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Raised Coffee Cake
To 1 quart lukewarm milk add 1 yeast cake, flour enough to make stiff sponge, knead till batter shows large bubbles. Mix in evening; next morning, knead again. Fill pans half full, let rise till bulk doubles, glaze tops with melted shortening and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon or chopped blanched almonds. Bake in moderate 375 degrees oven about 25 minutes.
A telegraphic overnight sweet dough of the kind written for cooks who already knew the method. The quantities that matter most — flour, sugar, salt, fat — are left to judgment, so read the whole thing before starting.
- Yeast cakeUsually a cake of compressed fresh yeast, most often the 0.6 oz size, roughly equivalent to one packet (2 1/4 tsp) of active dry; some books of the period meant a dry yeast cake instead. For a full quart of milk that is a modest amount, which is why the dough is set overnight; expect a long, slow rise rather than a fast one.
- Scale of the batchA quart of milk will take roughly 3 to 4 lb of flour depending on how stiff the sponge is taken, and yields enough for two or three pans. Halving the whole thing is sensible for a single household.
- Unstated ingredientsThe dough as written has no salt, sugar, egg or fat beyond the glaze. Comparable raised coffee cakes are commonly enriched with salt (about 2 tsp at this scale), sugar, butter and eggs worked into the morning dough before shaping; without at least salt the crumb tastes flat.
- Milk temperatureLukewarm means roughly 95-110F. Pasteurized milk can simply be warmed and used; the scalding older books insisted on is variously explained, and is not something this recipe asks for.
- "Sponge showing large bubbles"This is the visual cue for the evening stage: the mixture is worked until it is elastic enough to show large bubbles at the surface. The recipe calls it both a stiff sponge and a batter, and says to knead it, so it sits between a beatable batter and a firm dough.
- Overnight restA room-temperature overnight at modern indoor temperatures (68-72F) works, but the refrigerator gives better control and more flavour. Bring it back to room temperature before the morning knead.
- Pans and final riseHalf-full is right; the dough should roughly double, reaching the rim. At normal room temperature allow 45 to 90 minutes, judged by the dough rather than the clock.
- BakingThe stated 375F is accurate for a moderate oven of the period. Twenty-five minutes suits a shallow pan; a deeper one may need 30 to 35 minutes, and the centre should read about 190F.
- ToppingBrush the melted shortening on just before baking, not before the rise, or the surface skins over. Butter gives better flavour than the shortening called for, and the cinnamon sugar can be pressed lightly into the dough so it does not slide off.