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Rolled Bread and Butter
Cut thin slices of fresh warm bread that is spread with creamed butter, remove the crust and roll.
If the bread is not fresh and warm the slices will break when you roll them. It may be necessary
A tea-table trifle that depends entirely on the state of the bread. The instruction breaks off mid-sentence in the original, but the technique is complete enough to follow.
- The hinge is pliable breadRolled slices crack along the crumb unless the loaf is soft and slightly warm. A day-old sandwich loaf can be made cooperative by pressing each slice flat with a rolling pin before spreading, or by covering the slices with a damp cloth for a few minutes.
- Creamed butterThis means butter beaten alone until pale and spreadable, not butter creamed with sugar. Cold butter tears warm bread; leave it out an hour or beat in a teaspoon of cream to loosen it.
- Cutting thinThe recipe says only 'thin' and gives no measurement. Cut lengthwise down the loaf if you want long rolls.
- CrustsTrim after spreading rather than before, so the slices keep their shape while you work, and roll from a short edge with the butter inside.
- Holding themRoll each one seam down, pack them tightly in a shallow dish, cover with a damp towel and refrigerate at least half an hour. They set closed and stop unrolling on the plate.
- The missing clauseThe sentence trails off after 'It may be necessary', and what followed is unknown. Rolls of this kind were sometimes finished with a spear of asparagus, a strip of watercress, or a thin layer of anchovy or nut paste inside.
- YieldRoughly one roll per slice, so the count depends entirely on the size of the loaf.
Rolled bread and butter belongs to the era when afternoon tea sandwiches were judged on neatness rather than substance. Bread and butter cut thin was a staple of English and American tea service through the nineteenth century; rolling it, sometimes around an asparagus tip or a sprig of cress, turned the plainest possible item into something that read as a garnish. The recipe depends on a soft, fine-crumbed loaf pliable enough to roll without cracking.