To make apple cakes

A lump of raised bread dough, enriched by repeated folding with sugar, spice, butter and chopped apple — essentially a domestic shortcut that borrows dough from the day's baking rather than mixing a separate batter. The original assumes you already have dough at hand and a hot bread oven waiting.

• Half a quartern of doughA quartern is a quarter of a peck of flour, roughly 3 1/2 lb, so half a quartern of dough is made from about 1 3/4 lb of flour and weighs close to 2 1/2 lb once mixed. In practice, use two 1 lb batches of plain white bread dough after the first rise.
• "Five ounces each of coffee and sugar"Five ounces of ground coffee is a very large quantity against roughly 2 lb of dough, and some readers take the word to be a misprint. The text as printed says coffee, and there is nothing in the receipt itself to settle the question; if you prefer the reading that gives a conventional fruited dough cake, 5 oz of dried currants and 5 oz of sugar is the usual substitution.
• The two butter quantitiesThe 2 oz worked in at the start is what the folding needs; the "half a pound of butter may be added" at the end is an optional enrichment for a richer, cakier crumb. Adding all of it at once will slacken the dough badly — work the extra butter in gradually during the second and third folds.
• Folding is the whole methodFolding is the method -- The receipt directs rolling and folding two or three times, and says plainly that the object is to 'mix well the ingredients' and to 'roll until mixed'. Work it by rolling and folding rather than kneading it smooth.
• ApplesFour rather large apples is roughly 1 1/2 to 2 lb before peeling. A firm apple that holds its shape, such as Granny Smith or Northern Spy, suits this better than a soft cooking apple like Bramley, which breaks down. Chop small, as directed, and pat dry if very juicy.
• The final rise"Let it stand to rise after" means a full proof after shaping — 45 minutes to an hour in a warm room, until visibly puffed. The sugar and butter slow the yeast considerably, so this stage takes longer than plain bread dough.
• OvenNo oven or heat is specified in the receipt at all; a household with dough to hand would most likely have used the bread oven as it fell. As a modern equivalent, 375F works: small individual cakes take 20-25 minutes, a single large one 35-45 minutes, and the sugar means they colour fast — cover with foil if the top darkens before the centre sets.
• Shape and yieldDivide into 10-12 hand-sized rounds or bake as one flattish loaf and cut in squares. Best eaten the day they are made, warm, with butter; the fruit makes them go heavy by the second day.