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Geneva Buns
Rub two ounces of butter into a pound of flour, add a pinch of salt, and set the sponge to rise with a dessert-spoonful of good yeast, mixed with half a pint of milk. Let it stand for nearly an hour, then work it into a light dough, adding a well-beaten egg, mixed with a little lukewarm milk. A little sugar, a few currants, and some chopped candied lemon may be added. Cover the bowl which contains the dough with a cloth, and put it by the side of the fire to rise. In about half an hour make it up into rolls; brush these over with beaten egg, and bake in a good oven for twenty minutes or more. Probable cost, 1d. each. Allow one or two for each person.
A plain enriched yeast dough, closer to a tea bun than a modern sweet roll. The method is a two-stage sponge, which is the part worth respecting.
- The sponge is the hingeThe first hour, with the yeast and milk worked into the buttered flour, is what gives these buns their flavour and lift. Skipping it and mixing everything at once is likely to give a duller, denser bun even if it rises.
- Yeast quantitiesA dessertspoonful of "good yeast" probably means fresh compressed yeast or barm; a dessertspoon holds roughly 10 ml, so on the order of 10 g. Around 1.5 teaspoons (5 g) of instant dried yeast for the pound of flour is a workable equivalent.
- Weights and volumesA pound of flour is about 450 g or 3.5 cups; half a pint is 10 fl oz British, so a scant 1.25 cups of milk. Two ounces of butter is 55 g.
- "A little sugar"Left unspecified; the result is only lightly sweet. Two to three tablespoons is in period character, and much more than about 60 g will begin to slow the rise.
- Rising by the fireHearthside proving was warm and draughty in equal measure. A covered bowl at 24-27C is the intent; the half hour given for the second rise assumes real warmth, so judge by the dough doubling rather than the clock.
- "A good oven"There is no exact modern equivalent, but for small enriched rolls roughly 200C (400F) works. Twenty minutes suits buns of about 60-70 g; they are done when the base sounds hollow and the egg wash has browned.
- Candied lemonCandied lemon peel, not preserved lemon. Chop it small, and if it has hardened in the jar soak it briefly in warm water or the currants will bake softer than the peel.
- YieldA pound of flour makes about a dozen buns; at one or two each, that serves six to twelve.
Geneva buns belong to the large family of British enriched tea breads that Victorian cookery books distinguished from one another by tiny margins of egg, butter and fruit u2014 Bath buns, Chelsea buns, hot cross buns, Geneva buns. The name is usually explained as a nod to Swiss or Genevan baking, though the connection is traditional rather than documented, and the dough here is no more Swiss than any other lightly enriched English bun; a similar puzzle attends the "Geneva wafer" of the same period. The costing at a penny each is the real period marker, placing these firmly among everyday household baking rather than confectionery.