making Maryland biscuit. Believe nobody that says they are not
unwholesome. Yet we have heard of families, in country places, where
neither the mistress nor the cook knew any other preparation of wheat
bread. Better to live on indian cakes.
HOME-MADE BREAD.--You cannot have good bread without good flour, good
yeast, good kneading, and good baking, all united. Like many other
things, the best flour is always the cheapest in the end. There is none
better than that which comes from the mills of Hiram Smith, Rochester,
New York. All flour should be kept in a dry place, damp being always
injurious to it. Good flour goes farther than that of inferior quality,
and is both whiter and lighter. No skill will avail either in making or
baking bread, if the flour is of bad quality. Flour will keep much
better if, as soon as a new barrel is brought in, the whole of it is
sifted, and divided in several buckets. Flour buckets, made for the
purpose, are short and wide, are broader at the bottom than the top, and
have handles and lids. They are to be had of all coopers. Yeast must
always be of the best quality, strong and fresh. With too much yeast the
bread will be bitter; with too little it will be heavy; with stale yeast
it will be heavy, sour, and dark-colored. If baked too little, it
becomes tough and clammy. We deprecate the practice of putting hartshorn
in bread. It gives it a bad taste; and even if it produces a sort of
factitious lightness, it also renders it tough and difficult to
masticate, however nice it may look. Also, it is very unwholesome.
The oven should be heated in time, to set in the bread as soon as ready.
When once it has risen to its utmost lightness, it will fall and turn
sour if permitted to stand. The only remedy for sour bread is, to melt
a table-spoonful of soda or pearlash in tepid water, and sprinkle it
over the dough, which must then be kneaded again, after it has rested
half an hour. In summer, do not begin your bread over night; it will
certainly be sour before morning. In winter you may do so, but keep it
all night in a warm (though not a hot) place. If the dough freezes, you
may throw it away at once.
To knead, double up your hands, put them deep into the dough, and work
it with your knuckles, exerting all your strength. When the dough sticks
to them no longer, but leaves your bent fingers clean and clear, it is
time to cease kneading, for you have done enough for that time.
Sift into a deep pan, or large wooden bowl, a peck of fine wheat flour,
(adding a large table-spoonful of salt,) and mix the water with half a
pint of strong fresh brewer's yeast, or near a whole pint if the yeast
is home-made. Pour this into the hole, in the middle of the heap of
flour. Mix in with a wooden spoon, a portion of the flour from the
surrounding edges of the hole so as to make a thick batter, and having
sprinkled dry flour over the top, let it rest for near an hour. This is
called "_setting the sponge_," or "_making the leaven_." When it has
swelled up to the surface, and burst through the coating of flour that
covered the hole, pour in as much more lukewarm water as will suffice to
mix the whole gradually into a dough. Knead it hard and thoroughly,
leaving no lumps in it, and continue to knead till the dough leaves
your hands. Throw over it a clean thick cloth, and set it in a warm
place to rise again. When it is quite light and cracked all over the
surface, divide it into loaves, and give each loaf a little more
kneading, and let it rest till it has risen as high as it will. Have
your oven quite ready, and (having transferred the loaves to pans,
sprinkled with flour,) bake them well. Try the heat of the oven by
previously throwing in a little flour. If it browns well, and you can
hold your hand in the heat while you count twenty, it is a good
temperature for bread. If the flour scorches black the oven is too hot,
so leave the oven open a little while till it becomes cooler. As soon as
the bread is quite done, take out the loaves, wrap each tightly in a
clean coarse cloth, damped by sprinkling it with water, and stand them
up on their edges. This will prevent the crust from becoming too hard.
Keep the loaves wrapped up after they are deposited in the bread box.
ROLLS--Are made as above, except that they are mixed with warm milk
instead of water, and a little fresh butter rubbed into the dough.
TWIST BREAD.--Before you put the dough into the baking pans, divide it
equally into long thick rolls, (smaller at the ends) and plait or twist
three together.
BRAN BREAD--Is made like any other, only of bran meal; and in setting
the sponge, put _wheat_ flour into the hole, and add to the liquid half
a tea-cupful of nice brown sugar. Bran bread should look very brown. It
should be eaten fresh. When stale, it is too dry and hard. Bran batter
cakes are made and baked like buckwheat.
RYE BREAD.--Is made like wheat bread, but that it requires more kneading
and baking. Rye batter cakes, made like buckwheat, should have one half
corn meal.
