1 Pint of milk.1 Saltspoon of salt.1¼ Cups of sugar.Yolks of three eggs.1 Pint of milk or cream.1 Teaspoon of rose-water.2 Tablespoons of wine or brandy.
Make a soft custard with the first four ingredients, according to the rule onpage 195. When done, strain it into a granite-ware pan and let it cool. Then add the flavoring and the remaining pint of milk or cream, and freeze.
1 Tablespoon of gelatine.1 Pint of boiling water.1 Cup of sugar⅓ Cup of lemon-juice.1 Tablespoon of brandy.
Soak the gelatine (Plymouth Rock or Nelson's) in a little cold water forhalf an hour. Then pour over it the boiling water, stirring until the gelatine is dissolved; add the sugar, lemon-juice, and brandy, and strain all through a fine wire strainer. Freeze.
Nelson's gelatine and the Plymouth Rock or phosphated gelatine are the best to use for sherbets and water-ices, because they have a delicate flavor, and lack the strong, fishy taste which characterizes some kinds. The phosphated gelatine should, however, never be used except when a slight acidity will do no harm. Avoid it for all dishes made with cream or milk, as it will curdle them. The directions on the packages advise neutralizing the acid with soda; but, as there is no means of determining the amount of acid in a given quantity, it is not a process that recommends itself to an intelligent person.
Phosphated gelatine may, however, be used in sherbets even when milk or cream forms a part of them, for when it is added to a slightly acid mixture which has a low temperature, or is partially frozen, curdling does not take place.
1 Pint of boiling water.1 Cup of sugar.⅓ Cup of lemon-juice.
Boil the water and sugar together without stirring for twenty minutes. You will thus obtain a thin sugar syrup, which, however, has enough viscousness to entangle and hold air when beaten. As soon as it is cool, add the lemon-juice, strain, and freeze it. This makes a snow-white sherbet of very delicate flavor. Lemon sherbet may also be made with water, sugar, lemon-juice, and the whites of eggs well beaten, instead of with gelatine or syrup.
1 Tablespoon of gelatine.1 Cup of boiling water.1 Cup of sugar.1 Cup of orange-juice.Juice of one lemon.2 Tablespoons of brandy.
Soak the gelatine in just enough cold water to moisten it, for half an hour. Then pour over it the cup of boiling water, and put in the other ingredients in the order in which they are written; when the sugar is dissolved, strain all through a fine wire strainer, and freeze it.
To get Orange-juice.Peel the oranges, cut them in small pieces, quarters or eighths, put them into a jelly-bag or napkin, and press out the juice with thehand. By this means the oil of the rind, which has a disagreeable flavor, is excluded.
1 Quart of apricots.1 Quart of water.½ Quart of sugar.3 Tablespoons of brandy.
Either fresh or canned apricots may be used for this ice. If fresh ones are chosen, wash and wipe them carefully, cut them into small pieces, mash them with a potato-masher until broken and soft, and add the water, sugar, and brandy; then freeze. The treatment is the same if canned fruit be used. This ice may be made without the brandy, but it is a valuable addition, especially for the sick.
Peaches, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, and in fact any soft, well-flavored fruit may be made into water-ice by following exactly the above rule, except, of course, substituting the different kinds of fruits for the apricots, and possibly varying the sugar. If pineapple is selected, it should be chopped quite fine, and quickly, so that the knife will not discolor it. Peaches should be pared, and strawberries and raspberries carefully washed. All of these ices are delicious, and most wholesome and grateful in very warm weather, or for feverish conditions when fruit is allowed. If there is a question about seeds, as might be the case in using strawberries, strain the fruit through a coarse wire strainer after it is mashed; it is advisable to do this always in making strawberry, raspberry, or pineapple ice.
Select fair, sound, tart apples. Wash and wipe them, and cut out the cores with an apple-corer, being careful to remove everything that is not clear pulp. Sometimes the tough husk which surrounds the seeds extends farther than the instrument will reach with once cutting; this can be detected by looking into the apple, and removing with the point of the corer anything that remains. If there are dark blotches or battered places on the outside of the apple, cut them off. Everything of that kind is valueless as food, and injures the flavor of that which is good.
