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Sponge Fritters
2 2/3 cups flour 1/3 cup sugar 7/8 cup scalded milk 1/3 yeast cake, dissolved in 2 tablespoons lukewarm water 1/3 cup melted butter 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 eggs Grated rind 1/2 lemon Quince marmalade Currant jelly Make a sponge of one-half the flour, sugar, milk, and dissolved yeast cake; let rise to double its bulk. Add remaining ingredients and let rise again. Toss on a floured board, roll to one-fourth inch thickness, shape with a small biscuit cutter (first dipped in flour), cover, and let rise on board. Take each piece and hollow in centre to form a nest. In one-half the pieces put one-half teaspoon of currant jelly and quince marmalade mixed in the proportion of one part jelly to two parts marmalade. Brush with milk edges of filled pieces. Cover with unfilled pieces and press edges closely together with fingers first dipped in flour. If this is not carefully done fritters will separate during frying. Fry in deep fat, drain on brown paper, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
A yeast-raised, jelly-filled fritter closer to a Berliner or Polish pączek than to a batter fritter. The hinge is the seal: two rounds pressed together with floured fingers will spring apart in the fat unless the milk-brushed edges are pinched firmly and the filling kept well inside the rim.
- Yeast cakeHousehold compressed yeast cakes of the period were commonly around 0.6 oz, so one-third of one is on the order of 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast, or a little less of instant. Dissolve it in the two tablespoons of lukewarm water as written; with instant yeast you can simply add it to the flour.
- Scalded milkScalding raw milk was standard practice, and is usually explained as deactivating a milk protein or enzyme that slackens dough. Pasteurised milk needs only to be warmed; let it cool to about 110F before it meets the yeast.
- Odd measures7/8 cup is 1 cup less 2 tablespoons. The 2 2/3 cups of flour is roughly 12 oz by weight; scoop lightly, since a dough this rich shows the difference.
- Rising timesThe recipe gives none. Expect 1 to 1 1/2 hours for the sponge to double, a similar time after the butter, eggs and lemon go in, and 30 to 45 minutes for the cut and filled rounds on the board.
- Frying temperatureThe recipe gives no temperature; about 360-375F is the usual modern range for raised doughnuts. Below that the yeast dough drinks oil; much above it and the outside colours before the centre of a sealed double round is cooked. Fry in small batches so the temperature holds.
- FillingQuince marmalade in this period is a stiff quince paste or thick preserve, not a citrus marmalade. Any firm, low-moisture fruit paste behaves the same way; a runny jam will leak through the seam. Keep the filling to the stated half teaspoon.
- DrainingBrown paper was the standard drain; use a rack over a tray instead, which keeps the underside from steaming. Sugar them while still warm so it clings.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; the count depends on the size of the cutter, since each finished fritter takes two rounds of dough. Best eaten within a few hours of frying.