and let the buns cool off. Serve straight away or loosely cover with plastic wrap if you plan to serve them later.
Notes
  1. The dough is supposed to be a little sticky at first. It will turn smooth and elastic during bulk fermentation.
  2. If your stand mixer bowl is very large, move the dough to a smaller bowl before bulk rise. It's easier to tell when it has doubled that way.
  3. Skip any flour on the counter or on the dough during shaping. Any additional flour will make the saffron buns dry, so hold back unless you actually need it.
  4. Roll the ropes really thin, about the size of your little finger. The longer and thinner the ropes, the better the swirls will hold up during baking.
  5. The most common cause for dry lussekatter is overbaking, so bake only until turning golden brown.
  6. Don’t step away from your oven during the last 5 minutes of baking. Lussekatter can brown very quickly!
  7. A short burst in the microwave will make cooled buns soft and fluffy again.
  8. Store well wrapped at room temperature for several days or freeze for up to two months.
Author: Sarah | Grains & Greens Kitchen
Calories: 140kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it turned out!