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Chester Buns
Rub two ounces of butter into one pound of fine flour, add a pinch of salt and one table-spoonful of sugar. Stir into this an egg, a table-spoonful of yeast, and a breakfast-cupful of lukewarm milk. Knead well, and put the bowl which contains the dough before the fire to rise, covering it with a cloth. When it has sufficiently risen, divide it into six or eight parts, shape into rounds, place them on a buttered tin, and let them rise five minutes more, then bake in a quick oven. Time to bake, about twenty minutes. Probable cost, for this quantity, 6d. Sufficient for six or eight buns.
A plain enriched bun dough, lightly sweetened, of the kind Victorian cooks turned out for tea. Two instructions need rethinking: the yeast quantity and the absurdly short second rise.
- The second riseFive minutes does nothing. Shaped buns of this size need 30 to 45 minutes in a warm spot, until visibly puffed and slow to spring back when pressed. This is the one change that decides whether they come out light or dense.
- A tablespoon of yeastThis means fresh barm or compressed yeast, roughly 15-20 g. Substitute about 1.5 teaspoons (5 g) of instant dried yeast, mixed into the flour, or 2 teaspoons of active dry proofed in a little of the warm milk.
- Breakfast-cupfulA breakfast cup is larger than a teacup: reckon 8 to 10 fl oz (240-300 ml). Hold back the last of it and add as needed, since a pound of modern strong flour absorbs more liquid than Victorian household flour.
- Fine flour"Fine flour" here is plain white flour. Bread flour gives a better rise in an enriched dough; plain flour will work but produces a softer, cakier bun.
- A quick oven425-450F (220-230C). For buns this rich and this small, 425F (220C) for 15-20 minutes is enough; watch the undersides, as the sugar and milk brown fast.
- Rising before the fireThe dough wants around 75-80F (24-27C). A modern kitchen counter will do, taking 60-90 minutes for a doubling; an oven with only the light on works if the fire is not available.
- Buttered tinA greased baking sheet or a lined tray. Set the rounds about two inches apart if you want crisp sides, or closer together for soft-sided buns that tear apart.
- YieldSix to eight buns as stated; the dough comes to something over 800 g, so roughly 140 g each if divided into six and about 100 g if into eight. They stale quickly, being low in fat and sugar by modern standards, and are best the day they are baked or split and toasted the next.
Cassell's includes a number of buns named for towns, and such names are often looser than they look, describing a shape or a level of richness more than a documented local original. This one is a modest, everyday dough: a pound of flour carries only two ounces of butter, one egg and a single spoonful of sugar, which places it much nearer plain bread than the currant-and-spice buns sold in bakeries. Chester is an old Cheshire market town on the Dee, in dairy country, but no connection between the town and this particular dough is traceable. The costing at sixpence for six or eight buns is characteristic of the dictionary's aim: it was written for households running to a budget.