UNDER this head may be classed muffins, griddle-cakes, crumpets, corn
bread, Sally Lunn, quick biscuits, and a dozen other varieties of warm
bread suitable for breakfast and tea. They furnish a very pleasant
variety in the daily bill of fare, and are extremely popular.
Nor are they unwholesome if properly made and cooked, and eaten by well
people. To weak and impaired digestive organs all kinds of warm bread
are hurtful.
English Muffins.
One quart of sifted flour.
Two cups of lukewarm water.
Half a cup of yeast.
One tablespoonful of butter melted, but not hot. One
teaspoonful of salt sifted with the flour.
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, make a hole in the middle and pour
in yeast and warm water. Stir down the flour gradually into the liquid,
and when all is in, beat hard with a wooden spoon. Should the mixture
be too stiff for this, add a little more water. It should be about half
as thick as bread-dough. Beat for five minutes and set aside to rise,
with a cloth thrown over the bowl, in a moderately warm corner.
Early in the morning stir the melted butter into the dough, beat hard
for two minutes, and leave for half an hour in the covered bowl in a
warm place—such as on a stool near the fire—turning it several times.
Grease muffin-rings well with sweet lard, arrange them upon a greased
griddle set over the fire and already warmed (not really hot), fill
about half-way to the top with batter, and bake quickly. When the dough
fills the rings and begins to look firm on the top, slip a knife under
one and peep at the under side. If it is delicately browned, turn the
rings over with a spatula or cake-turner. This must be done quickly and
dexterously, so as not to spill the batter.
When quite done, wrap a thick cloth about your fingers, take up the
muffin-rings one by one; pass a sharp knife around the inside of each,
to loosen the muffin, and shake it out upon a hot plate. Pile them up
neatly and cover with a clean napkin. These muffins must be broken, not
cut open, and buttered while hot.
The English split, toast and butter cold muffins.
Crumpets.
Two cups of lukewarm milk.
Two thirds of a cup of lukewarm water.
One quart of sifted flour.
One tablespoonful of white sugar.
Half a teaspoonful of salt.
Two tablespoonfuls of melted butter.
Half a cupful of yeast.
Soda the size of a pea, dissolved in a teaspoonful of
boiling water.
Mix milk, yeast, water, sugar and salted flour as directed in former
receipt. Beat hard, and set to rise over night. In the morning work in
the butter and soda, beat up for one whole minute until the mixture is
light throughout, and half-fill greased patty-pans with it. Set these
in a baking-pan, cover with a cloth, and let them stand in a warm place
fifteen minutes before putting them into a steady oven. They should be
done in from twelve to fifteen minutes if the oven is right. If they
brown too fast, cover them with paper.
Quick Muffins.
One quart of sifted flour.
One tablespoonful of salt.
Three cups lukewarm milk.
Two eggs.
One tablespoonful of melted butter.
Two teaspoonfuls of baking powder.
Sift flour, baking-powder and salt _twice_ through the sieve, to make
sure these are well mixed together. Beat the eggs very light. (By
all means have a Dover Egg-Beater for this purpose. It whips eggs to
a lovely froth with less labor and in less time than any other yet
invented.)
Stir melted butter, eggs and milk together in a large bowl, and to this
add the flour, a cupful at a time, stirring very quickly and lightly
down toward the middle of the bowl. Beat hard _up_ one minute at the
last, to break flour-lumps; half-fill greased patty-pans with the
batter, and then bake in a quick oven.
Turn out and eat while puffy and hot.