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Swedish Tea Ring
1 cup scalded milk
I yeast cake softened in ¼ cup
¾ teaspoon salt warm water
¼ cup sugar
3½ cups flour
6 tablespoons shortening
1 egg
⅛ cup finely chopped nuts
Add the scalded milk to the salt, sugar and fat. When lukewarm add the yeast. Add one-half the flour and beat well. Let rise until very light. When light add the egg and the remaining flour and beat well. Let rise. Divide the dough into two parts and shape each in a long, round piece and form two circles, placing the circles on a baking-tin. Brush with white of egg and sprinkle with finely chopped nuts. With a large pair of scissors cut toward the center of the ring, but not quite to the center, at intervals of two inches, placing the cut section each time flat on the tin, giving it a petal-like appearance. When light, bake in a moderate oven (350°-400° F.).
A straightforward enriched yeast dough, oddly filed under quick breads. The instructions are sound; only the yeast, the fat and a few unstated details need translating.
- The yeast cakeOne compressed yeast cake of the period was commonly about 0.6 oz and is roughly equivalent to 2¼ teaspoons (one packet) of active dry yeast, though cake sizes varied. Soften it in the ¼ cup of warm water as written, at about 95-100F for compressed yeast (105-110F if you are substituting active dry).
- Scalded milkScalding is usually explained as denaturing whey proteins and enzymes in raw milk that weaken gluten; it also served to pasteurise the milk. With modern pasteurised milk many bakers treat it as optional, though heating does dissolve the sugar and melt the fat efficiently. Either way, let the mixture cool to lukewarm before the yeast goes in or you will kill it.
- ShorteningSix tablespoons is a generous amount for 3½ cups of flour. Butter, lard or vegetable shortening all work; butter gives the best flavour in a sweet ring.
- ⅛ cup of nutsThat is 2 tablespoons, an odd but perfectly workable measure. Almonds are a common choice for a Swedish ring, though the recipe specifies only 'finely chopped nuts'.
- The two rises"Let rise until very light" for the sponge stage means roughly doubled and visibly bubbly, about an hour in a warm room. The second rise after the full flour goes in takes a similar time; the shaped rings need a third proof, which the recipe calls "when light," about 30-45 minutes.
- The cuttingThis is the hinge of the whole thing. Cut with scissors from the outer edge toward the centre, stopping short so the ring stays in one piece, and turn each cut section flat onto the pan. Do it after shaping and before the final proof, so the cuts open as the dough rises.
- OvenThe stated 350-400F is a wide bracket. 375F for 20-25 minutes suits a ring of this size; a deeply browned top and a hollow sound underneath mean it is done.
- No fillingUnlike most modern tea rings, this one carries no cinnamon-sugar or fruit filling — the dough is simply rolled into a rope and joined. The egg-white wash and nuts are the only decoration. A glaze of icing sugar and milk after cooling is a later addition, not part of this version.
- YieldThe dough makes two rings, each serving six to eight.
Yeasted rings of sweet dough snipped into petals belong to a broad Northern and Central European tradition of festive breakfast breads, and in American cookbooks of the early twentieth century a coffee-time yeast bread with nuts or cardamom in it was often labelled "Swedish" or "Danish" regardless of precise origin. The scissor-cut petal shape shows up again and again in this period under names like tea ring, coffee ring and coffee cake, and it survives largely unchanged in modern versions with additions and a sugar glaze the original does not call for.