ROLLS AND QUICKBREADS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 432, 3 October 1947, Page 22

ROLLS AND QUICKBREADS

AST week our rolls and ‘fancy bread were made with baking powder. This week we will consider those with yeast. Many people are diffident about using yeast. They think it takes such a long time, and are nervous about the quantity to use, and whether to use compressed or dried yeast. The American recipes using yeast read so invitingly, and the illustrations of the rolls and pastries made from them look so alluring, that people are attracted and anxious to try them; but the recipes usually say "one cake" or "two cakes" of yeast; and we do not know what weight those cakes are-whether larger or smaller than our own, There is really no need to worry, because no harm can result from using a little more or a little less. The chief difference will be in the length of time it takes the article to rise. Most recipes say to let the mixture rise till doubled in bulk, and also give the time this should take-perhaps 30 minutes. If you find that your mixture has reached the required size in 15 minutes you will know at you. have had too much yeast, or have set it in’ too warm a place. Even then, your mixture would not be wasted, but would be a bit holey and the texture not so good; and you would know exactly what to do next time. Experience is an excellent teacher. Dried Yeast This is very convefient to use, because it is easier to keep in the house than the compressed, although the latter makes beautiful bread. All yeast must be kept in as cool a place as possible, and the fact that dried yeast is packed in dark glass jars is an intimation that it should not be kept in the light. A heaped tablespoon of dried yeast weighs about an ounce, and equals 1% level tablespoons of compressed yeast. The date of packing is given on the dried yeast jars. As it gets older you need to use a little more. Temperature: Use lukewarm liquid for yeast (about 84deg.). Hot water will kill yeast. Quantity: Roughly speaking, about Yoz. yeast to lb. flour. Bath Buns (Yorkshire) Cream loz. yeast and ¥/20z. sugar well together. Add about % pint lukewarm milk. Rub 3o0z. butter (or other shortening) into 130z. flour and make into a dough with the milk and yeast, adding 1 beaten egg. Allow tq rise % hour | in warm (but not hot) place; then. work into the dough 20z. of chopped candied peel and 2oz. sugar. Make into round, buns, put on greased sheet, brush with beaten egg (or milk), dredge with a little sugar, and "prove" (which means, set to rise in a warm place) for 15 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes (approximately) in hot oven (about 425deg.). A handful of raisins may be added if desired, © Parker House Rolls is Most people have read about the famous Parker House rolls. The Parker House is an old-established hotel in Boston, very conservative, very "Bostonian."

It seemed to me, when I lunched there, that the distinctive feature about the Rolls was their appearance — for all American rolls and "hot breads" seemed equally delicious-so light and crisp. But the special Parker House roll shape is got by cutting out the dough in halfinch thick rounds, about 2%4in. diameter; dipping a knife blade in flour, and, with the blunt edge, lightly creasing each round across a little to one side of the centre; brushing over with mejted butter (or substitute nowadays), and then folding the larger half over the smaller / from the crease, pressing the edges together. Here is the recipe: To 2 cups of scalded milk add 3 tablespoons of butter (or other shortening), 2 tablespoons sugar, and. 142 teaspoons salt. When lukewarm add loz. yeast dissolved in 44 cup tepid water. Then beat in 3 cups flour. Cover and let rise in warm place till spongy. Then add flour to knead, and let rise again. Toss on a floured board and roll out to 1-3 or 14-inch in thickness. Cut into rounds, brush with melted shortening and crease across with floured knife and a little to right of the centre, as described above. Fold over and press edges together. Place on greased tray one inch apart. Let rise until double in size. Bake in hot oven (about 400deg.) from 15 to 20 minutes. Take out and brush with melted butter while hot. Orange Marmalade Bread Half a cup each of water and milk; 2 tablespoons shortening; 34 teaspoon salt; loz. yeast; 4% cup lukewarm water;.442 cups sifted flour; 3% cup thick matmalade; 1 egg yolk. Heat the water and milk mixed. together to boiling point, and pour it over the shortening and salt in a mixing bowl. Crumble the yeast and dissolve it in the lukewarm water; add to the cooled mixture in the bowl. Add enough of the flour to this mixture to make a stiff batter, and beat until smooth. Stir the marmalade with the egg-yolk and add; add also the remaining flour, until the dough is stiff enough to handle easily on a floured board. Knead until smooth and soft. Place in an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until. doubled in size-perhaps 3 hours. Knead again on floured board, and shape into a loaf in an oiled loaf tin. Cover and let rise again until doubled in size. Bake in a moderate: oven (about 375deg.) about 50 minutes. Brush over crust with melted butter while hot. : a ' 7 a