BREAD BISCUITS.--When making bread after the dough has risen very light,
take from it a quart or more; knead into it a quarter of a pound of
fresh butter, and form it into tall rolls. Bake them in an oven, and
when done break them apart, but do not cut them with a knife--or, bake
them in flat biscuits, to be split and buttered. Bread dough, with some
butter added to the mixture, will make plain cakes for children, with
the addition of white sugar, powdered cinnamon, some good raisins,
(stoned,) cut in half, and dredged well with flour, to prevent their
clodding or sinking. A beaten egg mixed into the dough is an
improvement. Children, (accustomed only to plain living,) like these
cakes very well, but they must be light and well baked.
BREAD CAKES.--Take slices of stale wheat bread, that has been well made
and light. There should be enough to fill a pint bowl, closely packed.
Put the bread into a deep dish, and pour boiling water upon it. While
the bread is soaking, mix in a crock or jar a pint of milk, and a pint
of wheat flour. Put the soaked bread into a cullender, and let the water
drain off. When the water is drained away, beat the bread _lightly_ with
a fork, but do not press or mash it. Beat two eggs very light and thick,
and gradually stir them into the flour and milk. Then stir in the bread.
Bake the mixture on a griddle in the manner of buckwheat cakes, and eat
them hot with butter. This quantity is for a small family of four
persons.
For a family of moderate size, take a quart of stale bread, a quart of
milk, a quart of flour, and four eggs.
For a large family, two quarts of bread, two quarts of milk, two quarts
of flour, and eight eggs. This quantity will not be more than sufficient
for a large family, as they will all like these cakes.
If you have not enough of stale bread in the house, send for a stale
loaf, rather than not have the proper proportion for the cakes.
MILK BISCUIT.--Warm a pint of milk on the top of the stove, and cut up
in it half a pound of fresh butter, to soften, but not to melt. Sift
into a pan two quarts of flour; make a hole in the middle of the flour,
and pour into it the milk and butter. Beat two eggs till very thick and
smooth, and pour them in also. Lastly, pour into the hole two
wine-glasses of strong fresh brewer's or baker's yeast; or, three of
good home-made yeast. Mix altogether with a broad knife, till it becomes
a lump of soft dough. Then knead it well on your pasteboard, and make it
into round rolls or balls. Knead every ball separately. Flatten them
with your hand into thick biscuits, and prick every one with a fork. Lay
them separately in buttered square pans, and set them to rise. If all is
right, they will be light in little more than an hour. When quite light,
(risen high and cracked all over) set them in a moderate oven, and bake
them a light brown. They should be eaten quite fresh.
RUSK.--Sift a quart of flour into a pan. Make a hole in the centre, and
pour in a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, cut up and softened in
half a pint of milk warmed on the stove. Beat two eggs very light, and
mix them gradually into the hole in the pan of flour, in turn with a
small wine-glass of rose water; or a table-spoonful of the rose water if
as strong as it should be, adding a large tea-spoonful of powdered mace,
nutmeg, and cinnamon. Lastly, a wine-glass and a half of fresh brewer's
yeast. Mix those articles well into the flour, till it becomes a lump of
soft dough. Knead it well on your pasteboard, and divide it into pieces
of equal size. Knead each piece separately. Form them so as to be tall
and high, when finished. Butter an iron pan, lay the rusks in it side by
side, and set them in a warm place to rise again. When quite light, bake
them in a moderate oven, and sift sugar over them when cool.
DRY RUSKS.--Dry rusks are used for infant's food, and for invalids. They
are made plain, without any butter, spice, or rose water, and after
being once baked are split, and baked over till they are all crisp and
browned on the inside. Use them dissolved, by pouring on a little warm
water or milk, and beat them with a spoon to a thick pap.
CROSS BUNS.--Pick clean a pound and a half of dried or Zante currants;
wash, drain, and dry them on a large flat dish placed in a slanting
position near the fire, or in the sun. It will be still better to
substitute for the currants a pound of Sultana (or seedless) raisins,
each raisin cut in half. When quite dry, dredge the fruit _thickly_ with
flour to prevent their sinking or clodding in the cake. Sift into a deep
pan two quarts of flour, and mix thoroughly with it a table-spoonful of
powdered cinnamon, and three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar. Cut
up three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter, into a large half pint of
rich milk. Warm it till the butter is quite soft, but not till it melts.
