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Coffee Cakes, US Army, 1943

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  Coffee Cakes, US Army, 1943   As promised in my last post, here are some variations on the US Army's "Basic Sweet Dough for Sweet Rolls and Coffee Cakes". You will need to prepare the basic sweet dough recipe from my last post, "Cinnamon Rolls, US Army, 1943". These are old-fashioned coffee cakes, not overly sweet as is the case with many pastries nowadays. They are quite simple: the dough is rolled out, covered with a topping, proofed and baked. You can either make one large coffee cake, or divide the dough in half and make both types. The examples in the photos below were each scaled for one-half of the basic sweet dough recipe and used a quarter-sheet pan (13” x 9”, 33 x 23 cm).   Do not exceed the proof time for either of these coffee cakes. If proofed for too long, the weight of the topping will cause the cake to fall. The finished coffee cakes can be served plain, with icing, or dusted with powdered sugar.     Fruit coffee cake (left), Streussel coffee c...
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Cinnamon Rolls, US Army, 1943

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       The US Army's approach to preparing many types of pastries was to use what was designated as the "Basic Dough for Sweet Rolls and Coffee Cakes". A rich, sweet yeast dough, it was simple to prepare, adaptable to field use (canned lard or shortening, powdered eggs, powdered milk and dry yeast could be utilized) and versatile. Many types of  sweet rolls, coffee cakes and donuts could be produced from the basic recipe.   In this post I will demonstrate how to make cinnamon rolls. I will post coffee cake recipes within the next few days, using the same sweet dough recipe. The basic sweet dough recipe is scaled for 12-13 soldiers, with about 25% overage. If that's too large a scale, the recipe can be halved. However, this is one of the tastiest historical recipes that I have made yet. The only complaint I received about the cinnamon rolls is that there should have been more. The baked cinnamon rolls freeze quite well, and can be quickly reheated in a ...
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