Cook 1 pound of prunes in a large saucepan with sliced lemon, a piece of stick cinnamon and brown sugar. Soak ½ loaf of bread in water; press out dry. Add 3 eggs, ¼ teaspoonful each of cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Add flour sifted with a teaspoonful of baking-powder. Make into a large roll; place in the centre of the prunes; cover with brown sugar and a tablespoonful of molasses and put in the oven to bake until done. Serve hot or cold.
A frugal steamed-style bread dumpling baked in stewed prunes, written in the shorthand of a cook who already knew the dish. Two quantities are missing outright, so treat the amounts below as the starting point rather than a transcription.
- The hinge: enough liquid for the prunesThe dough roll bakes in the prune syrup, so the fruit must be genuinely wet. The original names no liquid and no sugar quantity, so this is a reconstruction: cover 1 lb prunes with about 3 cups water plus 1/2 cup brown sugar, the lemon and the cinnamon stick, and simmer 15 minutes before the dough goes in. If the pan runs dry the underside of the roll scorches and the top stays raw.
- Unspecified flourThe recipe gives no flour quantity. Work in enough to bring the pressed bread and eggs to a stiff, shapeable dough that holds a roll without slumping — roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup with a teaspoon of baking powder sifted through it.
- Half a loafLoaves of this period were generally smaller and denser than a modern sandwich loaf, so half a loaf is not half a modern loaf. Aim for about 8 oz of stale white bread by weight, soaked in cold water and then squeezed genuinely dry between the hands; wet bread makes a heavy, gluey roll.
- Pitted prunesPrunes in this period were commonly sold with stones in. Buy pitted, or the pudding has to be eaten with care.
- Oven temperatureThe original says only 'put in the oven to bake until done', with no oven description at all. A moderate oven, about 350F, suits it: bake covered for the first 30 minutes so the roll steams in the syrup, then uncover for another 20 to 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
- Brown sugar and molassesThe tablespoon of molasses is for colour and a faint bitterness against the sweet fruit. Modern light brown sugar is milder than period brown sugar; dark brown is closer to what was meant.
- Serving and yieldFeeds six to eight. Cut the roll in thick slices and spoon the prunes and syrup over, hot with cream, or cold the next day when the slices firm up and cut cleanly.
Bread-and-fruit puddings of this kind belong to the German and Austrian tradition of using stale bread as the body of a dish rather than throwing it out — the same thinking behind Semmelkn del and Scheiterhaufen. Dried plums were a staple of central European kitchens, sold by the pound and stewed with lemon, cinnamon and cloves as a winter compote; the dough roll baked in that compote turns a side dish into a full pudding. Its appearance in a book that assigns one dish to each day of the year, each labelled with a nation, says as much about the publishing convention as about Germany: households wanted variety and a hook to hang it on, and a national label was the easiest hook available. The recipe's silence on flour quantity, liquid and oven heat is typical of the genre, which was written for cooks who already knew their own range.