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French Rolls
Mix a quart of flour with a little salt and two eggs, a tablespoonful of lard and two of yeast, with enough milk to make a good dough, work it well, and set out to rise for the night. In the morning, work it thoroughly again and form into rolls; let these rise again, and bake in a quick oven.
A plain overnight roll dough of the sort turned out by the dozen in a hotel bakeshop. The measurements are by volume and the yeast is not the yeast you have, so both need translating.
- A quart of flourFlour was measured by volume, so a quart is 4 cups, roughly 17-19 oz (480-540 g) depending on how it was scooped. Weigh 500 g and adjust with the milk.
- Two tablespoons of yeastMost likely a liquid yeast, brewer's barm or a home-kept wet yeast, weaker than modern dry yeast, though a spooned homemade or compressed yeast cannot be ruled out. Use about 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of instant or active dry yeast for the whole batch, which will still rise overnight in a cool place.
- Enough milkExpect roughly 1 to 1 1/4 cups (240-300 ml) of lukewarm milk with 2 eggs in the mix. Add it gradually; the dough should be soft but not slack, since a wet dough will spread rather than hold a roll shape.
- Set out to rise for the nightWritten for an unheated kitchen or pantry, perhaps 55-60F. In a modern warm room the dough will overproof and go sour; the refrigerator is the equivalent overnight resting place.
- A quick ovenRoughly 400-425F (200-220C). Rolls this size bake in about 12-18 minutes and want the brisker heat for oven spring and colour.
- LardA tablespoon of lard gives a tender, slightly short crumb. Butter or shortening substitutes directly, though butter browns the crust faster.
- Work it thoroughly againThe second kneading in the morning is the point of the method: it degasses the long ferment and evens the crumb. Knead only until smooth, then shape and give the rolls a final rise until nearly doubled.
- YieldAbout 18 to 24 rolls at 1 1/2 to 2 oz each. They stale quickly, as enriched rolls without preservative do, and are best the day they are baked.
"French rolls" in American cookbooks of this period rarely meant anything French in particular — the name attached itself to any small, soft, milk-and-egg enriched dinner roll served in place of sliced bread, rather than to any specifically French formula. Oscar Tschirky's book collects the working formulas of the Waldorf's kitchens at the turn of the twentieth century, when a large hotel baked its own bread through the night and sent hot rolls to table at every service. The reliance on a spoonful of wet yeast rather than a measured cake is also worth noting, though the balance of liquid ferment and compressed yeast in professional bakeshops of the period is not something the recipe itself settles.