When they are prepared place the apples in an earthen baking dish (granite-ware will do), put a teaspoon of sugar and half an inch of dried lemon-peel, or fresh peel cut very thin, into each hole, pour boiling water into the dish until it is an inch deep, and bake in a moderately hot oven; when the skins begin to shrink and the apples are perfectly soft all the way through, they are done; then take them from the oven, arrange them in a glass dish, and pour around them the syrupy juice that is left.
The time for baking varies, according to the species of apple, from half an hour to two hours. They should be basted once or twice during the time with the water which is around them. It will nearly all evaporate while they are baking. If the apples are Baldwins, or Greenings, or any others of fine flavor, the lemon-peelmay be omitted. Stick cinnamon may be used instead of lemon-peel for apples which are not quite sour.
Prepare sweet apples according to the foregoing rule, except use a fourth of a square inch of cinnamon instead of the lemon-peel, and half a teaspoon of sugar for each apple. Sweet apples require two or three hours' baking. They should be cooked until perfectly soft, and until the juice which oozes out becomes gelatinous. Serve cold with sweet cream. Cooked apples are an excellent addition to a diet. They contain acids and salts of great value.
Pare and quarter three slightly sour apples. Put them into a saucepan with a cup of water and two tablespoons of sugar, and stew gently until they are soft, but not broken. Each piece should be whole, but soft and tender. A tablespoon of lemon-juice put in just before they are taken from the fire is a good addition to make if the apples are poor in flavor; or, lemon-peel may be used, and also cinnamon and cloves.
Wash and wipe some fair, well-flavored apples (not sweet). Core them with an apple-corer (not a knife), being careful not to leave in any of the hulls, which sometimes penetrate far into the fruit; pare them evenly, so that they will be smooth and of good shape. Then boil them gently, in water enough to just reachtheir tops, with a square inch or two of thin lemon-peel, and a teaspoon of sugar for each apple, until they are soft, but not broken, watching them carefully toward the last part of the cooking, lest they go to pieces. When done lift them out into a glass dish, reduce the water by further boiling until it is somewhat syrupy, and set it aside to cool. Fill the holes with apple, grape, or any bright-colored jelly, and when the syrup is cold pour it over and around the apples.
1 Pint of prunes.1½ Pints of water.¼ Cup of sugar.2 Tablespoons of lemon-juice.
Soak the prunes in warm water for fifteen minutes, to soften the dust and dirt on the outside. Then wash them carefully with the fingers, rejecting those that feel granular (they are worm-eaten); stew them gently in the sugar and water in a covered saucepan for two hours. Just before taking them from the fire put in the lemon-juice. They should be plump, soft, and tender to the stone. As the water evaporates the amount should be restored, so that there will be as much at the end as at the beginning of the cooking. French prunes may not require quite so long time for cooking as most ordinary kinds.
Pick out the soft and decayed ones from a quantity of Cape cranberries; measure a pint, and put withithalfthe bulk of sugar, andone fourththe bulk of water. Stew the berries ten minutes without stirring, counting the time from the moment when they are actually bubbling. Done in this way, the skins will be tender, and the juice on cooling will form a delicate jelly. Or, the fruit may be pressed through a soup-strainer and the whole made into jelly.
Take any small quantity of grapes. Wash them by dipping each bunch several times in water, unless you know that they have been gathered and handled by clean hands. Separate the skins from the pulps by squeezing each grape between the fingers and thumb. Cook the pulps about five minutes, or until soft and broken. Cook the skins for the same length of time in a separate saucepan, then press the pulps through a strainer into them, until there is nothing left but the seeds. Measure the mixture, and for each measure, pint or cup, as the case may be, add half a measure of sugar, and simmer for five minutes. Many invalids who cannot eat grapes uncooked, on account of the seeds, may take them stewed in this way. More or less than the above amount of sugar may be used, according to the requirements of the individual.
Separate the pulps from the skins of a quantity of washed grapes. Cook each separately for a few minutes, and slowly, so as not to evaporate the juice. Press the pulps through a soup-strainer, mashing them if they are not broken, until there is nothingleft but the seeds; strain into this the juice from the skins, mashing and squeezing out all that is possible. Measure the mixture, and for every cup add a cup of sugar. Put all into a granite-ware saucepan and boil slowly for ten or twelve minutes.
