beat in gradually enough flour to make a very soft dough. Beat for
ten minutes, cover and set in a very warm place for eight hours. Now
stir a teaspoonful of salt into a pint of lukewarm milk and add enough
flour to make a stiff batter before working it into the risen dough.
Mix thoroughly, cover, and set again in a warm place to rise until very
light. Turn into a wooden bowl and knead in enough flour to make the
batter of the consistency of ordinary bread dough. Make into loaves and
set these to rise, and, when light, bake.
“Salt-rising” bread (No. 2)
(Contributed)
Put a quart of warm water,—not scalding hot, but at blood-heat,—into
a pitcher, deep and of narrow mouth. Beat into it one teaspoonful
of sugar, one-half teaspoonful of salt, a lump of soda not larger
than a pea and (not necessarily, but preferably) a tablespoonful of
corn-meal, with enough flour to make a rather thick, but not really
stiff, batter. Set your pitcher, well covered, into a stone jar or
other deep vessel, and surround it with blood-warm water, setting it
where such temperature will be quite evenly maintained. Never allow
it to reach scalding heat. In two and a half hours, or, at the very
most, three and a half, you will have foaming yeast. Now take a pan
of flour, make a hole in the center, pour in the foaming yeast with
as much water, gradually mixed with the yeast and flour, as will make
the number of loaves desired. Do not make the dough very stiff. It
should quake visibly when the pan is shaken. Cover well with dry flour
and clean cloths, set in a warm place (temperature 80 degrees or 100
degrees Fahrenheit, or thereabouts), and, as soon as light, knead into
loaves, which will soon rise enough for baking. Do not delay baking
after the last rising, or your bread may have a slightly sour taste.
Bake thoroughly, and no better or more wholesome fermented bread could
be asked for.
Sweet potato bread
Dissolve one cake of compressed yeast in one-fourth cup of lukewarm
water, add one cup of scalded milk (blood-warm), one tablespoonful of
salt, one-half cup of sugar and one full cup of sweet potato, roasted,
scraped from the skins, worked to a cream with three tablespoonfuls of
melted butter, then allowed to cool. Beat all together until light, and
stir in with a wooden spoon flour to make a soft dough. Throw a cloth
over the bread-bowl and set in a warm place until well risen. Make into
small loaves; let them rise for an hour, and bake in a brisk oven.
This is also a Virginia recipe. You may substitute Irish for sweet
potatoes if you like.
Buttermilk bread
Into a chopping-bowl put a quart of flour which has been sifted three
times with half a teaspoonful of baking powder, the same quantity
of baking soda, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt. Chop into
this flour a heaping tablespoonful of butter until the shortening is
thoroughly incorporated. Work in gradually a pint of buttermilk—or
enough to make a soft bread dough. Turn into a greased bread tin and
bake in a steady oven for an hour. Cover with paper for the first
half-hour, that the bread may have an opportunity to rise before the
crust forms. Turn out and send to the table while very hot. Cut with
a sharp knife into slices, which must be generously buttered. While
perhaps this bread is not to be recommended to people who suffer from
weak digestions, it will be liked by those whose gastric apparatus is
in proper working order.
If you can not get buttermilk, loppered milk will do as well.
German coffee bread
Heat a cup of milk to scalding, but do not let it boil. Stir into it
while hot two tablespoonfuls of cottolene (never lard), or butter, two
tablespoonfuls of sugar and a little salt. Let it cool to blood-warmth,
when add half a yeast-cake dissolved in one-quarter cup of blood-warm
milk, and flour to make a stiff batter. Cover, and let rise until
light. Add one-half cup of seeded raisins, cut into pieces. Spread
one-half inch thick in a buttered dripping-pan; cover and let rise.
Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake
in a moderate oven for half an hour. Cover for half of that time with
thick paper.
Graham bread without yeast
To three and one-half cups of graham flour add two cups of sour milk,
one cup of New Orleans molasses, a pinch of salt and one teaspoonful of
soda dissolved in hot water. Bake in a slow oven one hour.
HOT BREAKFAST BREADS
Hot breads—comprising griddle-cakes, biscuits, muffins, Sally Lunns and
crumpets—may not be wholesome for everybody. I seriously incline to the
belief that they are not, especially in warm weather, and if partaken
of too freely.
But the best types of these are good, and their appearance upon the
board where John had looked for stale bread, or charred toast, is a
means of breakfast grace not to be underrated by the wise housewife.
