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Moravian Sugar Cake

Source of Recipe

From "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking" by Jean Anderson


Recipe Introduction

"'Cake' is a misnomer, for this is a delicate yeast bread dimpled with melted butter and brown sugar. I buy it whenever I go to Old Salem, a faithfully restored Moravian town on the south side of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Sugar cake is still baked at the 200-year-old Winkler Bakery there, and I've watched the staff, in period dress, knead and shape the dough. Sugar cake is also served for breakfast at the nearby Brookstown Inn, an old cotton mill given new life as a luxury bed-and-breakfast."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ One ¼-ounce package active dry yeast
â—¦ ¼ cup granulated sugar
â—¦ ½ cup very warm water (105° to 115° F)
â—¦ ¼ cup firmly packed mashed potatoes, at room temperature
â—¦ 1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder
â—¦ ½ teaspoon salt
â—¦ ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
â—¦ 1 large egg, at room temperature
â—¦ 2 ¼ to 2 ½ cups unsifted all-purpose flour
â—¦ â…“ cup firmly packed light brown sugar mixed with ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon


Recipe

Generously spritz a 15 x 10 x 1-inch jelly-roll pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. By hand, combine the yeast, ½ teaspoon of the sugar, and ¼ cup of the warm water in a large electric mixer bowl and let stand for 5 minutes or until the yeast activates and the mixture froths.

Add the remaining sugar and the remaining water, the potatoes, dry milk, salt, ¼ cup of the melted butter, the egg, and ½ cup of the flour. Beat at low speed just long enough to combine, raise the mixer speed to high, and beat for about 2 minutes or until satiny. With the mixer at low speed, add 1 ½ cups of the remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, and continue beating after each addition to incorporate.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for about 2 minutes, working in the remaining ¼ to ½ cup flour until you have a soft, workable dough. With well-buttered hands, pat the dough over the bottom of the jelly-roll pan, stretching and pushing to the edge and into the corners. Brush the dough with 1 tablespoon of the remaining melted butter, then set the uncovered pan in a warm, draft-free spot for about 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Toward the end of rising, preheat the oven to 375° F.

When the dough is fully risen, poke deep holes all over the surface with your fingers, scatter the brown sugar mixture evenly over all, then drizzle with the remaining butter. Again set uncovered in a warm, draft-free spot, this time for 10 to 15 minutes or until the dough has risen as high as the rim of the pan.

Bake the sugar cake on the middle oven shelf for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned and springy-firm to the touch. Remove from the oven, cool in the upright pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, then cut into large squares and serve.

Makes 12 servings