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Vienna Rolls
Dissolve a cupful of German yeast in a quart of lukewarm milk, stirring in a pound of fine flour, and allow it to sponge; then add a little salt, moist sugar, and make into a stiff dough; allow it to rise for four hours, and then work it well on a table or board rolling it out to about an eighth of an inch in thickness; cut into strips about six inches in width; these should be cut into long triangles not very wide at the base. Roll them up commencing at the bottom, and the top of the triangle will come in the center of the roll. Roll a little with the hands and then place in a baking-dish, and brush it over with melted lard or butter. Let it rise on the pan for half an hour, and then bake for ten minutes or until it has become lightly colored.
A crescent roll built on a sponge, written for a bakery where flour was added by feel. Two things need pinning down before you start: how much yeast, and how much flour the dough actually takes.
- "German yeast" is fresh compressed yeast"German yeast" is fresh compressed yeast. A cupful is a very large dose by modern standards, and modern fresh yeast at that rate would be wildly overdosed; about 1 ounce fresh, or 2 teaspoons instant, is enough for this quantity of liquid.
- The flour quantity is incompleteA pound of flour into a quart of milk gives a loose sponge, not a dough. The recipe never states the flour added at the "stiff dough" stage; expect to work in another 2 to 2 1/2 pounds, judging by feel, for a dough firm enough to roll thin.
- Rising timesFour hours suits the yeast and the conditions this was written for. With modern yeast the bulk rise is likely done in 60 to 90 minutes, or overnight in the refrigerator if you want the flavour the long ferment was giving them.
- Moist sugarAn unrefined soft sugar, slightly damp and pale brown. Light brown sugar is the closest match; the recipe gives no quantity, and a spoonful or two is enough to feed the yeast and colour the crust rather than to sweeten.
- Oven heatNone is given, which in a book of this date means the baker knew. Ten minutes to light colour implies a hot oven, 425 to 450F — a lower heat will dry the rolls out before they take colour.
- The shapingThis is the croissant cut: a six-inch band of thin dough divided into long narrow triangles, rolled up from the wide base. The recipe has the point of the triangle finishing at the centre of the roll; roll firmly enough to seal and set the tip down so the roll does not unwind in the oven. No curving into crescents is directed.
- Brush before, not afterThe melted lard or butter goes on before the final half-hour rise, which keeps the surface supple while it proves. Lard gives a crisper, more shattering crust; butter gives more flavour and browns faster.
- YieldThe recipe does not say; it depends on how narrow the triangles are cut. Like most yeast rolls they are best eaten the day they are baked.
The whole category of Vienna bread — light, well-fermented, thin-crusted — became a fixation of American and British bakers after the Austrian exhibits at the international expositions of the 1870s, the Vienna Bakery at Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial being the display usually credited with the craze. What was admired was less the shape than the method: pressed yeast rather than barm or homemade leaven, a milk-enriched sponge, and steam-baked crusts.