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Denver Biscuit
I QUART MILK (SCALD AND COOL) I CAKE YEAST SOAKED IN 1/2 CUP WARM WATER I CUP SUGAR FLOUR 2 TEASPOONS BAKING POWDER I TEASPOON SODA I TEASPOON SALT I CUP SHORTENING Add mashed potatoes to milk, sugar, and yeast. Mix dry ingredients, using about 4 cups flour or enough for a sponge. Beat well. Add shortening. Let sponge rise until it bubbles. Add flour to make a soft dough. Place in a wellgreased dish, cover well, and set in refrigerator or cold place. When needed, take out the amount desired and knead. Shape into rolls. Let rise until light, about 1 hour. Then bake.
This dough will keep 2 or 3 weeks, if kept in the refrigerator.
A refrigerator dough of the potato-sponge type: mixed once, stored cold, and drawn on for a couple of weeks. Two things in the original need filling in before you start — the potato quantity and the oven.
- The potatoesThe method calls for mashed potatoes but no amount is given. For a quart of milk, about 1 cup of plain mashed potato (roughly one large russet, unseasoned, no butter or cream) is a reasonable starting point, though comparable recipes vary a good deal. Save the potato water and use it in place of the warm water for the yeast if you like.
- Oven"Then bake" is all the original offers. Rolls of this size go into a hot oven, 400-425F, for 15-20 minutes until well browned on top and hollow-sounding underneath.
- Yeast cakeOne compressed yeast cake of the period is about 0.6 oz. Substitute one packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast, softened in the half cup of warm water at about 110F.
- Total flourAbout 4 cups goes into the sponge; a quart of milk will absorb a good deal more again before it comes to a soft dough, so expect to add flour by the cup and stop when the dough is soft but manageable. Either way this is a large batch, enough for several dozen rolls.
- Both leaveningsThe baking powder and soda sit alongside the yeast rather than replacing it. The likely purpose is insurance for a dough that has been held cold and sluggish for days, with the soda offsetting the acidity such a dough develops in the refrigerator.
- StorageCover tightly rather than "well" — plastic wrap pressed to the surface, or a lidded container with room to expand. The dough will swell in the first day or two; punch it down and it will settle. Two to three weeks is optimistic by modern standards; a week to ten days gives better flavour and rise.
- The final riseAn hour is right for dough at room temperature, but this comes out of the refrigerator cold. Shaped rolls may need 90 minutes to two hours before they look light and hold a slow dent when pressed.
- ShorteningA cup is a generous amount, and it is what makes these tender and keeps the dough workable when cold. Lard, vegetable shortening or softened butter all work; butter will firm the dough more in the refrigerator.