Twist
From the dough of loaf bread or French rolls, reserve enough to make two long strips or rolls, say, fifteen inches long and one inch in diameter. Rub lard well between the hands before handling and shaping these strips. Pinch the two ends so as to make them stick together. Twist them, pressing the other ends together to prevent unrolling.--Mrs. S. T.
This is a shaping instruction rather than a full recipe: it assumes you already have risen bread dough in the bowl and want a decorative loaf from the tail end of it. The points below fill in what the original takes for granted.
- What dough to useAny lean white bread dough works, and the loaf-bread or French-roll dough the original names will do. Reserve roughly 12 oz of dough for two 15-inch strips.
- Lard on the hands, not flourThe instruction to rub lard between the palms is the hinge. Greased hands let you roll and stretch the strips without the dry flour that would keep the two ropes from fusing where they meet. Any neutral fat or butter serves the same purpose.
- Rolling the stripsRoll each piece from the centre outward, keeping even thickness at one inch. If the dough springs back and refuses to lengthen, rest it under a cloth for ten minutes and roll again.
- Sealing the endsPinch the two ropes together firmly at one end, twist them around each other in one direction, then press the far ends together as the original directs. Tucking those ends under the loaf helps hold them.
- Second riseThe original gives no direction for this. Let the shaped twist prove on a greased sheet until roughly half again in size, 30 to 45 minutes in a warm kitchen, before baking.
- OvenThe original gives no baking direction. By modern practice, bake at about 400F for 20 to 25 minutes, until deep gold and hollow-sounding underneath. A wash of beaten egg or milk before baking gives a shine, though the original calls for none.
- YieldTwo 15-inch ropes twisted together make a single loaf somewhat shorter than 15 inches, enough for perhaps six to eight at table. It is best the day it is baked.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1878) was assembled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions signed with initials and surnames, and this fragment from "Mrs. S. T." is typical of the book's method: an experienced cook writing for another experienced cook, adding a flourish to bread already in progress rather than starting from flour. Twisted and plaited breads are very old and very widespread across Europe, from the Jewish challah to the German Zopf, and the appeal is the same everywhere: the same dough, the same oven, but a loaf that looks as though it were meant for company. A twist made from dough deliberately reserved from the batch was economy dressed up as ornament.