The time required for cooking depends upon the condition of the grapes. If they are very ripe, and it is late in the season, ten minutes is sufficient time to obtain a fine, delicate jelly; but if it is early in the autumn, and the fruit has not been as thoroughly changed by nature as late in the season, twelve or fifteen minutes will be required to obtain the same result. Even less than ten minutes' cooking will sometimes cause the pectin of the fruit to dissolve, which, on cooling, forms the jelly. The time required will always be variable, according to the condition of the fruit, so it is well to ascertain by experiment what number of minutes gives the desired result.
Another and important point to notice in making fruit jellies is, that if the fruit be cooked longer than is necessary to dissolve the jelly-forming substance, that is the pectin, the natural flavor of the fruit is more or less injured; consequently, if grapes which require only ten minutes' boiling are boiled for fifteen, the flavor is inferior to what it would be if they were exposed for the lesser time.
It is impossible to give a rule which shall at all times apply to the making of fruit jellies, on account of the always variable condition of the fruit. But in general, grapes, cranberries, currants, and similar fruits require a short time, while apples, crab-apples, lemons, and oranges will take from one and a half to three hours. One is therefore obliged to test the jelly at intervals by taking out a little on a saucer to cool. If it becomes firm quickly, the mixture is cooked enough; if not, one may get an idea, from the consistencywhich it has, what further cooking will be necessary.
Wash and wipe good tart apples. Cut them in quarters or, better, eighths, but do not pare them. Stew them in half their bulk of water,—that is, if you have four quarts of cut apples, put in two quarts of water,—until the skins as well as the pulp are perfectly soft. No definite time can be given, because that depends upon the kind and ripeness of the fruit. When done, turn them into a jelly-bag and drain until the juice is all out. Measure it, and for each cup add a cup of sugar, one clove, and one square inch of thin lemon-peel. Simmer gently for half an hour, then test it, to see how near the jellying-point it is, by taking out a little into a cool saucer. With some kinds of apples it will be done in that time, with others it will take an hour or more longer. When a little becomes firm on cooling, remove the whole immediately from the fire, skim it, and strain it into jars or tumblers which have been thoroughly washed in soap and water, and have been standing in boiling water for some minutes.
When the jelly is cool, pour over the surface a thin coating of melted paraffin, let it harden, then pour in another; for, as the first hardens, it may crack or shrink from the sides and leave spaces where ferments may enter; in other words, the jars need to be made air-tight—not that the air does mischief, but because it contains the organisms which, on entering the jelly, cause by their growth the various fermentative changes known to occur in fruits. The object then will be to exclude all micro-organisms.
There are other ways of sealing jelly than by theuse of paraffin, as, for instance, with paper soaked in alcohol, or coated with oil; but paraffin, if properly used, is a sure, easy, and economical means.
A wad of sterilized cotton batting, packed into the mouth of the jar or tumbler, like a stopper, is sometimes employed, but it is not as effectual as the paraffin; for that, being poured in hot, sterilizes the surface of the jelly, thus killing any organisms that may have lodged upon it during the cooling. Organisms cannot go through batting; but, though it may be properly sterilized, it cannot be packed over the jelly until it has become firm, and during the time ferments may have settled upon it. Paraffin is a most satisfactory means of preserving jelly, and the only precaution necessary in using it is to put on two layers, the second one two or three hours after the first, or when all contraction has ceased.
The two most practicable methods of making bread are with yeast, and with cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda.
Yeast is a micro-organism—an exceedingly minute form of plant life—which by its growth produces carbonic acid and alcohol. When this growth takes place in a mass of flour dough, the carbonic acid generated, in its effort to escape, puffs it up, but, owing to the viscous nature of the gluten, it is entangled and held within. Each little bubble of gas occupies a certain space. When the bread is baked, the walls around these spaces harden in the heat, and thus we get the porous loaf.
Barley, rye, and some other grains would be very useful for bread if it were not that they lack sufficient gluten to entangle enough carbonic acid to render bread made from them light.
