Good Things in England - A Practical Cookery Book for Everyday Use, Containing Traditional and Regional Recipes Suited to Modern Tastes. Florence White
all in.
8.Roll out tolerably thin.
9.Make up into any shape you please (they are, says the recipe, usually made into large round cakes, crossed so as to be easily divided into quarters).
10.When made up put them on tin plates.
11.Set them before the fire.
12.Or place them in front of the oven till they rise again.
13.Then bake in a quick oven.
N.B. — Dough will rise quite well on the rack of a gas stove or in front of a gas oven.
Scarborough Muffins
From the manuscript of Miss Wettin, the celebrated London confectioner. (Lent by Lady Gomme, President of the English Folk Cookery Association.)
I
INGREDIENTS: Eggs 2; skim milk 1 pt. (16 oz.); new yeast 2 tablespoonfuls (compressed yeast 1 oz.) flour 1/4 peck (3 1/2 lb.); a little salt.
TIME: about 1 hour to rise and 20 minutes to bake.
METHOD
1.Make milk lukewarm.
2.Beat in the yeast, which must first be creamed with a little sugar in the usual manner if using compressed yeast.
3.Beat up the eggs and blend them with the milk and yeast.
4.Mix the salt with the flour.
5.Lightly blend with the milk, etc.
6.Knead well together.
7.Let it stand half an hour before the fire.
8.Then cut it into cakes.
9.And put them for a short time before the fire to rise.
10.Then put them in a hot oven.
N.B.—Yeast cakes can of course be used instead of either new yeast or compressed yeast (see p. 63).
II
To Make Scarborough Muffins
COMMONLY CALLED FRENCH ROLLS
Miss Bludworth’s receipt; same MS. book.
INGREDIENTS: Flour 2 quarts; (1 3/4 lb.); new milk 1 pint (16 oz); eggs 2 or 3; yeast 2 tablespoonfuls (or compressed yeast 1 oz.); a little salt.
TIME: to rise 1/2 hour.
METHOD
1.Dry the flour well and mix in the salt.
2.Warm the milk.
3.Stir in the yeast.
4.Beat the eggs and add them to the milk, etc.
5.Blend this with the flour using the hand.
6.Cut it round into cakes.
7.And let it stand half an hour at the fire.
8.Then put them in a hot oven.
N.B.—These are excellent breakfast rolls.
How to Serve Muffins
‘A pikelet, I believe,’ writes Mr. Dupuis Brown in 1931, ‘is only the Yorkshire term for “crumpet.” But I should like to draw attention to the old method of toasting the muffin in the North of England, slightly opening its joint all round before toasting it both front and back; then tearing it open and buttering the inside halves liberally. I have seen them served this way in some of the London Clubs, but in all the teashops where I have ordered muffins it was toasted on the inside, thus causing it to be tough, leathery and indigestible.’
(Muffins are served in the correct manner at the National Liberal Club, London.)
Recipe for Muffins, 1826
INGREDIENTS: Flour 2 1/2 lb.; water 1 pint (16 oz.); milk 1/2 pint and 1/2 a gill (or 10 liquid ounces altogether); salt 1/2 oz.; sugar 1/4 oz.; compressed yeast 1 oz.
TIME: 2 hours to rise and ‘prove.’ Time to bake, 8 to 10 minutes.
METHOD
Make into a very soft dough,
1.By mixing the flour and salt together.
2.Creaming the yeast with the sugar.
3.Mixing the water and milk to a lukewarm temperature.
4.Use to mix flour.
5.Knead the dough well.
6.Place in a warm place for 1 hour to rise.
7.Then knead again very well indeed, dipping the hands from time to time in warm water to keep them as free from the dough as possible.
8.Leave to rise again for half an hour.
9.Then fill a wooden baker’s tray or lid of wooden box with flour to about one inch deep, warm it, make holes in the flour about 2 inches across.
10.Drop about 2 1/2 oz. of the soft dough into each and leave to prove for another half hour.
11.Then carefully lift off each one on to a moderately warm girdle or iron plate – a strong thick frying-pan will do, putting the side that was on top on the girdle first.
12.When this is cooked, turn the muffin and cook the other side.
13.When properly cooked they should be about 3 inches across and about 2 inches thick.
14.Some people bake these in rings but this is not so satisfactory.
Oatmeal Cakes, 1826
‘These are made in the same way as muffins, only substituting fine oatmeal for flour; bake them the same, and observe never to use a knife for either, as that will make them heavy and spoil them; but scotch them round the waist, and when toasted crisp on both sides pull them open with the thumb and finger, and they will appear like a honeycomb; put in as much butter as is requisite; close and set them before the fire; when the butter is melted on one side, turn them that it may spread on the other; only use a knife to cut them across.’
Sally Lunn’s Cake
VERY GOOD
From Miss Wettin’s manuscript.
INGREDIENTS: The finest flour 1 lb.; eggs 3 yolks and 2 whites; good small beer yeast (or its equivalent 1 oz. in compressed yeast) 3 large tablespoonfuls; good rich cream (or evaporated milk) 1/2 pint (8oz.); a little salt; warm water sufficient to make into dough; butter half a pound, to spread on the cake.
TIME: to rise about 1 1/2 hours, to bake 15 minutes.
METHOD
1.Beat the eggs and strain them.
2.If using compressed yeast cream it with sugar.
3.Then whisk the eggs up well with the yeast and cream.
4.And as much warm water as will lightly wet the flour and all the above ingredients well together.
5.With a light hand add a little salt.
6.Before you knead it, set it before the fire to rise for about 1 1/2 hours.
7.Make up the dough into a thick flat round cake like a batch loaf.
8.Put it into a hot oven.
9.Bake it for about half an hour, but keep your eye on it as it may be done before.
10.When