Part 36

Ovens and Baking.--With regard to the baking. The loaves must not be put into too hot an oven at first, or they will not rise; neither must the oven be too cool, or the bread will be underdone, and taste heavy and sodden. A good test is to sprinkle a little flour on the bottom of the oven, and shut the door; if in 5 minutes the flour is found to be coloured a golden brown, the bread may with safety be put in; if, on the contrary, the flour is a deep brown and smells burnt, the oven is too hot, and the fire should be slightly checked, also the oven door left open for a few minutes. The best way of regulating the temperature of the oven is to use a Bailey’s pyrometer (W. H. Bailey and Co., Albion Works, Salford, near Manchester), by which it is easy to see whether the fire should be urged or checked, ensuring the proper degree of heat without wasting fuel.

Bread is generally supposed to have a more pleasant flavour when baked in a brick oven. One reason why this is so is because the brick oven (when there is one attached to a house) is generally so large and cumbrous, besides being troublesome to heat, that it is only used on baking days for bread or cake; so that there is no stale flavour of meat, game, or poultry hanging about it. This should be borne in mind when the baking is to be done in a kitchener, which should be thoroughly ventilated and washed out before the bread is put in. If this is attended to, the difference in the taste will be scarcely perceptible. (Bessie Tremaine.)

Mention may here be made of Perkins’ Patent Steam Oven (Seaford Street, Gray’s Inn Road), in which the baking is remarkably even and regular; and of the portable gas oven (J. Baker and Sons, 58 City Road). See also p. 1003.

Yeast.--(_a_) First get 6 good-sized potatoes, wash and pare them and boil them in 2 qt. water with a handful of hops (the latter in a small bag kept for the purpose). When quite soft take them out, mash fine, and pour upon them the water in which they were boiled, adding a little water for what may have boiled away, and also ½ cup salt and same of white sugar. When cooled down to a lukewarm temperature add 1 cup yeast to ferment it with. It does not rise, it works like beer, and having been covered closely and kept in a warm place, in the course of 5-6 hours the entire surface will be covered with fine bubbles, which indicate that it is ready for use. It should now be bottled and put in the cellar, where it will keep a long time. The bottles must not be corked tight at first, or they will be liable to burst. If the theory be true that some of the same kind must be used to start with, some difficulty may be encountered in introducing it where it is not used.

(_b_) Boil and mash 1 lb. potatoes, mix with them ¼ lb. coarse raw sugar and 1 teaspoonful salt, add 1 qt. tepid water, and let the mixture stand in a warm place for 24 hours; then boil a small handful of hops for 10 minutes in ½ pint water, strain, and add the liquor to the yeast. Again let it stand for 24 hours; if it does not then ferment, get a little brewers’ yeast, and let it work for 24 hours; then strain it, and it is fit for use. When cold, put away the yeast in stone bottles, the cork tied down firmly. Keep in a cool dry place until wanted. About ½ pint yeast will be required to ferment 7 lb. flour.

(_c_) _With German Yeast._--The one great point is to knead well. Not only should the dough be well kneaded, but the sponge, where it is placed to rise, should be well and rapidly beaten with a wooden spoon. The effect will be speedily seen, for the grain of the sponge becomes closer and finer, and, when put in a suitable place, will at once begin to rise in very fine bubbles. Potatoes much improve bread, and, in order to use them with a good effect, they must be steamed and beaten to a pulp, or, rather, to a cream; for a little water must be added to the pulp as soon as all the lumps have been beaten away, and this water should be in quantity just sufficient to give the potatoes the consistency of thick cream. This potato cream is to be put in the sponge before the beating commences--in fact, it is part of the sponge. It is advisable to put German yeast in water over night, and in the morning, when you are ready to lay your sponge, you must add to the yeast and water 2 lumps sugar. As the sugar assists the yeast to ferment, it must not be carelessly put in and left. As soon as it is dissolved the sponge should be mixed. Bread mixed with milk is much better than that made with water. Therefore, if you can procure it, place some milk on the fire to boil, and when it has partly cooled it is ready for use. An easy mode of cooling milk that has boiled is to place the can containing it in a pail of cold water.

Never make bread with raw milk, for the chances are that the dough will become sour, and, although a little soda carbonate will counteract the acidity when in the sponge, it is impossible to remedy any such accident in the dough. It is a very difficult thing to tell anyone how much liquid to use to any given quantity of flour. American flour, which makes the finest bread, requires more liquid than English flour. The reason is obvious--the better the flour the drier, and American flour is very dry. Although commanding a higher price than English, it is in reality much more economical, as a stone of American flour will produce a much larger batch of bread than a stone of English flour will.