She is a canny woman who runs down into the kitchen for ten or fifteen
minutes on a stormy morning, or when the bread is especially dry, or
John is “a wee bit blue,” and tosses up (always by rule and measure)
ingredients that come out of a quick oven, puffy, hot, delicious, to
gladden the boys’ hearts and give their father pleasanter food for
consideration than business worries. If the men of any family were
called upon for their opinion of what a dietetic crank, better versed
in anatomy and chemistry than in courtesy, once anathematized at my
breakfast table as “rank poison, madam! and nothing short of a sin!”
they would say of his tabooed hot breads—“Naughty! but nice!”
One John—who hankers for the buckwheat cakes and sausage of his boyhood
as the wanderers in the wilderness, their souls a-weary of manna,
lusted for Egyptian flesh-pots—maintains, upon fairly tenable hygienic
principles, that warm bread is made unwholesome because it is not
masticated properly.
“We chew stale bread,” he says. “We bolt griddle-cakes and muffins
because they are soft and easily swallowed. Give the salivary glands a
chance to act upon them and they will not harm you.”
The prescription is easily tried.
Breakfast rolls (No. 1)
Sift a quart of flour with a half-teaspoonful of salt and a teaspoonful
of sugar, rub into it a tablespoonful of butter, add a cup of warm
milk and a third of a yeast-cake that has been dissolved in three
tablespoonfuls of warm water, and knead this dough for twenty minutes.
Set to rise for six or eight hours, make into rolls, put these into a
greased baking-pan, and let them rise for half an hour longer before
baking.
Breakfast rolls (No. 2)
Sift a quart of flour and stir into it a saltspoonful of salt, a
teaspoonful of sugar, a cup of warm milk, two tablespoonfuls of melted
cottolene or other fat, and two beaten eggs. Dissolve a quarter of a
cake of compressed yeast in a little warm milk and beat in last of all.
Set the dough in a bowl to rise until morning. Early in the morning
make quickly and lightly into rolls, and set to rise near the range for
twenty minutes. Bake for about an hour.
Parker house rolls
One cup of scalded milk (not boiled) left to cool until a little more
than blood-warm, one-half yeast-cake dissolved in four tablespoonfuls
of warm water, one tablespoonful of butter, three cups of flour, or a
little less, one even tablespoonful of sugar, one-half teaspoonful of
salt.
Melt the butter in the milk, add salt, sugar and yeast with rather less
than half the flour. Make a sponge of these ingredients, beat hard for
five minutes and set in a warm, sheltered place to rise.
It should be quite light in an hour and a half in winter, an hour in
summer. Work in the rest of the flour until you have a soft dough.
Knead three minutes and set to rise with a folded cloth over the bowl
to exclude the air. When it has doubled its original bulk, turn out
upon your kneading-board, and work quickly, but lightly, with fingers,
not fists, for one minute. Roll with quick strokes and few into a
thick sheet, rub over with melted butter (not hot). Roll up and knead
one minute longer to incorporate the butter. Pull off bits of the
dough three times as large as a walnut, and roll on the board into the
desired shape. Arrange close together in the baking-pan. Cover and let
them rise for half an hour, again doubling their size; then bake in a
brisk, steady oven. Twenty minutes should suffice. When they have been
in five minutes cover with whitey-brown grocer’s paper. Five minutes
before the time is up take this off and brown.
Vienna rolls
Set a plain bread sponge at six o’clock in the evening. At bedtime make
out a dough as directed for home-made bread. Cover in your mixing-bowl
and set in a moderately warm place until six o’clock next morning. Make
into round rolls as large as a small egg; set in a floured baking-pan
so far apart that they will not touch as they rise; cover and leave for
an hour. Just before they go into the oven cut half through the middle
of each with a floured, sharp knife. Bake in a moderate oven to form
a good crust. Cover at the end of ten minutes with paper. Remove this
fifteen minutes later and brown.
Raised apple biscuits
(An old Virginia recipe)
One cup of scalded milk left to become blood-warm; one tablespoonful
of butter melted in the milk; one tablespoonful of sugar; one-half
teaspoonful of salt; one-half teaspoonful of baking-soda; one-half cake
compressed yeast, dissolved in warm water; one cupful of grated apple;
enough flour for making soft dough.
Mix the sugar with the butter and milk, and add the yeast. Sift salt
twice with a cupful of flour. Make a hole in the middle and pour in the
liquid. Beat into a batter and let it rise four hours. When light, sift
the soda twice with another cupful of flour; grate the just-pared apple
into the batter and beat in before it can change color. Finally, work
in the sifted flour and soda. Let it rise for an hour, make into round,
flat cakes with your hand; set close together in a pan, and when very
light bake in a moderate oven. They are very good split open while hot,
and buttered and sugared.