Make a hole in the centre of the pan of flour, and pour in the mixed
liquid, adding a jill (or two wine-glasses) of strong fresh yeast. Mix
in the flour by degrees, beginning round the edge of the hole, and
proceed gradually till you have the whole mass of ingredients well
incorporated. Cover the pan with a clean thick towel, and set it in a
warm place to rise. When it has risen high, and is cracked all over, mix
in a small tea-spoonful of dissolved soda. Flour your pasteboard, divide
the dough into equal portions, mix in the plums, and _slightly_ knead it
into round cakes the size of a small saucer. Place them on a large dish,
cover them, and set them again to rise in a warm place for half an hour.
Mark every one deeply with a cross, bake them brown, and when done brush
each bun lightly over with a glazing of white of egg, sweetened with
sugar.
CINNAMON BREAD.--On a bread-baking day, (having made more than your
usual quantity of wheat bread,) when the dough has risen quite light,
and is cracked all over the surface, take out as much as will weigh two
pounds. Mix into it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, that has been
cut up and melted in a half pint of milk; and also, three beaten eggs.
Incorporate the butter, milk, and egg, thoroughly with the dough, and
then add (dissolved in a little tepid water,) a salt-spoonful (_not
more_) of soda. Have ready mixed in a bowl a pint of _brown_ sugar,
moistened with fresh butter, so as to make a stiff paste, and flavor it
with two heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered cinnamon. Form the cake into
the shape of a round loaf, and make deep incisions or cuts all over its
surface; filling them up with the cinnamon mixture pressed hard into the
cuts, pinching and closing the dough over them with your thumb and
finger to prevent the seasoning running out. Put the loaf into a round
pan, and set it into the oven to bake with the other bread. When cool,
glaze it over with white of egg, in which some powdered sugar has been
dissolved. Send it to table whole in form, but cut into loose slices.
Eat it fresh. All yeast cakes become dry and hard the next day.
This mixture may be baked in a square iron pan, and cut into square
cakes when cool.
WAFFLES.--We are indebted to the Germans for this cake, which, if this
receipt is exactly followed, will be found excellent. Warm a quart of
milk, and cut up in it a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter,
and stir it about to soften in the warm milk. Beat eight eggs till very
thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the milk and butter, in
turn with half a pound of sifted flour. Then add two table-spoonfuls of
strong fresh brewer's or baker's yeast. Cover the pan with a clean thick
cloth, and set it in a warm place to rise. When the batter has risen
nearly to the top, and is covered with bubbles, it is time to bake;
first stirring in a wine-glass of rose-water. Having heated your
waffle-iron in a good fire, grease it inside with the fresh butter used
for the waffle mixture, or with fresh lard; fill it, and shut the iron
closely. Turn it on the fire, that both sides of the cake may be equally
well done. Each side will require about three minutes baking. Take them
out of the iron by slipping a knife underneath. Then grease and prepare
the iron for another waffle. Butter them, and send them to the tea-table
"hot and hot;" and, to eat with this, a bowl or glass dish of sugar
flavored with powdered cinnamon.
In buying waffle irons choose them _very deep_, so as to make a good
impression when baked--if shallow, the waffle will look thin and poor.
Those that bake one waffle at a time are the handsomest and most
manageable.
SOFT CRULLERS.--Sift a pound and a half of flour, and have ready a pound
of powdered sugar. Heat in a round-bottomed sauce-pan a quart of water;
and when quite warm, stir the flour gradually into the water. In another
vessel set a pound of nice fresh butter over the fire, and when it
begins to melt, stir it, by degrees, into the flour and water. Then add,
gradually, the powdered sugar, and a grated nutmeg. Take the sauce-pan
off the fire, and beat the contents with a wooden spaddle, (which is far
better than a spoon) till they are thoroughly mixed. Next, having
beaten six eggs till very thick and light, stir them, gradually, into
the mixture, and then beat the whole very hard till it becomes a thick
batter. Add rose-water or lemon juice. Flour a pasteboard, and lay out
the batter upon it in the form of rings. The best and easiest way is to
pass it through a screw funnel.
Have ready on the fire a pot of boiling lard. Put in the crullers,
taking them off the board one at a time, on a broad-bladed knife. Boil
but a few at a time. They must be of a fine brown. Lift them out with a
perforated skimmer, draining back the lard into the pot. Lay them on a
large dish, and dredge them with sugar.
These, if properly managed, are far superior to all other crullers, but
they cannot be made in warm weather.
