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Currant Buns
1 cake yeast 2 cups scalded and cooled milk 1 egg 1 tablespoon sugar 6 cups sifted flour 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup shortening 1 cup currants 1 teaspoon salt Prepare in usual manner for buns. For last rising in bulk, let stand in warm place 2 1/2 hours. When well risen, turn out on board and mold into rolls. Place in greased pans, cover and let rise again till double in bulk. Brush with diluted egg, bake in hot oven (425 degrees) about 15 minutes. Upon removing from oven, dip in powdered sugar. Makes 3 dozen rolls.
A straightforward enriched yeast dough with two sugar additions and a long second rise. The instruction "prepare in usual manner" assumes a cook who already knows the sponge-and-dough routine, so that is worth spelling out.
- "1 cake yeast"A commercial compressed cake of the period was about 0.6 oz. One 1/4-oz packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast is the usual substitute. The tablespoon of sugar listed apart from the cup was probably meant to feed the yeast: dissolve yeast and that tablespoon in a little of the cooled milk before combining.
- The other cup of sugarThe recipe does not say when it goes in; the usual handling is with the shortening, egg and salt. A dough this sweet ferments slowly, which may be why the rise is given as 2 1/2 hours rather than the usual hour.
- Scalded and cooled milkScalding raw milk was normal practice, and it also deactivates milk components that slacken dough. With modern milk, warming to about 110F is generally enough. Milk much above 120F begins to damage the yeast.
- ShorteningPeriod shortening was hydrogenated vegetable fat or lard. Butter works and tastes better; soften it rather than melting it, and work it in after the flour has come together.
- CurrantsDried Zante currants, not fresh red currants. Toss them in a spoonful of the flour before adding so they distribute rather than sinking, and add them near the end of kneading to avoid tearing the gluten.
- Flour quantitySix cups to 2 cups of liquid is about the usual ratio for an enriched dough, but sifted-cup measures vary. Hold back the last half cup and add only as much as the dough needs to stop sticking; an over-floured bun bakes dry.
- Oven425F is correct as printed. Fifteen minutes is right for buns of about 1 1/2 oz each; watch the bottoms, since the sugar in the dough browns quickly.
- Egg wash and finishing"Diluted egg" means one egg beaten with a tablespoon or two of milk or water. Dipping the hot buns in powdered sugar sets a thin crust as they cool, so do it straight from the pan.
- YieldThree dozen is a large batch. The dough halves cleanly, and shaped unbaked buns freeze well after the first rise.