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Noisette Sandwiches
Use one-half recipe for Milk and Water Bread made with entire wheat flour (see p. 54), and add two tablespoons molasses and one cup English walnut meats or pecan nut oroken in small pieces. Let stand twenty-four hours, slice as thinly as possible, spread sparingly and evenly with butter, and put between slices orange marmalade. Remove crusts, cut in fancy shapes, and garnish with nut meats.
A tea sandwich built on a homemade nut loaf rather than bought bread, so the real work happens a day ahead. The success of it rests entirely on how thinly the loaf can be cut.
- The base loafHalf a recipe of the book's Milk and Water Bread, made with entire wheat flour, roughly what we would call whole wheat, though period entire wheat flour was usually distinguished from coarser graham flour.
- MolassesTwo tablespoons of a mild molasses rather than blackstrap, which is markedly more bitter. It darkens the crumb and sets off the marmalade.
- The twenty-four hoursThis is the hinge. A day-old nut loaf firms up enough to take a thin slice; a fresh one tears around the nutmeats and the sandwich falls apart. Wrap the cooled loaf and leave it at room temperature.
- SlicingSlice as close to an eighth of an inch as your hand allows, with a long serrated knife and a sawing motion rather than pressure. Chill the loaf 30 minutes first if the crumb still feels soft.
- Butter first, for a reasonThe sparing, even film of softened butter is a moisture barrier — it stops the marmalade soaking into the bread. Butter to the very edges of the slice.
- FillingUse a thick-cut or shredded orange marmalade, spread thinly on one buttered face only. Too heavy a layer will squeeze out when the shapes are cut.
- Cutting and holdingTrim crusts with a single clean stroke, then cut rounds, diamonds or triangles. Cover with a barely damp cloth and refrigerate no more than a few hours; assemble the same day they are served.
Noisette is French for hazelnut, and the name was attached to nut-flavoured confections and sandwiches whatever nut was actually used — here walnuts or pecans. The recipe belongs to a tea-table culture of sandwiches cut in fancy shapes with crusts removed, meant to be looked at as much as eaten.