Take a quart of buckwheat meal, mix with it a tea-spoonful of salt,
and add a handful of Indian meal. Pour two table-spoonfuls of the best
brewer's yeast into the centre of the meal. Then mix it with lukewarm
water till it becomes a batter. Cover it, put it in a warm place and
set it to rise; it will take about three hours. When it is quite light,
and covered with bubbles, it is fit to bake. Put your griddle over the
fire, and let it get quite hot before you begin. Grease it well with
a piece of butter tied in a rag. Then dip out a large ladle full of
the batter and bake it on the griddle; turning it with a broad wooden
paddle. Let the cakes be of large size, and even at the edges. Ragged
edges to batter cakes look very badly. Butter them as you take them off
the griddle. Put several on a plate, and cut them across in six pieces.
Grease the griddle anew, between baking each cake.
If your batter has been mixed over night and is found to be sour in the
morning, melt in warm water a piece of pearl-ash the size of a grain of
corn, or a little larger; stir it into the batter; let it set half an
hour, and then bake it. The pearl-ash will remove the sour taste, and
increase the lightness of the cakes.
FLANNEL CAKES.--Put a table-spoonful of butter into a quart of milk,
and warm them together till the butter has melted; then stir it well,
and set it away to cool. Beat five eggs as light as possible, and stir
them into the milk in turn with three pints of sifted flour; add a
small tea-spoonful of salt, and a large table-spoonful and a half of
the best fresh yeast. Set the pan of batter near the fire to rise; and
if the yeast is good, it will be light in three hours. Then bake it on
a griddle in the manner of buckwheat cakes. Send them to table hot, and
cut across into four pieces. This batter may be baked in waffle-irons.
If so, send to table with the cakes powdered white sugar and cinnamon.
INDIAN BATTER CAKES.--Mix together a quart of sifted Indian meal, (the
yellow meal is best for all purposes,) and a handful of wheat flour.
Warm a quart of milk, and stir into it a small tea-spoonful of salt,
and two large table-spoonfuls of the best fresh yeast. Beat three eggs
very light, and stir them gradually into the milk in turn with the
meal. Cover it, and set it to rise for three or four hours. When quite
light, bake it on a griddle in the manner of buckwheat cakes. Butter
them, cut them across, and send them to table hot, with molasses in a
sauce-boat.
If the batter should chance to become sour before it is baked, stir
in about a salt-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in a little lukewarm
water; and let it set half an hour longer before it is baked.
INDIAN MUSH CAKES.--Pour into a pan three pints of cold water, and stir
gradually into it a quart of sifted Indian meal which has been mixed
with half a pint of wheat flour, and a small tea-spoonful of salt. Give
it a hard stirring at the last. Have ready a hot griddle, and bake the
batter immediately, in cakes about the size of a saucer. Send them to
table piled evenly, but not cut. Eat them with butter or molasses.
This is the most economical and expeditious way of making soft Indian
cakes; but it cannot be recommended as the best. It will be some
improvement to mix the meal with milk rather than water.
JOHNNY CAKE.--Sift a quart of Indian meal into a pan; make a hole in
the middle, and pour in a pint of warm water. Mix the meal and water
gradually into a batter, adding a small tea-spoonful of salt. Beat
it very hard, and for a long time, till it becomes quite light. Then
spread it thick and even on a stout piece of smooth board. Place
it upright on the hearth before a clear fire, with a flat iron or
something of the sort to support the board behind, and bake it well.
Cut it into squares, and split and butter them hot.
INDIAN FLAPPERS.--Have ready a pint of sifted Indian meal, mixed with
a handful of wheat flour, and a small tea-spoonful of salt. Beat four
eggs very light, and stir them by degrees into a quart of milk, in turn
with the meal. They can be made in a very short time, and should be
baked as soon as mixed, on a hot griddle; allow a large ladle full of
batter to each cake, and make them all of the same size. Send them to
table hot, buttered and cut in half.
INDIAN MUFFINS.--Sift and mix together a pint and a half of yellow
Indian meal, and a handful of wheat flour. Melt a quarter of a pound of
fresh butter in a quart of milk. Beat four eggs very light, and stir
into them alternately (a little at a time of each) the milk when it
is quite cold, and the meal; adding a small tea-spoonful of salt. The
whole must be beaten long and hard. Then butter some muffin rings; set
them on a hot griddle, and pour some of the batter into each.
Send the muffins to table hot, and split them by pulling them open with
your fingers, as a knife will make them heavy. Eat them with butter,
molasses or honey.
WATER MUFFINS.--Put four table-spoonfuls of fresh strong yeast into a
pint of lukewarm water. Add a little salt; about a small tea-spoonful;
then stir in gradually as much sifted flour as will make a thick
batter. Cover the pan, and set it in a warm place to rise. When it is
quite light, and your griddle is hot, grease and set your muffin rings
on it; having first buttered them round the inside. Dip out a ladle
full of the batter for each ring, and bake them over a quick fire. Send
them to table hot, and split them by pulling them open with your hands.