DOUGH-NUTS.--On baking day, take two pounds of very light bread dough
that has been made in the usual manner. Put it into a broad pan. Rub
into it half a pound of fresh butter, and half a pound of powdered
sugar, and a table-spoonful of mixed nutmeg and cinnamon. Wet it with
half a pint of milk, and mix in three well beaten eggs. Cover it, and
set by the fire to rise again. When quite light, flour your pasteboard,
and make the dough into oval balls; or, you may cut it into diamond
shapes, (handling it as little as possible.) Have ready, over the fire,
a pot of boiling lard. Drop the dough-nuts into it, and boil them; or
fry them brown in a frying-pan. Take them out one by one in a
perforated skimmer, draining back the lard into the pan. Spread them on
a large dish, and sift sugar over them. Eat them fresh; when heavy and
stale they are not fit. This is a German cake.
COMMON CRULLERS.--The above mixture for dough-nuts will make good
crullers. Flour your pasteboard, lay the dough upon it, roll it very
thick, and cut it into strips with a jagging iron. Take off short
pieces, and twist them into various forms. Throw them into a pot of
boiling lard. When done, drain the lard from them, spread them on a
large dish, and dredge them with powdered white sugar.
The Alpistera is a Spanish cruller, shaped like the five fingers united
at the wrist.
PLAIN DESSERTS.
MOLASSES PUDDING.--Sift into a pan a large quart of yellow indian meal.
Simmer over the fire a quart of milk, a pint of _West India molasses_,
stirred in while the milk is hot. Put the milk and molasses into a large
pan, and mix gradually into them the corn meal while they are quite
warm. Add a large table-spoonful of ground ginger, and a heaped
tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Beat the whole mixture long and
hard, for on that will chiefly depend the lightness of the pudding, as
it has neither eggs, butter, nor yeast. If your batter seems too thin,
add, gradually, a little more corn meal; if too thick, a little more
milk and molasses.
Dip in hot water a large square pudding cloth. Spread it out in a pan,
dredge it well with flour, and then pour the pudding-mixture into it.
Tie it up, making the string very secure, but leave plenty of room
between the batter and the tying place, for the pudding to swell in
boiling, at least one-third. Put the pudding, directly, into a large
pot, and keep it steadily boiling for about three hours. Corn meal
requires long cooking. Turn the pudding twice with a fork. If the water
boils away too much, replenish it from a tea-kettle of hot water, kept
boiling for the purpose. If you pour in _cold_ water the pudding will
become hard and heavy, and be totally spoiled. Do not turn it out and
send it to table till wanted at dinner. Then dip it for a moment in cold
water, untie the string, and transfer it to a dish with a cover. Eat it
with molasses and butter; or make a sauce of drawn butter, flavored with
wine and nutmeg.
This pudding, if properly mixed, well beaten, and well boiled, will be
as light as if made with eggs, (the _West India_ molasses having that
property) and it will cut down rough or open grained, like a very light
sponge cake, unless the batter has been made too thick and stiff, and
not sufficiently beaten, and not allowed space enough to swell in
boiling. If made _too thin_, or not boiled well, the pudding will come
out a soft, shapeless mass. But if all is carefully managed, this (the
least costly of American puddings) will be found excellent for a plain
table, and perfectly wholesome. The flavor will be much improved by
adding to the cinnamon and ginger the grated yellow rind and juice of an
orange or lemon. If your first attempt at this pudding is a failure, try
it again--practice makes perfect.
For a large family, have two quarts of corn meal, two quarts of milk,
and one quart of _West India_ molasses; two table-spoonfuls of ginger,
and one of cinnamon.
What is left may be tied in a cloth, and boiled over again next day, for
half an hour or longer.
MOLASSES PIE.--Make a plain paste, allowing a quart of flour to a
quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of lard.
Cut up the butter into the pan of flour, and rub it into a dough, with a
half tumbler of cold water. Too much water is injurious to any paste,
rendering it tough and hard. Roll out the paste into a sheet, and with a
broad knife spread all over it one-half of the lard. Sprinkle it with
flour, fold it, and roll it out again. Spread on the remainder of the
lard, dredge it slightly, fold it again, and then divide it into two
sheets. Line with one sheet the inside of a pie-dish, and fill it with
molasses, mixed with butter, and flavored with ginger and cinnamon, or
lemon or orange. Put on the other sheet of paste as a lid to the pie.
Crimp or notch the edges. Bake it of a pale brown, and send it to table
fresh, but not hot.
