In a small pot over a medium heat, combine the plain flour & the water. Stir the mixture together, over the heat, until it thickens & becomes paste-like. Set aside.
Grease a large bowl with olive oil; set aside.
In a large bowl, combine together the caster sugar, the water, & the milk. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture, stir to combine, & set aside for 5 minutes. When ready, add the flour/water paste, the plain flour, olive oil, and salt to the mixture & stir together. It should be a sticky dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface & knead for 7-10 minutes, until you have a smooth, soft dough. Place the dough into the oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling film, & leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour (until doubled in size).
Meanwhile, make the filling – combine the cinnamon, cardamom, salt, plain flour & brown sugar together in a small bowl; set aside. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper & set aside.
Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface & use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough into a large rectangle, roughly 40 x 60cm (I did this by eye due to lack of ruler, just aim for a huge rectangle).
Drizzle olive oil all over the surface of the dough & use a pastry brush to ensure it all gets covered. Evenly sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, spreading it with your hands.
This is where it starts to get confusing. Fold the dough into thirds as you would a business letter (I had to google this to be sure), giving you a new smaller rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut the rectangle in half to make two small squares (cut it from short-edge to short-edge). (Still following?) Now, cut each of the squares into 6 strips – making sure to do so from fold to fold, not from cut edge to cut edge. If you did it wrong by accident (like me), don’t panic. It just makes it a little easier to hold all of the filling in.
Twist each strip along it’s length & stretch it out a little. To make the knots shown in the picture, watch this handy informative GIF Izy made to find out how. To go a more simple route, coil the strips up like snails. Place the knots onto the prepared baking sheets, cover with a greased layer of cling film & return to the warm area for a further 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Just before baking, sprinkle the knots generously with the pearl sugar nibs. Bake for 25ish minutes, until golden brown all over & baked through.