COMMON MUFFINS.--Having melted three table-spoonfuls of fresh butter
in three pints of warm milk, set it away to cool. Then beat three eggs
as light as possible, and stir them gradually into the milk when it is
quite cold; adding a tea-spoonful of salt. Stir in by degrees enough
of sifted flour to make a batter as thick as you can conveniently beat
it; and lastly, add two table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast from the
brewery. Cover the batter and set it in a warm place to rise. It should
be light in about three hours. Having heated your griddle, grease it
with some butter tied in a rag; grease your muffin rings round the
inside, and set them on the griddle. Take some batter out of the pan
with a ladle or a large spoon, pour it lightly into the rings, and bake
the muffins of a light brown. When done, break or split them open with
your fingers; butter them and send them to table hot.
SODA BISCUITS.--Melt half a pound of butter in a pint of warm milk,
adding a tea-spoonful of soda; and stir in by degrees half a pound of
sugar. Then sift into a pan two pounds of flour; make a hole in the
middle; pour in the milk, &c., and mix it with the flour into a dough.
Put it on your paste-board, and knead it long and hard till it becomes
very light. Roll it out into a sheet half an inch thick. Cut it into
little round cakes with the top of a wine glass, or with a tin cutter
of that size; prick the tops; lay them on tins sprinkled with flour, or
in shallow iron pans; and bake them of a light brown in a quick oven;
they will be done in a few minutes. These biscuits keep very well.
A SALLY LUNN.--This cake is called after the inventress. Sift into a
pan a pound and a half of flour. Make a hole in the middle, and put
in two ounces of butter warmed in a pint of milk, a salt-spoonful of
salt, three well-beaten eggs, and two table-spoonfuls of the best fresh
yeast. Mix the flour well into the other ingredients, and put the whole
into a square tin pan that has been greased with butter. Cover it, set
it in a warm place, and when it is quite light, bake it in a moderate
oven. Send it to table hot, and eat it with butter.
Or, you may bake it on a griddle, in small muffin rings, pulling the
cakes open and buttering them when brought to table.
SHORT CAKES.--Rub three quarters of a pound of fresh butter into a
pound and a half of sifted flour; and make it into a dough with a
little cold water. Roll it out into a sheet half an inch thick, and cut
it into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler. Prick them with a fork;
lay them in a shallow iron pan sprinkled with flour, and bake them in
a moderate oven till they are brown. Send them to table hot; split and
butter them.
TEA BISCUIT.--Melt a quarter of a pound of fresh butter in a quart of
warm milk, and add a salt-spoonful of salt. Sift two pounds of flour
into a pan, make a hole in the centre, and put in three table-spoonfuls
of the best brewer's yeast. Add the milk and butter and mix it into a
stiff paste. Cover it and set it by the fire to rise. When quite light,
knead it well, roll it out an inch thick, and cut it into round cakes
with the edge of a tumbler. Prick the top of each with a fork; lay them
in buttered pans and bake them light brown. Send them to table warm,
and split and butter them.
RICE CAKES.--Pick and wash half a pint of rice, and boil it very soft.
Then drain it, and let it get cold. Sift a pint and a half of flour
over the pan of rice, and mix in a quarter of a pound of butter that
has been warmed by the fire, and a salt-spoonful of salt. Beat five
eggs very light, and stir them gradually into a quart of milk. Beat the
whole very hard, and bake it in muffin rings, or in waffle-irons. Send
them to table hot, and eat them with butter, honey, or molasses.
You may make these cakes of rice flour instead of mixing together whole
rice and wheat flour.
CREAM CAKES.--Having beaten three eggs very light, stir them into a
quart of cream alternately with a quart of sifted flour; and add one
wine glass of strong yeast, and a salt-spoon of salt. Cover the batter,
and set it near the fire to rise. When it is quite light, stir in a
large table-spoonful of butter that has been warmed by the fire. Bake
the cakes in muffin rings, and send them to table hot, split with your
fingers, and buttered.
FRENCH ROLLS.--Sift a pound of flour into a pan, and rub into it two
ounces of butter; mix in the whites only of three eggs, beaten to a
stiff froth, and a table-spoonful of strong yeast; add sufficient milk
to make a stiff dough, and a salt-spoonful of salt. Cover it and set
it before the fire to rise. It should be light in an hour. Then put it
on a paste-board, divide it into rolls, or round cakes; lay them in a
floured square pan, and bake them about ten minutes in a quick oven.
COMMON ROLLS.--Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and mix with it a
tea-spoonful of salt. Warm together a jill of water and a jill of milk.
Make a hole in the middle of the pan of flour; mix with the milk and
water a jill of the best yeast, and pour it into the hole. Mix into the
liquid enough of the surrounding flour to make a thin batter, which you
must stir till quite smooth and free from lumps. Then strew a handful
of flour over the top, and set it in a warm place to rise for two hours
or more. When it is quite light, and has cracked on the top, make it
into a dough with some more milk and water. Knead it well for ten
minutes. Cover it, and set it again to rise for twenty minutes. Then
make the dough into rolls or round balls. Bake them in a square pan,
and send them to table hot, cut in three, buttered and put together
again.