¼ lb. yeast will be found sufficient for an ordinary baking. It is a general rule to lay the sponge in the centre of the flour that you intend shall form the dough. This is a mistaken idea, and the better plan is to have a bowl about the size of a toilette basin. Warm it; do not quite half fill with flour. Have your yeast and sugar ready dissolved and smoothly mixed with cold water; have also in a jug at your left hand some milk that has been boiled and lost its scalding heat. Your bread will be improved if you provide yourself too with some warm creamed potatoes (you may with advantage have as much potato as flour in your sponge). It is quite out of the question to say when it will have risen--the weather affects it, and it will vary each time. The better way is to keep a watchful eye on it. It is fit to be taken when it has risen to a fine spongy mass, presenting the appearance of froth.

Have a large bowl ready warmed, place in this as much flour as you judge will make the quantity of bread you desire; but do not more than half fill your bowl, or there will be no room for rising. Make a hole in the centre of the flour, and pour in the sponge, add a small quantity of salt, and proceed to knead it up, moistening from time to time with milk, or water, as the case may be. Do not have the dough too stiff. It is as well to use the right hand first, and keep the left free to add the liquid from the jug. The right hand has most power, and vigour is required in kneading bread. We have proof of this in the Italians, who knead their dough with such force as to produce corns on the knuckles of the hand. When you find you have sufficient liquid, let the left hand take its share in pounding and working the dough.

Draw the dough from the sides of the pan to the middle in kneading, and continue to do this until it ceases to stick either to the hands or bowl. Having arrived at this point, place the bread-bowl in a warm position, and cover with a cloth. When the dough is ready to be made into loaves it will be risen and cracked all over. The bread-tins must be rubbed inside with lard before using. Remember, when you cut your dough into loaves, that it is necessary to knead it up again before placing in the tins. It is a good plan to nearly ¾ fill the tins, prick through with a fork, and put to rise again. Stand your tins together, if possible, and place a clean light cloth over them, to keep any dust off, and also to prevent the surface of the dough from drying. The loaves must rise until they nearly reach the tops of the tins. Now place in an oven that has a moderately good heat, and do not open the door during the first 15 minutes. The middle shelf of an oven is the proper place for bread, and the tins should stand on rings; there is then no chance of burning the bottoms of the loaves. After the loaves have been in the oven ½ hour, change their positions. An hour should bake an ordinary loaf. During the last ½ hour the heat of the oven may be allowed to decrease.

As soon as your bread is baked, take the loaves out of the tins and wrap them in a clean old blanket kept especially for the purpose. The object is to prevent hard crust, and the blanket will absorb any moisture caused by the steam. When quite cold the bread may be placed in the bread-pan, which should be kept in a cold damp place. No bread will keep in a good state which is in a dry, warm situation. It is certain to dry, crack, and mould. It will be found a good plan to bake once a week during the winter, and twice during the summer months. Should any difficulty be experienced during very sultry weather, make the dough in the evening with quite cold water or milk, there will be no sponge to lay in this case; all must be kneaded up at once, and in the morning it will be ready for use. Bread made up in this way is excellent if well kneaded, but never has such delicate grain as that made by the above directions.

The only real enemy to success in bread-making is warm sultry weather. When the air is charged with electricity, the housewife may think of danger. Want of attention is, in the majority of cases, the real cause of mishaps. (Harriett Estill.)

The flour called “seconds” makes a more economical loaf for family use than the first quality; when, however, a very white light kind of bread is preferred, “best whites” must be used. German yeast should be perfectly fresh and sweet, in which state it is nearly white and quite dry. Dissolve 1½ oz. in a few spoonfuls of cool water, and then stir into it 3½ pints tepid water; pour it rapidly over 5 lb. flour, in which 1 tablespoonful salt has been mixed; beat it up with the hand or a wooden spoon until well mixed, then gradually work in 2 lb. more of flour, kneading it well. When finished, the dough will be perfectly smooth, and not a particle will adhere to the hands or pan. Set the dough in a warm place to rise for an hour, then work it up with a handful of flour until it is stiff; divide it into 2 or 3 loaves, working them up into a compact shape. Put them on a floured baking sheet, and bake them in an oven as hot as it can be without burning the bread, as it will then keep its shape. In about 10 minutes the heat may be moderated and kept equal until the bread is finished. A 5 lb. loaf will take 1¼ hour to bake. A skewer may be thrust into the loaf, and if it comes out clean the bread is done enough, but generally the appearance of the loaf should indicate this to anyone having the least experience. (Mary Hooper.)

