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Berlin Pancakes
Roll out dough slightly sweetened and shortened, as if for very plain doughnuts; cut in circles like biscuit, put a tea-spoon currant jam or jelly on the center of one, lay another upon it, press the edges tightly together with the fingers, and fry quickly in boiling
The instruction ends mid-sentence in the original; the missing words are "boiling lard," the standard frying medium throughout this chapter. Everything else assumes you already have a doughnut dough on the counter, since the recipe sits among a run of them.
- The hinge: seal dry, seal hardJam on the seam is why filled doughnuts burst. Keep the teaspoon of jam well inside the circle, leave a clean half-inch border, and pinch the two rounds together firmly all the way round, then press again just before frying. A little water or egg wash on the border helps, though the original relies on finger pressure alone.
- "As if for very plain doughnuts"The book means a lightly sweetened, lightly shortened dough, not a rich cake batter; it gives no thickness, so roll it thin enough to seal cleanly. Either a yeasted or a soda-raised doughnut dough works; a yeasted one puffs better and gives the round, pale-belted shape associated with the name.
- "Shortened"Nineteenth-century shorthand for fat rubbed or worked into the dough — lard or butter in this book. Butter is fine; the quantity is small in a plain doughnut dough.
- Cut in circles like biscuitA 2 1/2 to 3 inch cutter is right. Cut all the rounds before filling any, and re-roll scraps once at most; twice-worked dough shrinks in the fat and pulls the seal open.
- Frying fat and temperature"Boiling lard" is not literally boiling — fat at a rolling boil is far past frying heat. Aim for 360-370F, deep enough that the pancakes float clear of the bottom. Below 350F they soak; above 385F the outside colors before the seam sets.
- "Fry quickly"About 1 1/2 to 2 minutes a side for a three-inch round, turning once. Filled dough is thicker than a ring doughnut, so break one open from the first batch to confirm the center is cooked before committing the rest.
- Jam choiceCurrant jam or jelly is stiff and holds its shape, which suits the method, though the recipe gives no reason for the choice. A loose modern preserve runs at frying heat and finds the seam; use a thick set jam, and chill the spoonful if it is slack.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantities, and each pancake takes two rounds of dough, so a batch yields half what the same dough would give as ring doughnuts. Dust with sugar while still warm and eat the same day.
The name is a straight translation of Berliner Pfannkuchen, the German filled doughnut that is called simply a Berliner across much of the German-speaking world; "pancake" is a plain rendering of Pfann-kuchen rather than a reference to the American breakfast disc. Its appearance in Buckeye Cookery — compiled in Ohio in the 1870s from contributed household recipes — is unremarkable given how much German settlement shaped the state's kitchens. The technique of sandwiching jam between two rounds of dough rather than injecting it after frying is the older method.