Pierre: Soul Cake song & custom

YEAST SOULE CAKES

'Three pounds flour, quarter pound butter (or half pound if the cakes are to be extra rich) half pound sugar, two spoonsful of yeast, two eggs, allspice to taste, and sufficient new milk to make it into a light paste. Put the mixture (without the sugar or spice) to rise before the fire for half an hour, then add the sugar, and allspice enough to flavour it well; make into rather flat buns, and bake.'

This is the recipe of Mrs. Mary Ward, who is known to be the last person who kept up the old custom of giving 'Soul Cakes' at Pulverbatch. She died in 1853 at the age of 101.


Shropshire Cookery Book, compiled by the Shropshire Federation of Women's Institutes, c. 1955

Quoted by Elizabeth David, English Bread & Yeast Cookery, 1977

METHOD

Like a lot of old recipes, this one presupposes that we already know how to manage yeast doughs. This is what I do:

3 pounds strong white flour - that's bread flour

2 eggs

about a pint of milk

4 ozs caster sugar - I find half a pound is a bit much and can make the dough sticky

A heaped tablespoon of ground allspice (not mixed spice)

Yeast: I'd use a double sachet of fast action yeast for this amount of flour. You mix it dry into the flour; you don't have to put it in water and wait for it to come to life before using it.

Milk: beat the eggs with a fork and add enough milk to make a pint and a half of liquid. The milk should be lukewarm, not cold from the fridge, or the yeast won't get going.

Rub the butter into the flour. Mix flour, yeast and egg & milk to make a soft but not sticky dough. Add the last quarter pint of liquid gradually as you may not need it all. It should feel like Playdough. Knead it on a floured work surface until smooth.

Put it in a big bowl sprinkled with flour and cover it loosely with a plastic bag. Leave it in a warm place such as an airing cupboard to rise for 60-90 minutes; it should double in size as the yeast works. This is the first rising.

When it's doubled, put the dough on a floured work surface, sprinkle on the sugar and spice and knead it thoroughly again to mix them in. You might need to add a bit more flour if it goes sticky. Divide it up into 24- 36 lumps.

Heavily grease a couple of large baking trays. Roll the lumps of dough into balls - you can do one in each hand - and then flatten them slightly. Put a dozen on each tray, well spaced out as they should spread and rise.

Mix a tablespoon of milk with a tablespoon of flavourless oil such as sunflower oil and brush the buns with it. Turn on the oven to 200 deg C and put a couple of shelves in the middle. Keep the buns in a warm place while the oven heats up. They will take about half an hour to double in size - this is their second rising - by which time they are ready to cook. Be guided by the size of the buns, not by the time the oven has reached the temperature set. Brush them with the mixture again, then cook them for the first five minutes at 200 deg. C. Then turn the oven down to 180 deg C and cook them for a further fifteen minutes. Don't open the oven door while they are cooking.

When they are done they should be lightly brown and should sound hollow if you tap them on the base. Give them a few more minutes if necessary. Put them on a rack to cool. You can eat them as they are, or split and buttered.