=Biscuits, Cakes, and Fancy Breads.=--Of these there is an endless variety, the majority being well adapted for making at home.

_Abernethy Biscuits._--(_a_) Dissolve ¼ lb. butter in ½ pint warm milk, and with 4 lb. fine flour, a few caraways, and ½ lb. sugar, make a stiff but smooth paste; to render the biscuits short and light, add ½ dr. ammonia carbonate in powder. Roll out very thin; stamp the biscuits, pricking them with a fork, and bake in tins in a quick oven.

(_b_) Into 7 lb. flour rub 1 lb. butter; add 1 lb. moist sugar, powdered, and 2 oz. caraway seeds; make into smooth dough with 2½ pints water containing 4 oz. sal volatile; roll into thin sheets; cut into biscuits, place on buttered tins, wash tops with white of egg, bake in quick oven.

_Almond Bread._--8 oz. sweet almonds, 1 oz. bitter almonds blanched and dried; pound fine with 18 oz. loaf sugar in a mortar; pass through sieve; mix into soft batter with yolk of egg; grate off the peel of 1 lemon, and add it with 2 oz. flour; mix lightly as for sponge cake; pour the batter into square, flat, tin dishes, turned up about 2 in., and buttered inside; bake in cool oven.

_Almond Cakes._--Cover 1 lb. sweet almonds with boiling water in a saucepan; when just boiling, strain off, and rub skins off; slice up 2 oz. of them; put remainder into a mortar with 2¼ lb. loaf sugar, 1 tablespoonful orange-flower water and white of 6 eggs, pound fine; spread wafer-paper on a tin, and drop on pieces of the paste as large as walnuts; sprinkle each with the shredded almonds; bake in slow oven.

_Almond Savoy Cake._--Take 1 lb. blanched sweet almonds (4 oz. of them may be bitter), 2 lb. sugar, 1 pint yolk of egg, ½ pint whole eggs, 1 lb. flour, and the whites of 12 eggs beaten to a firm froth. Pound the almonds with the sugar in a mortar, and sift through a wire sieve, or grind in a mill, and mix with the sugar in the mortar. First mix the whole eggs well with the almonds and sugar, then add the yolks by degrees, stirring until quite light; then mix in the whites, and afterwards the flour lightly; prepare some moulds as for Savoy cakes, or only butter them. Fill the moulds ¾ full, and bake in a moderate oven.

_American Biscuits._--Rub ½ lb. butter with 4 lb. flour; add 1 pint milk or water; mix well; break up the dough; bake in hot oven.

_Apple Bread._--After having boiled 1 lb. peeled apples, bruise them while quite warm into 2 lb. flour, including the proper quantity of leaven, and knead the whole without water, the juice of the fruit being quite sufficient. When this mixture has acquired the consistency of paste, put it into a vessel, in which allow it to rise for about 12 hours. By this process you obtain a very sweet bread, extremely light.

_Banbury Cake._--(_a_) 1½ lb. flour, 1 lb. butter; roll the butter in sheets in part of the flour; wet up the rest of the flour in nearly ½ pint water and a little German or brewers’ yeast; make into a smooth paste, roll in a large sheet, and lay on the butter; double up, and roll out again; do this 5 times; cut into square pieces, about 1½ oz. each. Mix together currants, candied peel chopped fine, moist sugar, and a little brandy; put 2 teaspoonfuls of this mixture on each piece of paste; bring the two corners together in the middle, and close them up of an oval shape; turn the closing downwards; sift finely powdered loaf sugar over the tops; put on a cold tin; let stand awhile in the cold to prove; bake in rather a cool oven.

(_b_) 2 lb. currants, ½ oz. each ground allspice and powdered cinnamon; 4 oz. each candied orange and lemon peel; 8 oz. butter, 1 lb. moist sugar, 12 oz. flour; mix the whole well together; roll out a piece of puff paste; cut into oval shape; put a small quantity of composition into each, and double up in the shape of a puff; put on a board, flatten down with rolling-pin, and sift powdered sugar over; do not put too close together; bake on iron plates in a hot oven.

_Bath Buns._--1 lb. flour, peel of 2 lemons grated fine, ½ lb. butter melted in teacup of cream, 1 teaspoonful yeast, 3 eggs; mix; add ½ lb. powdered loaf sugar; mix well; let stand to rise; quantities will make about 3 dozen buns.