Sally Lunn
Sift together a pint of flour, a half-teaspoonful of salt and the same
of powdered sugar.
In a large bowl beat stiff two eggs, pour on them a half-cup of warm
milk, three tablespoonfuls of butter, melted, and a quarter of a
tablespoonful of baking soda dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water.
Now slowly beat in the sifted flour and a quarter of a yeast-cake
dissolved in half a cup of warm water. Whip to a smooth batter, and
turn into a large greased mold to rise. In the morning set the mold
in a steady oven and bake for half an hour, or until a straw pierced
through the center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out and serve at
once.
Dried rusk
(An old Dutch family recipe)
Mix together a pint of milk, four tablespoonfuls of melted butter, a
teaspoonful of salt and a half-cake of yeast dissolved in a half-cup
of lukewarm water. Add enough flour to make a thick batter, beat it in
well, cover the bowl containing this, and set in a warm place for two
hours. Now work in the beaten eggs, and, when these are incorporated,
add enough flour to make a dough that can easily be rolled out. Set to
rise for two hours longer, then turn upon a floured board, roll out
and cut into round biscuits. Lay in a baking-pan and set these near
the range to rise for half an hour. Bake, and when done leave in the
open oven to dry out. See that the fire is so low that the rusk will
dry, not brown or burn. If you can spare the oven so long leave the
rusk in it for six or eight hours; then set in a dry closet for several
days before using. When you wish to use them lay in a deep bowl, pour
iced milk upon them and let them soak until soft. Serve very cold with
butter.
They are delicious for summer-morning breakfasts.
Caraway biscuits
(Contributed)
Sift together three pints of flour, one teaspoonful of salt and
one and one-half teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Rub into this four
tablespoonfuls of shortening. Add two tablespoonfuls of caraway seed,
two eggs, well beaten, and one pint of milk. Mix this into a smooth,
firm dough. Knead quickly; roll out to about a quarter of an inch in
thickness and cut with a large biscuit-cutter. Prick with a fork, lay
on greased baking tins and bake in a hot oven fifteen minutes.
Egg biscuits
(Contributed)
Sift together a quart of flour and two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
Rub into this a piece of butter the size of an egg. Add two well-beaten
eggs, one teaspoonful of sugar and one teaspoonful of salt. Mix
together quickly with one cup of milk or more if needed. Roll to
one-half inch thickness, cut into biscuits and bake at once in a quick
oven twenty minutes.
French rolls
(Contributed)
To three cupfuls of sweet milk add a cup of shortening and one-half
cake of compressed yeast and one teaspoonful of salt. Add flour enough
to make a stiff dough. Let this rise over night. In the morning add two
well-beaten eggs; knead thoroughly and let rise again. Make into balls
about as large as an egg and then roll between the hands. Place close
together on well buttered pans. Cover, let rise again, then bake in a
quick oven to a delicate brown.
Fruit rolls
(Contributed)
Sift two cupfuls of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, one-half
teaspoonful of salt thoroughly together and mix with two-thirds cup
of milk. Roll to a quarter of an inch thickness. Brush over with two
tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Mix together one-third cupful of
stoned raisins, chopped fine, two teaspoonfuls of citron, chopped fine,
two teaspoonfuls of sugar and one-third teaspoonful of cinnamon. Spread
this mixture over the dough, roll up like a jelly roll, cut in pieces
three-fourths of an inch in thickness, and bake in quick oven fifteen
minutes.
Hot cross buns
(Contributed)
To three cups of milk add flour enough to make a thick batter. Into
this stir one cake of compressed yeast dissolved in warm water. Set
this to rise over night. In the morning add a few spoonfuls of melted
butter and one-half spoonful of grated nutmeg, one saltspoon of salt,
one teaspoonful of soda, and flour enough to make a stiff dough like
biscuit. Knead well and let rise five hours. Roll to one-half inch
thickness, cut in round cakes and put in buttered baking pans. Let
stand until light. Make a deep gash in each with a knife. Bake in
moderate oven till light brown. Brush over the top with the beaten
white of an egg and powdered sugar.
Currant buns
Warm a cupful of cream in a double boiler, take it from the fire and
stir into it a cupful of melted butter which has not been allowed to
cook in melting. Beat three eggs very light, add them to the cream and
butter, then stir in a cupful of sugar. Dissolve a half-cake of yeast
in a couple of tablespoonfuls of water, sift a good quart of flour,
make a hollow in it, stir into it the yeast and then, after adding to
the other mixture a teaspoonful, each, of powdered mace and cinnamon,
put in the flour and yeast. Beat all well for a few minutes, add a
cupful of currants that have been washed, dried and dredged with flour,
pour into a shallow baking pan, let it rise for several hours until it
has doubled in size, bake one hour in a rather quick oven. Sprinkle
with fine sugar when done.
