WARM BREADS, BISCUITS, MUFFINS, ETC.
=Baking Powder Bread.=--SIFT together, five times over, four quarts of
flour, six rounded teaspoonfuls baking powder and four level
teaspoonfuls salt. Have the oven quite hot. Add to the sifted flour
enough milk and water in nearly equal proportions, to make a moist, not
wet, dough, stiff enough to handle, then divide into four portions,
mould lightly into shape and put into brick shaped pans. Brush over the
tops with milk, put into bags and bake an hour.
=Bannocks.=--Sift together one pint of corn meal, one tablespoonful of
sugar and a teaspoonful of salt. Pour over the mixture enough milk or
milk and water to moisten. Let stand until cool, then add three
well-beaten eggs, spread half an inch thick in well-greased bag. Seal
and bake in hot oven. Cut into squares, split and serve hot and
well-buttered.
=Baking Powder Biscuits.=--Sift together three times over one quart of
flour, two rounded teaspoonfuls baking powder, and a teaspoonful of
salt. Rub in with the tips of the fingers one rounding tablespoonful
vegetable shortening or butter, and when the flour feels mealy, add
slowly a cup and a half of milk or milk and water mixed. Mix lightly
with little handling, turn out on board, roll into a sheet half an inch
in thickness, stamp out with small round cutter and lay in greased bag.
Brush the top of each biscuit with milk. Seal and bake twenty minutes in
a very hot oven.
=Egg Biscuits.=--To make these delicious biscuits, beat one egg until
light, then mix with it two-thirds of a cupful of milk. Add to one pint
of flour a heaping teaspoonful baking powder and one-half teaspoonful
salt, and sift. Blend with the mixture one tablespoonful of butter and
two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Add the egg mixture, make into a dough and
knead lightly. Roll into a sheet a quarter of an inch thick, stamp out
with a round cutter, brush over the top of each biscuit with cream,
prick with a fork, bag, and bake in a hot oven.
=Maple Biscuits.=--Make a very rich baking powder biscuit dough and roll
out to half the thickness of biscuits, cut out with a small cutter,
sprinkle grated maple sugar over the tops of half of them, moisten the
under sides of the others and lay them on top of the sugared ones,
pressing them on well. Lay close together in a bag, brush over with milk
or melted butter, seal and bake in a quick oven.
=Nut Biscuits.=--Sift together two cupfuls flour, one-half teaspoonful
of salt, and a teaspoonful and a half of baking powder.
Rub in one heaping tablespoonful of butter or vegetable shortening, and
add one cupful of nuts, pecans, hickory or English walnuts chopped and a
tablespoonful of sugar. Mix to a soft dough with milk or milk and water,
mould with the hands into small balls, place in a greased bag, brush
each biscuit over with milk or melted butter, put a pinch of chopped
nuts on each, seal and bake in a hot oven.
=Raisin Biscuits.=--These are excellent for home luncheon or the
children's school or picnic lunch. Sift together one quart of flour, a
half teaspoonful of salt and two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder.
Work into the sifted flour a cupful of shortening, then add a cupful
each seedless raisins and milk. Mix well and roll out on the molding
board. Cut in small round biscuits, bag, and bake in a quick oven.
=Hot Cross Buns.=--Sift together one quart of pastry flour, three
teaspoonfuls of baking powder and a teaspoonful of salt. Rub into the
flour a piece of butter the size of an egg. Mix together a cupful each
of milk and water and add one cupful of sugar. Stir into the flour, add
two beaten eggs, and mix soft. Cut into small biscuits, make the cross
on the top of each, bag, and bake in a very hot oven. Sift powdered
sugar over them as soon as taken from the bag. A half cupful chopped
raisins or currants may be added to the dough if desired.
=Warmed Over Breads.=--It is a trick worth knowing that cold biscuit,
rolls, gems and the like can be brushed over with water, put in a
greased paper bag, sealed and set in the oven for eight minutes to
emerge as fresh as though just newly baked.