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Roly-Poly
M.
Take one quart of flour ; make good biscuit crust; roll out one-half inch thick and spread with any kind of fruit, fresh or preserved; fold so that the fruit will not run out; dip cloth into boiling water, and flour it and lay around the pudding closely, leaving room to swell; steam one or one and one-half hours; serve with boiled sauce; or lay in steamer without a cloth, and steam for one hour.
A steamed suet-free pudding built on baking-powder biscuit dough. The recipe assumes you know how to rig a pudding cloth and what "boiled sauce" means; both need a word.
- A quart of flourFlour was measured by volume in bulk: one quart is roughly 4 cups, about 1 lb or 450 g. Expect to need around 1 to 1 1/4 cups of milk and 4 to 6 tablespoons of fat to bring it together as a soft biscuit dough.
- "Good biscuit crust"This means a chemically leavened dough — flour, baking powder (or saleratus and sour milk in older books), salt, fat cut in, milk to bind — not a pastry crust and not a yeast dough. Handle it as little as possible; an overworked dough steams heavy.
- The pudding clothScalding the cloth and then flouring it is the hinge of the whole thing. The wet flour forms a skin that keeps steam from soaking into the dough, and a dry or unfloured cloth will give you a wet, pasty crust.
- Room to swellWrap loosely and tie loosely, as the recipe directs. The dough expands as it steams; a tight cloth gives a dense pudding with a split seam and fruit juice in the steamer water.
- Sealing the fruit inFresh fruit throws far more liquid than preserves. Toss juicy fruit with a spoonful or two of flour or cornstarch before rolling, and leave a clear border so the fold can be pinched shut.
- Steaming timeThe recipe allows one to one and a half hours for the wrapped pudding and one hour for the cloth-free version in a steamer; err towards the longer time for a thick, well-filled roll. Keep the water at a steady boil and top it up with boiling water so the steam never stops.
- Boiled sauceIn this period that is a sweet pouring sauce thickened on the stove — sugar, water or milk, a little flour or cornstarch, butter, and flavouring — not a reduction of alcohol. Hard sauce (butter creamed with sugar) is the usual alternative.
- YieldA quart of flour makes a substantial roll; figure six to eight servings. Cut it in thick slices across the roll while hot, since the crust firms considerably as it cools.
The roly-poly belongs to the long British tradition of boiled and steamed puddings, which survived in North American kitchens well past the point where ovens were reliable o guguesswork about heat.