Bread for the History Lover

Learn about this recipe from our Historic Foodways staff, then try it at home.

During these difficult times, many of us find ourselves spending much more time than usual at home. Maybe you enjoy working in your sweatpants or you are now starting to get the hang of homeschooling your children. Whatever situation you may be in we all have at least one thing in common, we need to eat. And usually that means trips to the grocery store. But what if we told you that you could check one thing off your shopping list? Are you intrigued yet?

Hannah Glasse’s cookbook “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy” has been in print for over 200 years. Her book is just one of the many that are used daily in the Palace Kitchen at Colonial Williamsburg. An 18th-century cookbook used in an 18th-century kitchen translates very well. However, the language and measurements may prove more difficult to transition into the 21st century. Never fear, the Historic Foodways staff has converted many 18th-century recipes for our guests to try at home. So, don’t worry if you don’t have a brick oven. This bread recipe is meant to be baked in a modern kitchen.

The connections between our modern world and the 18th-century are numerous. People live, they have families, they eat. Some are wealthier than others, and that impacts what they eat. But in the 18th century, whether you were the royal governor of Virginia or a poor farmer, bread was an important staple in the diet. The type of bread and amount of bread in one's diet might vary. The gentry preferred refined white flour for use in their bread while the lower classes relied on whole wheat flour. The importance of bread could be seen in the standardization of price at markets and the regulation of the sale of flour. Though recipes and techniques may change, one thing remains constant: the love of bread!

Learn how we make this recipe in our kitchens based on the 18th-century description below, then use our 21st-century translation to try the recipe at home!

18th Century

Take three quarts of water, and one of milk; in winter scalding hot, in summer a little more than milk warm; season it well with salt, then take a pint and a half of good ale yeast not bitter, lay it in a gallon of water the night before, pour it off the water, stir in your yeast into the milk and water, then with your hand break in a little more than a quarter of a pound of butter, work it well till it is dissolved, then beat up two eggs in a bason, and stir them in; have about a peck and a half of flour, mix it with your liquor; in winter make your dough pretty stiff, in summer more slack: so that you may use a little more or less flour, according to the stiffness of your dough: mix it well, but the less you work the better: make it into rolls, and have a very quick oven. When they have lain about a quarter of an hour, turn them on the other side, let them lie about a quarter longer, and then take them out and chip all your French bread with a knife which is better than rasping it, and make it look spungy and of a fine yellow, whereas the rasping takes off all that fine colour, and makes it look too smooth. You must stir your liquor into the flour as you do for the pie-crust. After your dough is made, cover it with a cloth, and let it lie to rise while the oven is heating.

21st Century

Ingredients

The Dough

• 6 c. flour (unbleached all purpose)
• 3 eggs
• ½ c. butter, one stick (room temperature)
• 1 ¼ c. milk
• 2 packages of dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. sugar

The Filling

• 4 oz. currants (fresh or dried currants that have been plumped in warm water and drained)
• 4 oz. brown sugar mixed with 1 ½ oz. white sugar
• 4 oz. softened butter
• 2 Tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)
• grated peel of 1 lemon (optional)

The Glaze

• 1 c. Sugar
• ½ c. Milk

Instructions

1. Put your flour in a large mixing bowl. Work the butter into the flour thoroughly with your hands so that it is absorbed by the flour. In a separate bowl whip your eggs thoroughly.
2. To the eggs add the sugar, salt, milk (warm, not hot) and the dry yeast. Blend all of these ingredients well.
3. Pour egg mixture into the flour/butter and mix with a wooden spoon until it comes together. Knead it with your hands until it becomes similar to bread dough. If it is a little soft, add a little flour to stiffen it some and to keep it from sticking to the bowl.
4. Cover with a warm damp cloth and set it aside in a warm place to let it proof (rise) about an hour. In the meantime have your currants, butter and sugar put into small bowls to have ready for the filling of the dough.
5. After the dough has risen you are ready to roll out the dough and put in the filling. Start by flouring your work surface so the dough doesn’t stick to it.
6. Gently punch the dough down to let out the air and work it into a ball. Roll it out into a rectangle approximately 18″ to 20″ inches by 12″ to 14″ inches and around a ½ inch thick. Lightly score the dough vertically to create three equal sections.
7. With a table knife, spread half of your softened butter on the left two sections leaving the right section uncovered. Evenly sprinkle half of the sugar over the butter and then half of the currants evenly over that. Add half of the cinnamon, if you choose to use it, over that.
8. Gently lift the right third of the dough and fold it over the center third and gently press it down. Now take those two and gently fold it over onto the left third and press down gently. You now have a rectangle one third the size you started with but three times as thick.
9. Lightly flour your work surface again and center your dough so that it looks like a rectangle again. Roll the dough out as you did before until it is as large as the rectangle size we started with. Now repeat the filling steps, but this time, spread the butter/sugar/currants/cinnamon and lemon peel (if you choose) over the whole surface. Once you’ve done that, start at the edge of the dough closest to you and proceed to roll the dough up into a pinwheel log, sealing the last half inch or so with a little water. The log should be around two inches in diameter.
10. Now take a medium sharp knife and proceed to cut the buns from one end of the “log” to the other at about an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half for each one. Lay them flat side down on a baking sheet no farther than an inch apart. As they rise in a warm place for about a half hour to forty-five minutes they should touch each other.
11. Bake them at about 375° for about 25 minutes or so (depending on the thickness of the buns). Do not bake them too long, they are to be soft not firm and should be rather square in shape. They shouldn’t be dark brown but rather light in color.
12. For the glaze, add the milk to the sugar and gently heat it, stirring until you blend the two together. Lightly spoon the glaze over each bun. This glaze is not to be like an icing but rather a thin glaze to enhance to bun’s flavor. Cool and enjoy.

Resources

Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (London, 1796), 351-352.

Lorena S. Walsh, Provisioning Early American Towns. The Chesapeake: A Multidisciplinary Case Study (Williamsburg, 1997), The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 83-84.