This recipe for small, sweet rolls -- perfect for a tea party -- comes from an undated book called the "Home-Tried Cook Book." I am thinking pre-WWI but it's hard to tell. It's printed on flimsy paper and held together with twine, and the tone throughout is, well...stern.
"Soak 1 cake of yeast in warm water 1 hour. Dissolve 2 rounded tablespoons of lard, 2/3 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon salt in 2 cups boiling water. Let this cool and add 2 well-beaten eggs and yeast. Stiffen almost as stiff as bread, allow to raise a day before using (24 hours). If kept in a cool place the dough will keep for a week. Bake in gem pans.
"Make the puffs out in the middle of the morning when wanted for supper. Do not keep too warm while raising. In summer keep in the ice box exccept the puffs you intend to bake. The weather has much to do with success. Practice makes perfect."
And with all that lecturing, no time or temperature is given.
(image from Dover Publications Kate Greenaway clipart book)
Well, you could experiment like people do with that simple "shoot missiles at each other over a mountain" video game that lets you fiddle with velocity and angle.
ReplyDeleteStart with 300 degrees for 10 minutes. Vary as needed. Why, within two weeks, you may have it figured out.
It must have been awfully hard to make these and deal with th vagaries of an icebox, too.
ReplyDeleteGDad, your comment reminded me of a formal military dinner I once attended where the Staff Sgt who was my dinner partner & I discussed the possibility of just such a thing with our dinner rolls, which appeared to have been around since Belleau Wood.
ReplyDelete(but we didn't. the Sergeant Major was at the same table).
DRRE - Dinner Rolls Ready to Eat.
ReplyDeleteHeh.
I knew I recognized that illustration. I have a few by Kate Greenaway stashed away somewhere.
ReplyDelete