Raised muffins
In a quart of warm milk dissolve thoroughly half a yeast-cake. Stir
into this two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a teaspoonful of salt, and a
tablespoonful of melted cottolene or other fat. Add enough flour to
make a quite stiff batter—not dough—and set to rise over night. In the
morning whip into the batter four well-beaten eggs and turn into heated
and greased muffin-tins. Bake at once.
English muffins
Bring a pint of milk to the boiling point and stir into it a
teaspoonful of cottolene or other fat. Set aside until the mixture is
lukewarm, then add two cups of flour into which a teaspoonful of salt
has been sifted. Now beat in half a yeast-cake dissolved in a quarter
of a cup of warm water, and set the batter aside to rise all night.
In the morning add a cup of sifted flour, and with floured hands make
lightly into round muffins and set to rise in greased muffin-tins for
half an hour. Slip the rings and their contents on to a greased griddle
and bake, first on one side, then on the other, until done.
English crumpets (No. 1)
Mix together three gills of lukewarm water, a half-teaspoonful, each,
of salt and sugar and a teaspoonful of melted butter; then dissolve a
quarter of a yeast-cake in this mixture. Into this stir enough flour
to make a very stiff batter. Beat for ten minutes, adding as you do
so enough lukewarm milk to make batter just stiff enough to be poured
slowly from the bowl. Grease shallow muffin-rings, place these on a
soapstone griddle, and when hot pour the batter into them to the depth
of a quarter-inch and bake slowly, not turning until brown on the under
side. Then turn for just a few minutes.
English crumpets (No. 2)
On baking-day take a pint of dough from your bread-bowl an hour before
breakfast. Put into a bowl and make a hole in the middle. Have ready
two eggs beaten very light, and work them into the dough. Then thin it
with milk and water to the consistency of griddle-cakes; beat it well,
let it rise until breakfast, bake them on a hot griddle, butter and
send to the table hot.
QUICK BISCUITS, ETCETERA
Milk biscuits
One quart flour, three cups of milk, one tablespoonful mixed butter
and cottolene or other fat, one heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder,
half-teaspoonful of salt. Sift the salt with the flour, chop in the
butter and cottolene or other fat, add the baking-powder and the milk
and mix to a soft dough. Handle as little as possible. Roll out into a
sheet an inch thick, cut into rounds and bake in a floured pan.
Milk-and-water biscuits
Make as in the preceding recipe, but using one and one-half cups of
milk and the same quantity of water. Some housewives prefer these to
the all-milk biscuits, alleging that the milk tends to make the dough
heavy.
Quick Sally Lunn
A quart of flour sifted twice with a teaspoonful of baking-powder, one
cupful of milk, one-half cupful of melted butter, four eggs, beaten
light; one teaspoonful of salt. Add the sifted flour last, in great
handfuls, stirring all the time, as long as you can use a spoon. The
dough should be very soft; in fact, almost a batter. Bake in a mold
with a funnel in the middle, and eat while hot.
Potato biscuits
Boil and mash six or eight potatoes. While warm, lay on a floured
pastry-board, and run the rolling-pin over and over them until they are
free from lumps. Turn into a bowl, wet with a cup of sweet milk, add
a teaspoonful of melted butter; when well mixed work in half a cup of
salted flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Return to the board,
roll out quickly and lightly into a thin sheet, and cut into round
cakes. Bake in a quick oven. Butter as soon as they are done, laying
one on top of the other in a pile. Eat before they fall.
The excellence of potato biscuits depends very greatly upon the
softness of the dough, light handling, and quick baking. If properly
made, they will be found extremely nice. They are a favorite Irish dish.
Graham biscuits
Stir together in a chopping-bowl a pint of graham flour and a half-pint
of white flour. To this add a teaspoonful of salt, one of sugar, and
two rounded teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Mix thoroughly, and chop
into the mixture two tablespoonfuls of cottelene or other fat. Add
a pint of milk, and if the mixture is then too stiff to handle, add
enough water to make into a soft dough. Turn upon a floured board,
roll out, and cut into biscuits, handling as little and as lightly as
possible. Bake in a steady oven.
Virginia beaten biscuits
One pint of flour, one cup of water, one teaspoonful of salt. Mix into
a stiff dough; transfer to a floured block of wood and beat with a
rolling-pin, steadily, for ten minutes, shifting the dough often and
turning it over several times. In the olden days half an hour was the
regulation time, but ten minutes are enough if one has a strict eye to
business. Cut into round cakes, prick with a straw and bake in a brisk
oven.