Good bread cannot be made without good flour. There are two kinds usually to be found in market, namelybreadflour, andpastryflour. The former is prepared in such a way that it contains more gluten than the latter. In making Pastry, or St. Louis flour, as it is sometimes called, the grain is crushed in such a manner that the starch, being most easily broken, becomes finer than the gluten, and in the process of bolting some of the latter is lost. For pastry and cake this kind is best. Lacking gluten, bread madefrom it is more tender, whiter, but less nutritious than that made from so-calledbreadflour.
New Process, or bread flour may be distinguished by the "feel," which is slightly granular rather than powdery, by its yellow color, and by the fact that it does not "cake" when squeezed in the hand; while St. Louis is white, powdery, and will "cake."
The best method to pursue in buying flour is, first, to find a good dealer, upon whose advice you may rely. Next, take a sample of the flour recommended and, with a recipe which you haveprovedto be correct, try some; if the first loaf of bread is not satisfactory, try another, and then another, until you are confident that the fault lies in the flour, and not in the method of making. Finally, having found a brand of flour from which you can make yellow-white instead of snow-white bread, which has a nutty, sweet flavor, which in mixing absorbs much liquid, and does not "run" after you think you have got it stiff enough, and which feels puffy and elastic to the hand after molding, keep it; it is probably good.
Often the same flour is sold in different sections of the country under different names, so that it is impossible to recommend any special brand. Each buyer must ascertain for herself which brands in her locality are best. It is just as easy to have good bread as poor. It only requires alittlecare and alittleintelligence on the part of the housekeeper.
Having found a brand of good flour, next give your attention to yeast. In these days, when excellent compressed yeasts may be found in all markets, it is well to use them, bearing in mind that theyarecompressed, and that a very small quantity contains a great many yeast cells, and will raise bread as well, if not better, than a large amount.
Home-made liquid yeast is exceedingly easy to prepare.It simply requires a mixture of water and some material in which the plant cells will rapidly grow. Grated raw potato, cooked by pouring on boiling water, flour, and sugar form an excellent food for their propagation. A recipe for yeast will be given later.
Now we have come to the consideration of what will take place when the two, flour and yeast, are made into dough. According to some accounts of the subject, the yeast begins to act first upon the starch, converting it into sugar (glucose C6H12O6). While this is taking place there is noapparentchange, for nothing else is formed except the glucose, or sugar. Then this sugar is changed into alcohol and carbonic acid; the latter, owing to its diffusive nature, endeavors to escape, but becomes entangled in the viscous mass and swells it to several times its original bulk.
This has been the accepted explanation; it is now, however, believed not to be correct. It is thought, and I believe demonstrated, that the yeast plant lives upon sugar; that it has not the power to act directly upon starch, but that it is capable ofproducinga substance which acts upon starch to convert it into sugar.
The production of the carbonic acid is the end of desirable chemical change, and when it has been carried to a sufficient degree to fill the dough with bubbles, it should be stopped.
Kneading bread is for the purpose of distributing the gas and breaking up the large bubbles into small ones, to give the loaf a fine grain. One will immediately see that kneading before the bread is raised is a more or less useless task. Kneading is a process which should be done gently, by handling the dough with great tenderness; for if it is pressed hard againstthe molding-board, the bubbles will be worked out through the surface, and the loaf consequently less porous than if all the gas is kept in it.
The best temperature for the raising of bread (in other words, for the growing of yeast) during the first part of the process is from 70° to 75° Fahr. It may touch 80° without harm, but 90° is the limit. Above that acetic fermentation is liable to occur, and the bread becomes sour. When the bread is made into loaves, it may be placed in a very warm temperature, to rise quickly if it is intended for immediate baking. Besides killing the yeast, the object sought in baking is to form a sheath of cooked dough all over the outside, for a skeleton or support for the inside mass while it is cooking. Baking also expands the carbonic acid, and volatilizes the alcohol. The latter is lost.
A good temperature in which to begin the baking of bread is 400° Fahr. This may gradually decrease to not lower than 250°, and the time, for a good-sized brick loaf, is one hour. If it is a large loaf, increase the time by a quarter or a half hour.
