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Currant Tea Ring
2 cakes compressed yeast 1 cup milk, scalded and cooled 1 cup lukewarm water 1 tablespoon sugar 6 level tablespoons lard or butter 1/2 cup sugar 7 cups sifted flour 3 eggs 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon mace Brown sugar, currants and cinnamon Dissolve the yeast and one tablespoon of sugar in the lukewarm liquid. Add three cups of flour and beat until smooth. Add lard or butter and sugar, thoroughly creamed, and eggs beaten until light, the remainder of the flour gradually, keeping dough soft, and last, the salt and mace. Turn on board; knead lightly; place in greased bowl; cover and set aside in a warm place to rise for about two hours or until the dough has doubled in bulk. Roll out in an oblong piece, one fourth inch thick; brush with melted butter; sprinkle with brown sugar, currants and cinnamon. Roll up lengthwise ana place in a circle on a large, shallow, greased pan or baking sheet. With scissors cut three fourth inch slices, almost through. Turn each slice partly on its side, pointing away from center. This should give the effect of a many-pointed star, and show the different layers with the filling. Cover and let rise one hour, or until light, and bake twenty-five minutes. Just before putting in the oven, glaze with egg, diluted with milk. Ice while hot with plain frosting.
A straightforward enriched yeast dough, but the original omits both the oven temperature and the filling quantities, so a little translation is needed before you start.
- Oven temperatureNo temperature is given, as the book assumes you know your own range. Bake a ring this size at 375F for the stated 25 minutes; check that the center coil is set and reads about 190F internally.
- Compressed yeastTwo cakes of compressed (fresh) yeast is roughly 1.2 oz. Substitute two 1/4-oz packets of active dry yeast, about 4 1/2 teaspoons, dissolved in the lukewarm water with the tablespoon of sugar.
- The filling is left to youBrown sugar, currants and cinnamon appear in the ingredient list without amounts. For a dough of this size, figure on about 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, 1 cup dried currants and 2 teaspoons cinnamon spread over the rolled sheet.
- Lard or butterSix level tablespoons is the fat for the dough itself, creamed with the 1/2 cup sugar. Lard gives a softer, more tender crumb; butter gives more flavor. Either works, and you will need a little extra melted butter to brush the rolled-out dough.
- Flour quantitySeven cups of sifted flour is a maximum, not a target. The instruction to keep the dough soft is the one that matters; hold back the last cup and add only what the dough demands, or the ring bakes dense.
- Cutting and turning the slicesCut the 3/4-inch slices almost through but leave the inner edge of the ring attached, then lay each slice over on its side facing outward. This is what exposes the spiral of filling; cutting all the way through gives you separate rolls that slump apart as they rise.
- MaceA quarter teaspoon of ground mace, the outer covering of the nutmeg seed, is the warm background note in the dough. Ground nutmeg at the same quantity is the nearest substitute, slightly sweeter and more assertive.
- Icing while hot"Plain frosting" here most likely means confectioners' sugar thinned with milk to a pouring consistency. Applied to the hot ring it tends to soak in and set thin rather than sitting on top as an opaque glaze.
- YieldOne large ring, 12 to 16 slices. It is best the day it is baked; after that, warm the slices briefly.
Coffee cakes shaped into a cut and fanned ring are a fixture of American baking books from the early twentieth century, generally traced to the Central European yeast-dough traditions carried into the Midwest, where the same technique produces the kranz and its relations. Currants, meaning small dried Zante grapes rather than the fresh berry, appear in such doughs, and mace was among the sweet spices of the period.