dashed with cognac. The tea should be properly made--not allowed to
stand until it becomes rank, but boiling water should be poured on
the leaves, allowed to stand 5 minutes, then poured into a jug with
slices of lemon at the bottom. A wineglass of good brandy added when
cool.
(_b_) Mix together 2 qt. best bottled cider--old, if
possible--sweeten to taste, taking care that the sugar is perfectly
melted. Add ½ nutmeg grated, a little powdered ginger, a glass of
brandy, a glass of noyeau; cut a lemon into it in moderately thin
slices, and let them remain there. Make it 2 hours before wanted, and
stand in some ice.
(_c_) Sherry, 6 tablespoonfuls; brandy, 2 tablespoonfuls; sugar, 1½
oz.; 2 or 3 shreds of fresh lemon peel, cut very thin. This is the
stock. It will be found convenient, when a quantity is required,
to make a syrup of the sugar (1 oz. water to 2 oz. sugar), and to
prepare the stock beforehand. The above quantity of stock should be
added to 1 bot. claret and 1 bot. soda water. These should be kept
in a cool place--a refrigerator, for instance--and only opened just
before drinking. A lump of ice and a little borage are improvements;
2 bot. soda water instead of one can be used in summer.
(_d_) To 1½ pint good ale allow 1 bot. ginger beer. For this beverage
the ginger beer must be in an effervescing state, and the beer not in
the least turned or sour. Mix them together, and drink immediately.
(_e_) Get 3 pints water, 3 oz. tartaric acid, 3½ lb. lump sugar;
mix and put to the fire to warm, not quite boil. While the above is
getting hot, get the whites of 3 eggs and 4 teaspoonfuls wheaten
flour, which well beat together, then mix by well stirring it with
the water, acid, and sugar, then boil the whole 3 minutes. When cold,
flavour with essence of lemon; bottle off. For use put a medium-sized
spoonful of the liquor into a tumbler, fill up with water, and add a
little soda carbonate; stir up and drink. A small quantity of brandy
or sherry with the soda is a great improvement.
(_f_) Milk and whisky; quantity according to taste; the less spirit
the better.
(_g_) Melt or dissolve by a gentle heat 1 oz. black currant jelly in
½ pint syrup; when cold add the same quantity of rum. In summer the
above is best; for the winter months, do as follows: Pick fine dry
black currants, put them into a stone jar, and then the jar into a
saucepan of boiling water till the juice is extracted; strain, and to
every pint add ½ lb. loaf sugar; give one boil and skim well; when
cold add the same quantity of rum (or gin, if you prefer it), shake
well, and bottle.
(_h_) 8 or 10 drops sulphuric acid added to a glass of water make a
very wholesome subacid refreshing drink, having tonic properties, and
well adapted to check the tendency to diarrhœa that exists during
sultry weather.
(_i_) Mix 1 oz. essence of ginger and 1 oz. essence of cloves; put
20-30 drops into a tumbler of water. This renders even tepid water
good.
_Syllabubs._--(_a_) Put 1 pint beer and 1 pint cider into a
punchbowl, grate in a small nutmeg, and sweeten it to your taste. Put
the bowl under a cow and milk in about 3 pints milk; wash and pick
some currants, make them plump before the fire, and strew them over
the syllabub. (_b_) Take 1 qt. cream, 3 gills white wine, the juice
of 1 lemon and of 2 Seville oranges, add sugar to taste, beat it
well, and fill up your glasses as the froth, rises. (_c_) Take ¼ lb.
loaf sugar in one piece, and rub on it 2 lemons till you have got all
the essence out of the rinds, then pour over the sugar 1 gill white
wine, and when it is dissolved add the juice of the lemons and 1 pint
cream, whip it well, or mill it with a chocolate mill. (_d_) Take
½ pint cream, ½ pint white wine, and the juice of a lemon, sweeten
it to your taste with white sugar, put in a piece of the paring of
the lemon and some powdered cinnamon, beat it well, and as it rises
take up the froth with a spoon and lay it on a sieve to drain; fill
your glasses half full with wine, sweeten it, and fill up with the
whisked cream. (_e_) Put into a china bowl 1 pint port wine and 1
pint sherry, sugar to taste, milk the bowl nearly full, cover it with
clotted cream, grate nutmeg over it.