MUFFINS AND THEIR CONGENERS
Whole wheat muffins
Into a quart of whole wheat flour stir a teaspoonful of salt and
two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Beat three eggs light and stir
them into three cups of rich milk. Add these to the flour, stir in a
tablespoonful of melted cottolene or other fat, and beat very hard for
at least five minutes. Turn into greased muffin-tins and bake in a
quick oven.
Oatmeal muffins
(Contributed)
To one cup of oatmeal mush add one-half cup of milk, one well-beaten
egg, one teaspoonful of butter, one tablespoonful of sugar and one cup
of flour in which has been sifted two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
Stir well together and bake in hot muffin-pans.
Sally’s muffins
One egg; a tablespoonful of sugar; one-quarter cup of butter. Beat all
together thoroughly. Add one cup of milk, a little salt and one cup of
flour into which is sifted two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Now add
enough flour to make a batter a little stiffer than for griddle-cakes.
Bake in well-buttered, hot muffin-tins.
Risen brunette muffins
Cream together two tablespoonfuls of brown sugar and one tablespoonful
of butter and add to it three cups of warm (not hot) milk. Sift into a
bowl three cups of graham flour and one of white, with a teaspoonful
of salt. Pour into this the butter, sugar and milk mixture and add a
cup of warm milk in which half a yeast-cake has been dissolved. Beat
thoroughly and set in a warm place to rise for at least six hours.
Butter muffin-tins, half fill with the mixture, and set on a stool by
the range to rise for fifteen minutes before baking in a steady oven.
Graham puffs
Thoroughly beat the yolks of four eggs, and whip the whites to a stiff
meringue. To the yolks add a pint of milk, a teaspoonful of salt, three
teaspoonfuls of melted cottolene or other fat, and a tablespoonful of
sugar. Sift two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder into a quart of graham
flour and stir this gradually into the milk and yolks. Beat until all
lumps are gone and you have a smooth batter, then, with a few strong
strokes, add the stiffened whites of the eggs. Half fill deep heated
muffin-tins with the batter and bake at once in a hot but steady oven.
Graham gems (No. 1)
Into a quart of warm milk stir four eggs that have been beaten only a
little, add a tablespoonful, each, of melted butter and sugar. Add now,
gradually, three cupfuls of graham flour that has been sifted with a
heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder. Beat very hard for seven or eight
minutes and bake in greased and heated gem pans.
Graham gems (No. 2)
Into a pint of warm milk whip three unbeaten eggs, one tablespoonful
of melted butter and a teaspoonful of sugar. Gradually stir in a cup
and a half of graham flour and beat hard for several minutes. Turn into
heated gem pans, and bake in a very hot oven. Serve immediately.
Rice muffins
Make a batter of a quart of milk, three beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of
melted butter, a teaspoonful, each, of salt and sugar, and two cups of
prepared flour. Mix thoroughly and beat in a cup of cold boiled rice.
Beat very hard and bake in a quick oven.
Graham muffins
Rub to a cream a tablespoonful of sugar and two of butter. Into this
beat four eggs. Sift a teaspoonful of baking-powder into three cups of
graham flour, add the butter and egg mixture, and beat very hard. Turn
into heated and greased muffin-tins and bake in a very hot oven.
Popovers
Two cups of flour, sifted twice with one teaspoonful of baking-powder;
half a teaspoonful of salt; two cups of milk; one egg, beaten very
light. Beat for four minutes and bake in hot, buttered _pâté_, or gem
pans, in a brisk oven. Serve at once.
WAFFLES
Risen waffles
Four eggs; two cups of milk; three tablespoonfuls of melted butter;
one tablespoonful of sugar; three cupfuls of flour, sifted with half a
teaspoonful of salt; one-half yeast-cake dissolved in warm water. Beat
well and long; set in a warm place to rise and bake in waffle-irons.
Rice waffles
One cup of boiled rice; one pint of sweet milk; two eggs; one
teaspoonful of baking-powder; one teaspoonful of salt; a tablespoonful
of butter and flour to make a thin batter. Sift salt, baking-powder
and one scant cup of flour twice together; add milk and eggs, beat in
butter and rice. Beat two minutes.
Quick waffles
Two cups of flour sifted twice with one teaspoonful of baking-powder
and the same of salt. Three eggs; one tablespoonful of butter or
cottolene or other fat. Two cupfuls of milk.
Beat the yolks smooth, add the milk, and turn this upon the prepared
flour. Whip lightly and quickly for one minute, add the stiffened
whites and drop by the spoonful into heated and greased waffle-irons.
GRIDDLE CAKES