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Doughnuts II
4 cups flour 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 3/4 teaspoons soda 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 tablespoon butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup sour milk 1 egg Put flour in shallow pan; add salt, soda, cream of tartar, and spices. Work in butter with tips of fingers; add sugar, egg well beaten, and sour milk. Stir thoroughly, and toss on board thickly dredged with flour; knead slightly, using more flour if necessary. Pat and roll out to one-fourth inch thickness; shape, fry, and drain. Sour-milk doughnuts may be turned as soon as they come to top of fat, and frequently afterwards.
A plain sour-milk doughnut of the type standard in American cookery schools around 1900. The recipe assumes you know the frying temperature and the fat; both are worth pinning down.
- Fat temperatureThe original just says "fry." Use 365F, measured with a thermometer, and let the fat come back up between batches. Below 350F the dough drinks fat; above 375F the outside colors before the center sets.
- Sour milkThis means naturally soured raw milk, which no longer exists in a supermarket. Use cultured buttermilk cup for cup, or stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into a cup of whole milk and let it stand ten minutes.
- Soda and cream of tartar togetherThis pair is homemade baking powder, added on top of the acid already in the sour milk. Measure both accurately; too much soda gives a soapy taste and a darkened crumb.
- Handle it lightly"Knead slightly" means only a few turns, and only enough extra flour to stop sticking. Worked dough fries up tough and heavy.
- Thickness and shapingA quarter inch matches the recipe and is thinner than many expect today; the doughnuts puff considerably. The recipe says only "shape"; a floured cutter of about 2 1/2 inches with a 1-inch centre is one workable choice.
- TurningThe closing note is the useful part: turn as soon as each ring comes to the top and several times after, which helps keep the shape even and the browning uniform.
- Fat to useThe book would have meant lard or a beef-suet blend. Any neutral oil with a high smoke point works; use at least three inches in a deep, heavy pot so the temperature holds.
- YieldAbout two and a half to three dozen doughnuts plus holes. They are best within a few hours and go stale quickly, as all cake doughnuts do.
Chemically leavened cake doughnuts spread as soda and cream of tartar became common in ordinary kitchens over the middle decades of the nineteenth century, and by 1900 many American cookbooks carried both a raised version and a quick one like this. Sour milk was rarely something anyone bought: it was what happened to yesterday's milk in a household without reliable refrigeration, and many quick breads, gingerbreads and doughnuts served partly as ways to use it before it was wasted. The soda reacts with the milk's acidity while the cream of tartar reacts with the remaining soda to supply further lift, which is why both appear here alongside an already acid liquid.