_Toast and Water._--(_a_) Hold a small piece of bread before the fire
until it is the colour of mahogany, but do not let it burn. Put it in
a jug and pour boiling water upon it, cover it down close until cold.
(_b_) The bread should be very slowly and thoroughly toasted, great
care being taken to prevent its burning in the slightest degree; cold
water should then be poured over it. It must stand some time before
being used.
_Wassail Bowl._--Put into a bowl ½ lb. Lisbon sugar; pour on it 1
pint warm beer; grate a nutmeg and some ginger into it; add 4 glasses
sherry and 5 additional pints beer; stir well; sweeten to taste; let
stand covered up 2 or 3 hours; then put 3 or 4 slices bread (cut
thin and toasted brown) into it. Sometimes a couple or three slices
of lemon, and a few lumps of loaf sugar rubbed in the peeling of a
lemon, are introduced.
_White Wine Negus._--Extract the juice from the peel of a lemon by
rubbing loaf sugar on it, or cut the peel of a lemon very thin, and
pound it in a mortar; cut 2 lemons into thin slices, add 4 glasses
calves’-foot jelly in a liquid state, small quantities of cinnamon,
mace, cloves, and allspice. Put the whole into a jug, pour 1 qt.
boiling water upon it, cover the jug close, let stand ¼ hour, and
then add 1 bot. boiling white wine; grate half a nutmeg into it, stir
well together, sweeten to taste. In making port wine negus, omit the
jelly. Negus is not confined to any particular sort of wine; if the
jelly is omitted, it can be made with any or several sorts mixed
together.
_Wines, British._--There are many persons who would rather buy their
drinks than have the trouble and expense of making them. Such will be
glad to know that Beaufoy’s British wines and non-alcoholic drinks
are to be recommended before all others.
_THE PANTRY._
=Bread.=--Household bread may be made with brewers’ yeast (barm) or
with German yeast.
(_a_) _With Brewers’ Yeast._--Take a small quantity--say 2 lb. flour.
This should be perfectly dry, or the dough will not rise well. Put
it into a bowl--a brown earthenware one glazed on the inside is
best--which should also be perfectly dry, and in the winter slightly
warmed. Stir in 1 teaspoonful salt, then make a hole about 1½ in. in
depth in the centre of the flour. Have ready 1½ tablespoonful fresh
brewers’ yeast, mixed in 1 teaspoonful warm--not _hot_--water; pour
this into the hole, and stir a handful of flour lightly into it with
a wooden spoon. Then cover with flour again, lightly. Lay a thick
cloth over the pan, taking care that it does not press on the flour,
and stand it in a warm corner. When the flour at the top of the
yeast begins to crack, and the “sponge”--i.e., fermented dough--runs
through, which, if the yeast be perfectly fresh and good, it will
do in about ½ hour; it is then fit to knead. Now the potatoes may
be added, but they must first be finely mashed. A jug of warm water
must be ready, and a small quantity at a time poured into a pan; this
should be thoroughly mixed with the other ingredients--_not_ with a
spoon this time, but the hand. Continue pouring in water and mixing
till the mass is perfectly free from lumps, and about the consistency
of pastry for pies or puddings. Then turn it out of the pan on to a
well-floured pastry board, and roll to and fro for about 3 minutes.
Put it back into the pan, again covered with a thick cloth, and
leave to rise. Another ½ hour or so will find it fit for the oven.
This can easily be ascertained by pulling the dough slightly apart;
if it be close and heavy, it must remain a while longer; but if it
looks spongy and rises again quickly after the pressure is removed,
it is ready for the baking. If tins are to be used, they should be
warmed, and a very little butter or dripping should be rubbed over
the bottom and sides, to prevent the dough sticking. Many people
prefer “cottage” or “batch” loaves as they are called in some
countries, made something in the shape of a brioche cake; but a tyro
in the art will find it safest to trust to the tins till she has by
practice become light-fingered enough to manipulate the dough easily
and quickly; for it must be borne in mind that dough, like pastry,
becomes heavy by rough or too frequent handling. (Bessie Tremaine.)
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.