MOLASSES POT-PIE.--Make plenty of paste, allowing to _each quart_ of
flour a small half pound of finely minced suet. Line the pot
three-quarters up the sides with paste, and put in a quart of West India
molasses, flavored with ginger and cinnamon, lemon or orange grating,
and juice. Cover it with a lid of paste, _not fitting closely_ round its
edges, and cut a cross slit in the top. Have ready six or eight extra
pieces of suet paste, cut into squares, and boiled by themselves. When
the pie is done, put these little cakes (ready boiled) into the
molasses, having removed the lid or cover of the pie, and cut it up.
Take out the inside paste, and cut it in pieces also. Serve up the whole
in one large dish.
BATTER PUDDING.--Having beaten eight eggs till very thick and smooth,
stir them gradually into a pan of milk, in turn with eight
table-spoonfuls of flour, added by degrees. Give the whole a hard
stirring at last. Dip a square pudding cloth into hot water, shake it
out, dredge it with flour, and spread it over the inside of an empty
pan. Pour the pudding mixture into it. Gather up the cloth, leaving
ample space for the pudding to swell in boiling, and securing the
string tightly. Put the pudding into a large pot of boiling water, and
boil it fast and steadily for two hours. Turn it with a large fork once
or twice while boiling. When done, dip it for a moment in cold water,
that you may turn it out easily. Send it to table hot, and eat it with
any sauce you like, from molasses, or butter and sugar, to wine sauce.
This, if exactly followed, is the very best receipt for a plain batter
pudding. It may be made of corn meal, or wheat bread-crumbs, (eight
table-spoonfuls to eight eggs, and one quart of milk.) Corn meal
requires with it one or two spoonfuls of wheat flour for this pudding.
We cannot approve of boiling batter puddings in moulds, as they are
rarely allowed sufficient space for swelling, and are therefore tough
and solid. Also, it is frequently very difficult to get a hot pudding
out of a mould.
The above pudding is very nice baked in the dripping pan under a piece
of roast beef or veal.
FRITTERS.--Make the same mixture as for batter pudding. Eight eggs
beaten very light and thick, and stirred gradually into a quart of milk,
in turn with eight spoonfuls of flour; and, when all are united, beat
the whole very hard. In a large frying-pan melt a pound of lard, and
when it comes to a boil, put in with a large spoon a half tea-cupful of
batter. Fry them fast, a panful at a time, and as they require no
stirring they will soon be done. For the next panful, add half a pound
more of lard, and see that it is boiling well all the time. If there is
not enough of lard, or if it only simmers, the fritters will stick to
the bottom, and be heavy, dark, and greasy. Send them to table "hot and
hot," sprinkled with sugar. Eat them with sugar, cinnamon, and white
wine. This is the best possible receipt for plain fritters.
ORANGE FRITTERS.--For frying fruit fritters use nice fresh butter. Peel,
and cut into round slices (not very thin) some fine oranges, removing
the seeds carefully. Put into each fritter (while frying) a slice of
orange, and dredge with sugar. Eat them with sweetened orange juice.
These are fritters for company.
PEACH FRITTERS.--Take large ripe free-stone peaches, the best you can
get. Peel them, cut them in half, remove the stones, and put some loaf
sugar into the cavities from whence you took them. Have ready, in a
large frying-pan over the fire, an ample quantity of nice fresh butter,
boiling fast. Put in the batter, and to every spoonful allow half a
peach, laid on its back. When done take them up separately, and drain
the butter back into the pan. Serve up the fritters dredged with white
sugar. You may color these fritters pink by mixing in the batter a
little prepared alkanet, the chips tied up in a thin muslin bag, and
laid in a small saucer of sweet oil. Stir the colored oil into the
batter; it has no taste, but the color is beautiful. Fritters may be
colored green by mixing in the batter some of the juice obtained from
pounded spinach leaves.
APPLE OR QUINCE FRITTERS.--Pare and core some pippin or bell-flower
apples, or ripe quinces. Cut them into round slices, and fry one in
every fritter. Eat them with sweetened lemon juice. You may make
fritters with a large table-spoonful of any thick marmalade in the
centre. Or, with a large fresh oyster in the middle of each. Or, with a
table-spoonful of minced meat. These, also, are company fritters.
PANCAKES--Are very inferior to good fritters, and much more troublesome
to bake. They are the same ingredients mixed thinner; are also fried in
lard, and must be turned by tossing them over (one at a time) in the
frying-pan.