"The expansion of water or ice into 1700 times its volume of steam, is sometimes taken advantage of in making snow bread, water gems, etc. It plays a part in the lightening of pastry and crackers. Air at 70° Fahr. expands to about twice its volume at the temperature of a hot oven, so that if air is entangled in a mass of dough it gives a certain lightness when the whole is baked. This is the cause of the sponginess of cakes made with eggs. The viscous albumen catches the air and holds it."[41]
There are other means of obtaining carbonic acid to lighten bread, besides by the growing of yeast. The most convenient, perhaps the most valuable, method is by causing cream of tartar and bicarbonateof soda to unite chemically. (The products of the union are carbonic acid and Rochelle salts.) The advantage of using these over everything else yet tried is, that they do not unite when brought in contact except in the presence of water and a certain degree of heat. Rochelle salts, taken in such minute quantities as it occurs in bread made in this way, is not harmful.
Cream of tartar bread, ifperfectlymade, is more nutritious than fermented bread, for none of the constituents of the flour are lost, as when yeast is used.[42]
The difficulty of obtaining good cream of tartar is very great. It is said to be more extensively adulterated than any other substance used for food. Moreover, in the practice of bread-making the cream of tartar and soda are generally mixed in the proportion of two to one—that is, two teaspoons of cream of tartar to every teaspoon of soda; but this is not theexactproportion in which they neutralize each other, so that under ordinary circumstances there is an excess of soda in the bread.
To be exact they should always be combined by weight, as is done in making baking-powders, the proportion being 84 parts of soda to 188 of cream of tartar, or, reducing to lower terms, as 21 to 47—a little less than half as much soda as cream of tartar. For practical use in cooking there are no scales known to the author for the purpose of weighing these materials, so the proportion will have to be approximated with teaspoons, and a fairly accurate result for bread-making may be obtained most easily by measuring a teaspoon of each in exactly the same manner, and then taking off a little from the soda.
With good materials, care in measuring them, and a hot oven to set the bread before the gas escapes, cream of tartar biscuits are both wholesome and palatable.
(HOME-MADE WITH GRATED POTATO)
1 Medium-sized potato.1 Tablespoon of sugar.1 Tablespoon of flour.1 Teaspoon of salt.1½ Pints of boiling water.⅕ of a two-cent cake of Fleischmann's yeast.
First see that there is a supply of boiling water. Then put the salt, sugar, and flour together in a mixing-bowl. Wash and peel the potato, and grate it quickly into the bowl, covering it now and then with the flour to prevent discoloring. As soon as the potato is all grated, pour in the boiling water and stir. It will form into a somewhat thick paste at once. Set it aside to cool. Then dissolve the yeast in a little cold water, add it, and set the mixture to rise in a temperature of 70° to 80° Fahr.
In a short time bubbles will begin to appear; these are carbonic acid, showing that the alcoholic stage of the fermentation has begun. In six or eight hours the whole will be a mass of yeast cells, which have grown in the nutrient liquid. It is then ready for use. It should be bottled in wide-mouthed glass or earthen jars, and kept in a cool place. It will remain good for two weeks. At the end of that time make a fresh supply.
Yeast is an organism—a microscopic form of plant life—which grows by a species of budding with great rapidity when it finds lodgment in material suitablefor its food. The dissolved compressed yeast is like seed, which, when put into a fruitful soil, grows so long as sustenance lasts.
1 Pint of boiling water.1 Tablespoon of sugar.1 Teaspoon of salt.1 Tablespoon of butter.⅓ Cup of liquid yeast, or⅕ of a two-cent cake of Fleischmann's yeast.Enough sifted flour to make a stiff dough.
Put the sugar, salt, and butter with the boiling water into a mixing-bowl or bread-pan. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the water lukewarm, then add the yeast (if compressed, it should be dissolved in a little water). Last, stir in the flour until a dough stiff enough to mold easily is made. Mold it for a minute or two to give it shape and to more thoroughly mix the ingredients, and then set it to rise in a room warm enough to be comfortable to live in—that is, having a temperature of 70° Fahr. It should remain in this temperature for eight hours. Cover it closely, that the top may not dry.