_Bath Cake._--Roll 1¾ lb. moist sugar till fine; add ¾ pint water; let stand all night; into 4½ lb. flour rub 3 oz. butter; make a hole in it, and pour in the sugar and water with ½ pint honey water; roll thin; cut out, place on buttered tin, wash over with water, bake in quick oven.

_Biscuit Powder._--Dry the biscuits in a slow oven; grind with a rolling-pin on a clean board till the powder is fine; sift through a fine hair-sieve, and it is fit for use.

_Bordeaux Cake._--Make a mixture as for pound-cakes, leaving out the fruit, peel, and spices; bake in a round or oval hoop. When baked and cold, cut into slices ½ in. thick; spread each slice with jam or marmalade. The outside of the cake may be cut round, or fluted to form a star; and the centre of the cake is occasionally cut out to about 1½ in. from the edge, leaving the bottom slice whole: this may be filled with preserved wet or dry fruits, creams, or a trifle. The top is ornamented with piping, wet or dry fruits, and peels, or piped with jam and icing.

_Brandy Snaps._--(_a_) Rub ¼ lb. butter into ½ lb. flour, add ½ lb. moist sugar, ½ oz. ground ginger, and the grated rind and juice of a lemon. Mix with a little treacle to a paste thin enough to spread on tins. Bake in a moderate oven, and when done enough cut it into strips whilst still on the tins, and then roll it round the fingers. When cold put in a tin at once, or they will lose their crispness. (_b_) Take 1 lb. flour, ½ lb. coarse brown sugar, ¼ lb. butter, 1 dessertspoonful allspice, 2 of ground ginger, the grated peel of half, and the juice of a whole lemon; mix altogether, adding ½ lb. treacle; beat it well; butter some sheet tins, and spread the paste thinly over them, bake in rather a slow oven. When done cut it into squares, and roll each square round the finger as it is raised from the tin. (_c_) ½ lb. salt butter, ½ lb. moist sugar, ½ lb. treacle and flour (more treacle than flour), 1½ oz. finely-powdered ginger. The butter, treacle, and part of the sugar to be made boiling hot, and poured on the remainder of the ingredients well mixed. Spread it very thinly with a knife on a sheet tin which has been buttered, and bake. When done, to be taken off with a knife.

_Breakfast Cake._--Mix ½ oz. German yeast with ½ pint warm milk in a pan; weigh 2 lb. flour and take sufficient of it to make the milk the consistence of batter. When this sponge has risen, take a little milk--melt in it 3 oz. butter; add a teaspoonful of salt, and the yolks of 8 eggs; mix well with the sponge, and make into a dough with the remaining portion of flour. Do not use more milk with the eggs than will make ½ pint, or the dough will be too soft. When the dough is proved, make it into cakes about 2 in. thick; put them into buttered hoops; lay the hoops on iron plates, and when they are lightly risen, bake them in a warm oven; cut into slices ½ in. thick and butter each.

_Bride Cake._--Cleanse and dry 2½ lb. currants; stone ½ lb. muscatel raisins; pound ¼ oz. mace, ⅛ oz. cinnamon; scald ¼ lb. sweet almonds, remove skins, and shred; slice up 2 oz. each candied citron, lemon, and orange peel; break 8 new eggs into a basin; sift 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar into 1¼ lb. flour; in a warmed pan beat 1 lb. butter by hand till it melts, then add the sugar and beat again; add ⅕ of the flour, stir, and add nearly half the eggs; beat up, add more flour and remainder of eggs; beat again and stir in rest of flour and currants; next add the raisins, almonds, candied peel, spices, and ½ gill brandy; thoroughly mix; double paper the tin, and bake in a very slow oven.

_Brighton Biscuits._--Take 1¼ lb. good moist sugar; roll fine; mix with 2½ lb. flour, and sift through a flour sieve; rub in 2 oz. butter; make a hole in the middle, and strew in a few caraway seeds; pour in ½ pint each honey-water and milk; mix into dough, but do not work too much; roll out in thin sheets; cut into biscuits and put 2 in. apart on buttered tin; wash with milk; bake steadily.

_Buttered Biscuits._--Rub 1 lb. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1 qt. warm water, and ½ pint good yeast; break smooth; prove; cut into biscuits; bake in strong heat.

_Captain’s Biscuits._--Rub 6 oz. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1 qt. water; break smooth; bake in good strong heat.

