French Rolls

This recipe comes from the mid-18th century baking notes of Elizabeth Langley, dating to 1757, a period when refined white bread and rolls were a true delicacy—especially in England, where ‘French rolls’ were a fashionable import. Recipes like these bridge the gap between domestic cookery and the rise of professional bakeries in urban centers. The method captures the transition from hearth-side baking, using live yeast and gentle handwork, to the lighter, whiter breads that became increasingly desirable among the upper middle classes. At this time, ingredients such as fresh yeast, rich milk, and plentiful eggs were signs of affluence and the power of the hostess to impress her guests. The recipe embodies the era's enthusiasm for continental breads, and its careful, lightly enriched dough is typical of early English adoption of French baking techniques.

Back in the 18th century, this recipe would have required simple but sturdy kitchen tools: a large wooden trencher (bowl) for mixing and kneading the dough, a fire-heated oven (or hearth with a baking pot and coals), wooden spoons, and perhaps a linen cloth to cover the dough as it rose. The milk would be warmed in a metal pot over the hearth, and the rolls might have been baked on flat stones or sturdy baking sheets, set close to or inside the glowing embers of a wood-fired bread oven. No stand mixers here—kneading was done by hand, relying on well-practiced touch and a keen sense for dough texture as it developed.