It is often convenient to let bread rise over night. There is no objection to this, provided the bread is mixed late in the evening, and baked early the next morning. Care must be taken, however, that the room in which it is left is warm enough to insure rising in the time given. On the other hand, if allowed to rise too long, or at too high a temperature, the fermentation is carried so far that an acid is produced, and the dough becomes sour.
Eight hours at 70° Fahr. is a good rule to keep in mind. During the time of raising the dough should double itself in bulk. If this does not happen, or it does not appear to have risen at all, either the yeast was not good, or the temperature was too low.
When the bread has risen sufficiently, cut it down, and knead it for five minutes on a bread-board, to distribute the gas and break the large bubbles, so that the bread may have an even grain; then shape it into a loaf, put it into an oiled baking-pan, and let it rise quickly in a warm place, until it again doubles itself. The amount of dough indicated in the rule will make one large loaf, or a medium-sized loaf and some biscuit. Multiply the rule by two if you want two loaves. Bake the bread in an oven which is hot at first, but gradually decreases in temperature, for an hour and a quarter. If you have an oven thermometer use it.[43]
1 Pint ofscaldedmilk.1 Tablespoon of sugar.1 Teaspoon of salt.⅓ Cup of liquid yeast, or⅕ Cake of Fleischmann's yeast.
Measure the milk after scalding, but otherwise proceed exactly as in the making of water bread.
1 Cup ofscaldedmilk.½ Teaspoon of salt.1 Tablespoon of sugar.2 Tablespoons of butter.⅕ Cake of yeast, or¼ Cup of liquid yeast.White of one egg.Flour enough to make a slightly soft dough.
Dissolve the salt and sugar, and soften the butter in the hot milk, which must be measuredafterheating. When it is cooled to lukewarmness, put in the yeast (which, if compressed, should be dissolved in a little cold water), the beaten white of the egg, and flour enough to make a doughslightlysofter than that for ordinary bread. Let it rise overnight, or until light. Then cut it into small pieces, shape the pieces into balls, and roll and stretch them into tiny slender sticks, from ten to twelve inches long, about half an inch thick in the middle, and tapering toward each end. Place them, two inches apart, in shallow, buttered pans, and put them in a warm place for an hour to rise; then bake them in a moderate oven fifteen or twenty minutes, or until they are a golden brown. Sticks are good at any time; they are especially nice served with soup, or for lunch, with cocoa or tea.
This dough may also be made into tiny loaves for tea-rolls.
1 Tablespoon of sugar.½ Teaspoon of salt.1 Cup ofscaldedmilk.¼ Cup of liquid yeast, or⅙ Cake of compressed yeast.Flour enough to make a soft dough.
Mix the above ingredients together, and let the dough rise overnight in the usual time given to bread. Then beat one-fourth of a cup of butter, one-fourth of a cup of sugar, and one egg together, and work the mixture into the dough, adding a little more flour to make it stiff enough to mold. Set it to rise a second time; then shape it into rolls or tiny loaves, allow them to rise again until quite light, or for an hour in a warm place, and bake like bread.
Cut the rusk when cold into thin slices, dry them slowly in the oven, and then brown them a delicate golden color.
Dried rusk is exceedingly easy of digestion, and makes a delicious lunch with a glass of warm milk or a cup of tea.
1 Pint of milk.2 Tablespoons of sugar.1 Teaspoon of salt.⅕ Cake of compressed yeast.2 Cups of white flour.Enough Graham flour to make a dough.
Scald some milk, and from it measure a pint; to this add the sugar and salt. While it is cooling sift some Graham flour, being careful to exclude the chaffor outside silicious covering of the grain, butnothing else. When the milk has become lukewarm, put in the yeast, which has previously been dissolved in a little cold water, and the white flour (sifted), with enough of the Graham to make a dough which shall be stiff, but yet not stiff enough to mold. Mix thoroughly, and shape it with a spoon into a round mass in the dish. After this follow the same directions as for water bread, letting it rise the same time, and baking it in the same manner.
After the dough has risen, although it is soft, it can beshaped into a loafon the bread-board, but not molded.