_Chelsea Buns._--Take ½ or 1 quartern light bread dough; dust the dresser or table with flour, and roll out with a rolling-pin into a sheet about ¼ in. thick; over the surface put 4-6 oz. butter, in little bits, work up and roll out 2 or 3 times, the same as for making puff paste. The last time it is rolled out, spread thinly and evenly over the surface, either moist or powdered loaf sugar; moisten by sprinkling with water; cut into strips, ½-¾ in. wide; roll up so as to form a coil or roll of dough about 2 in. in diameter. Lay these pieces (when rolled up) on a clean baking-tin, with some butter rubbed over the surface, to prevent the buns adhering when baked. Place rather more than ¼ in. asunder, with one of the cut edges downward. Put in a warm place, covered with a cloth, to prove, or rise; bake in a moderately warm oven. May be made richer by using more butter and sugar, and seeds or spice may be added at pleasure. When baked, some sugar may be sifted over the surface.

_Cheese Cake._--Beat 4 oz. butter with the hand in a warm pan, till it comes to a fine cream; add 4 oz. powdered sugar; beat well; add yolks of 2 eggs; beat again; add a little milk; beat all well together, and mix in 4 oz. clean currants; lay puff paste in the patty-pans; fill half full; shake a little sugar over, and bake in a good heat.

_Cinnamon Buns._--Same as saffron, omitting the caraway seeds and saffron, and substituting ground cinnamon.

_Cinnamon, Currant, and Caraway Cake._--Rub 1 lb. butter into 3½ lb. flour; in a hole put 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; then wet up with ½ pint each honey-water and milk. Divide the dough into 3 parts; add to one part a little powdered cinnamon; to another a few currants; to another a few caraway seeds. Roll in sheets to the thickness of the currants; cut to about the size of a penny; wash with a little milk, and bake in a steady heat.

_Colchester Bread._--(_a_) Prepare dough as for Bath cakes; cut with a Colchester cutter to about the thickness of a penny; wash with milk; bake quick; wash with egg and milk while hot; when cold cut apart.

(_b_) Put ¾ lb. loaf sugar into a saucepan, with ¼ pint water over steady fire; stir till dissolved; beat 6 eggs with a whisk in a pan; when the sugar boils pour it gently on the eggs, beating till cold; stir in ¾ lb. fine sifted flour; paper frames; fill ¾ full with the batter; sift sugar over; bake in steady oven.

_Cracknel Biscuits._--Rub 6 oz. butter into 3½ lb. flour; in a hole put 6 oz. powdered loaf sugar; wet up with 8 eggs and ¼ pint water; break dough smooth; make and dock like captain’s biscuits; form on the reel; drop into a stew-pan of water boiling over the fire; when they swim, take out with a skimmer, and put into a pailful of cold water; let remain 2 hours before baking; drain in a cloth or sieve; bake on clean tins in a brisk oven.

_Crumpets._--These are made of batter composed of flour, water (or milk), and a small quantity of yeast. To 1 lb. best wheaten flour add 3 tablespoonfuls yeast. A portion of the liquid paste, not too thin (after being suffered to rise), is poured on a heated iron plate, and baked, like pancakes in a pan.

_Curd Cheese Cake._--Warm 1 pint new milk; stir in a little rennet; keep warm till a nice curd appears; break and strain the whey through a hair-sieve; put mixture prepared as for cheese-cakes, but without any currants, into sieve with curd; rub all through together; mix in currants; fill out, and bake in a good heat.

_Derby Cake._--Rub 1 lb. butter in 2½ lb. flour; in a hole put 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; beat 2 eggs with 3 tablespoonfuls honey-water, and milk to make up ½ pint; add ½ lb. currants; mix; bake in a steady oven.

_Diet Bread._--Whisk the yolks of 12 and the whites of 6 eggs, together, so as just to break them; put ¼ pint water into a saucepan or small stew-pan, add 1 lb. loaf sugar, and put on the fire; take it off just before it boils; put in the eggs, and whisk well till cold; stir in lightly 1 lb. flour; put mixture into papered square tins; sift sugar over tops; bake in cool oven till dry and firm on top.

_Drop Biscuits._--Warm the pan; put in 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar and 8 eggs; beat with a whisk till milk warm; then beat till cold; stir in lightly 1 lb. sugar, 2 oz. fine sifted flour, ½ oz. caraway seeds; put batter into a bladder, drop through the pipe, in quantities about the size of a nutmeg, on wafer-paper; sift sugar over the top; bake in quick oven.