There have been hot debates about the origins of the humble doughnut with both the Americans and Dutch vying for creator-ship of this tasty snack. Well they can both stop fighting now because according to Daily Mail Online, historians have unearthed the secret country from which doughnuts actually had originated from - England! A recipe for "dow nuts" was recorded in Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale's recipe book in 1800 - that is nearly 50 years earlier than the recipe by American Hanson Gregory who said he created the doughnut in 1847 whilst serving on a ship at the tender age of 16. An interesting piece of trivia - Baroness Dimsdale's husband, Baron Thomas Dimsdale was the pioneer of smallpox.
If you want to bake the original recipe, see below:
BARONESS DIMSDALE'S RECIPE
Ingredients:
A quarter of a Peck of Flower / A pound of moist Sugar / 10 Eggs (Yolks & Whites) / One Nutmeg (grated) / 3/4 of a pound of fresh butter / A quarter of a pint of Yeast.
Technique:
Reference: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2475513/Doughnuts-British-invention-according-historians-unearthed-invented-English-upper-classes.html#ixzz34uTQqfOw
However, if you are like me and could do without the extra calories then why not crochet one of these yummy treats to hang on your handbag as eye candy instead? :)
If you want to bake the original recipe, see below:
BARONESS DIMSDALE'S RECIPE
Ingredients:
A quarter of a Peck of Flower / A pound of moist Sugar / 10 Eggs (Yolks & Whites) / One Nutmeg (grated) / 3/4 of a pound of fresh butter / A quarter of a pint of Yeast.
Technique:
- First melt the Butter over the fire in Milk; skim the Butter off.
- Mix the Sugar and Nutmeg with the Flour, making a hole in it at the Top.
- Strain the Eggs and Yeast mixed together through a Sieve into the Flour; then put the Butter skimmed off the Milk into it also, with as much of the Milk as necessary to make it into a paste.
- Let it stand by the fire half an hour to rise, throwing a Cloth over it. Then roll it out thick or thin as you like, cutting it into nuts with a jagging Iron.
- Throw them into some Hogs-lard almost boiling hot; if quite boiling they are likely to be black and if it does not near boil, they will be greasy. Stir them with a skimmer with holes.
- Take them out with it, put them in a Cullender but do not put the hot ones to the cold, or they will be heavy.
- The thinner the Paste is rolled, the lighter and more crisp it will be.
- A little Sugar should be first put to the yeast and a little Milk, and set it by the fire an hour to rise.
Reference: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2475513/Doughnuts-British-invention-according-historians-unearthed-invented-English-upper-classes.html#ixzz34uTQqfOw
However, if you are like me and could do without the extra calories then why not crochet one of these yummy treats to hang on your handbag as eye candy instead? :)
mini_doughnut.pdf |