First, attend to the fire; see that you have a clear, steady one, such as will give a hot oven by the time the biscuits are ready for baking. Then sift some flour, and measure a quart. Into it put two teaspoons of cream of tartar, and one of soda, the latter to be measured exactly like the teaspoons of cream of tartar, and then a very little taken off. This is a more accurate way of getting a scanted teaspoon than by taking some on the spoon and guessing at it. Add one teaspoon of salt, and sift all together four times, then with the fingers rub into the flour one spoon of butter.
At this point, if it has not been already done, get the baking-pans, rolling-pin, board, dredging-box, and cutter ready for use. Then with a knife stir into the flour enough milk to make a soft dough. Do this as quickly as convenient, and without any delay mold the dough just enough to shape it; roll it out, cut it into biscuits, and put them immediately into the oven, where they should bake for thirty minutes.
Pocket-Books.Work or knead together the pieces that are left after making cream-of-tartar biscuit (or make a dough on purpose), roll it out very thin, cut it into rounds, brush them over with milk or melted butter, fold once so as to make a half-moon shape, and you will have "pocket-books."
Twin Biscuit.Roll out some dough very thin, cut it into very small rounds, and place one on top of another, with butter between.
Iced water may be substituted for milk in the above rule. In baking, however, the oven should be unusually hot, so as to take advantage of the expansion of the water. Also, baking-powder may be substituted for the cream of tartar and soda, using a fourth more of the baking-powder than of the two together.
½ Tablespoon of butter.1 Tablespoon of sugar.Whites of two eggs.1½ Cups of flour.1 Saltspoon of salt.1½ Teaspoons of baking-powder.1 Cup of milk.
Measure each of the ingredients carefully, then sift the flour, salt, and baking-powder together four times. Cream the butter and sugar with a little of the milk, then add the whites of the eggs well beaten, the rest of the milk, and last the flour. Bake this batter in hot buttered gem-pans from twenty minutes to half an hour. These cakes are delicious eaten hot for lunch or tea. This mixture may also be baked in small, round earthen cups.
1 Cup of milk.½ Teaspoon of salt.½ Cup of white flour.1 Cup of Graham flour.2 Tablespoons of sugar.1 Teaspoon of cream of tartar.½ Teaspoon of soda (slightlyscanted).1 Tablespoon of melted butter.
Sift and measure the Graham flour, add the cream of tartar, soda, and white flour, and sift again. Mix the milk, salt, and sugar together, and stir it into the flour; last, put in the melted butter, beat for a minute, and then drop a spoonful in each division of a roll gem-pan, which should be well buttered, and made very hot on the top of the stove. Bake in a hot oven from twenty-five minutes to half an hour. Serve hot.
2¼ Cups of flour.2 Teaspoons of baking-powder.1 Teaspoon of salt.2 Tablespoons of sugar.1 Egg.1 Cup of milk.1 Cup of cooked oatmeal.1 Tablespoon of butter melted.
Sift the flour and baking-powder together twice. Beat the egg very light, stir into it the salt, sugar, and milk, then add the flour, and last the oatmeal andbutter; beat for half a minute, and bake immediately in gem-pans or muffin-rings in a hot oven for half an hour.
N. B.—The oatmeal should not be cooked to a soft, thin mush, but should be rather dry; so, in preparing it, use less water than for porridge. These cakes are to be eaten hot.
Gluten flour is prepared in such a way that much of the starch of the grain is excluded. It is frequently required for persons suffering with diabetes, who cannot digest either sugar or starch. It should be made with flour, water, yeast, and salt only. Do not use milk for mixing, as it contains sugar.
One pint of water, one half teaspoon of salt, one fifth of a cake of yeast, one tablespoon of butter, and enough flour to make the usual bread dough will be required. Otherwise the process is exactly the same as for ordinary bread.
Baking-powder is a mixture of cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, and arrowroot. The latter is used to keep the two chemicals dry, and thus prevent the slow union which would otherwise take place. Sometimes tartaric acid is used instead of cream of tartar. The following rule may be relied upon:
Tartaric acid2 oz. by weight.Bicarbonate of soda3 " " "Arrowroot3 " " "
Mix and sift together thoroughly. Keep in a dry place, in a wide-mouthed bottle.
Cake of the simpler kinds, especially sponge cake, is frequently given to the sick. Good sponge cake, served with sweet cream or a glass of milk, is an excellent lunch for an invalid. Some of the plain kinds of butter cakes—those made with a little butter—such as white, feather, and similar varieties, are excellent food.
