15th C fried dough.
Take flour, water, saffron, sugar and salt, and make fine paste thereof, and fair thin cakes; and cut them like losenges and fry them in fine oil, and serve them forth hot in a dish in lenten time. – Two Fifteenth Century p. 97/74
Version I Used
This version is found on Master Cariadoc’s page. I could not improve on this recipe and used it as is.
- 2 c flour
- 1/2 c water
- a pinch of saffron
- 1/2 c sugar
- 1/2 t salt
- oil for frying
Boil saffron in water to extract color and flavor, put in a bowl and mix in sugar and salt, add flour and mix lightly until moistened. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a frying pan. Roll out dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut in small diamonds, fry a few at a time since they cook very quickly.
Sources
Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55 / edited by Thomas Austin