Today, I am excited to share some baking tips & tricks straight from Kalle Ulves, the executive pastry chef at FIKA, a Swedish coffee shop and bakery here in NYC.
I really adore Swedish baked goods so, I was quite excited to get a peek into the FIKA kitchen and get to chat about all things baking with the team there (particularly, about cinnamon buns!).
Chef Ulves’s love of baking stems from his childhood in Sweden, where he grew up baking with his grandmother, and he is determined to bring authentic Swedish baking to New Yorkers.
Here are some of his baking tips:
3 Baking Tips from Chef Kalle Ulves
- Use real products: organic is not always best, but can be a good point of reference. Don’t be afraid of using real milk and real butter.
2. Be generous with spices (and make sure they are fresh!): Swedish baking uses ample spices and you want to be able to taste the cinnamon in the cinnamon buns, smell the cardamom in the cardamom buns, and see flecks of vanilla in the princess cake.
3. Be patient: let dough proof and rise, let everything mix well, if you are whipping meringue, let it whip – quality product takes time, and this is something home cooks often overlook. You can always tell if a baker was in a hurry.
Follow these tips for a recipe to success! I’m off to make some cardamom buns.
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