Consider for a moment what they contain: eggs, milk, butter, sugar, and flour—five of the most valuable of all our food products. Yet there are those who pride themselves upon not eating cake, which idiosyncrasy can only be explained in one of two ways: either the cake which they have had has not been properly made, or else it has been so good that, during a lapse of judgment, they have eaten too much.
The dark fruit cakes should be avoided by both sick and well, on account of the indigestible nature of the dried fruits used in them, and also because they are often compact and close-grained, not light.
There is a custom prevalent in many kitchens of using what is called "cooking" butter—that is, butter which is off taste or rancid—for cake. It is but poor economy, even if it can merit that name at all. If you have no other butter for cake, don't make any. Sweet butter and fresh—not "store"—eggs areabsolutely necessary. Also, a dainty worker to mix the ingredients with accuracy and care, and to oil the panin which the cake is to be baked, so that the outside shall not taste of fat. Many an otherwise nice cake has been spoiled by oiling the pan in which it was baked with dirty or rancid grease. Use a very little sweet butter or olive-oil.
All ordinary cakes are made in much the same way as to the order in which their ingredients are mixed. First the butter and sugar are creamed together, then the yolks of the eggs are beaten and added, with the milk, to the butter and sugar; then the flour, into which the cream of tartar and soda have been well mixed by sifting them together several times, is put in; and last, the beaten whites of the eggs.
Care in Baking.For sponge cake made with baking-powder, or soda and cream of tartar, an oven moderately heated will be required—that is, one of 300° Fahr., or one which willslightlybrown a loaf in twenty minutes.
For sponge cake made without raising material, such as the old-fashioned kind, in which only eggs, sugar, and flour are used, a slow oven is necessary.
For butter cakes a temperature somewhere between 350° and 380° will not fail.
The baking of cake is the most difficult part of the process, on account of the constantly variable condition of ovens in common iron stoves, and because it is more easily spoiled than bread and other foods usually cooked in an oven. One is obliged to exercise a new judgment every time cake is made. Even thermometers are only a partial help, for if an oven has a temperature of 300° Fahr. at a certain time, there is no means of being sure what the temperature will be halfan hour from then. However, by giving attention and some practice to it, one may gain considerable skill in managing fires. Should the cake be cooking too fast, and arranging the stove dampers does not lessen the heat, a piece of buttered paper laid over the top will protect it, and will not stick. Layer, or thin cakes, require a hotter oven than loaves.
Pans for baking cake should be lined with buttered paper (the buttered side up), letting it overlap the sides for about an inch to assist in lifting out the cake. An earthenware bowl and a wooden spoon should be used for mixing.
Get everything ready before beginning to mix cake, the oven first of all. Bake as soon as possible after the flour is in, for carbonic acid begins to be formed as soon as the soda and cream of tartar come in contact with the liquid, and some of it will escape unless the mixture is baked at once. Do not stop to scrape every bit from the bowl; that can be attended to afterward, and a little patty-cake made of what is left.
2 Cups of pastry flour measured after sifting.1 Teaspoon of cream of tartar.½ Teaspoon of soda (slightly scanted).4 Eggs.1½ Cups of powdered sugar.½ Cup of water.2 Tablespoons of lemon-juice.
Get everything ready before beginning to make the cake; oil the pan, or oil paper and line the pan with it; measure the flour, cream of tartar, and soda, and sift them together four times; measure the sugar,water, and lemon-juice, and separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs. Beat the whites of the eggs with half the sugar until they are very light. Then beat the yolks very light, or until they become lemon-colored, add the remaining half of the sugar and beat again, and then a little of the water if it is difficult to turn the egg-beater. When the sugar is well mixed, add the remainder of the water, the lemon-juice, and the flour. Beat for a few seconds, but not long, as all mixtures that have cream of tartar and soda should be baked as quickly as possible. Last of allfoldin (not beat) the whites of the eggs lightly, so as not to break out the air which has been entangled by the beating, as it helps to make the cake light.
Bake in a moderate oven from forty-five to fifty minutes, or until the cake shrinks a little from the pan.