CHAPTER XXXI.

MARY'S MARRIAGE.

His vacation ended, after a busy season at the farm, Ralph Jackson

returned to his work in the city, strong and robust. He had acquired

the coat of tan which Mary's Uncle had predicted. Physically strong as

the "Cave Man" of old, he felt capable of moving mountains, and as was

natural, he being only a human man, longed for the mate he felt God

had intended should one day be his, as men have done since our first

gardener, Adam, and will continue to do until the end of time.

When visiting the farm, an event which occurred about every two weeks,

Ralph constantly importuned Mary to name an early day for their

marriage.

Mary, with a young girl's impulsiveness, had given her heart

unreservedly into the keeping of Ralph Jackson, her first sweetheart.

Mary was not naturally cold or unresponsive, neither was she lacking

in passion. She had had a healthy girlhood, and a wholesome home life.

She had been taught the conventional ideals of the marriage relations

that have kept the race strong throughout the centuries. Mary

possessed great strength of character and fine moral courage.

Frequently, not wishing to show her real feeling for the young man;

too well poised to be carried off into the wrong channel, defended and

excused by many over-sentimental and light-headed novelists of the

day, she sometimes appeared almost indifferent to the impetuous youth

with warm, red blood leaping in his veins, who desired so ardently to

possess her.

Mary's Aunt had taught her the sanctity of parenthood, also that women

are not always the weaker sex. There are times when they must show

their superiority to "mere man" in being the stronger of the two,

mentally if not physically, and Ralph Jackson knew when he called Mary

"wife" she would endow him with all the wealth of her pure womanhood,

sacredly kept for the clean-souled young man, whose devotion she

finally rewarded by promising to marry him the second week in October.

Sibylla Linsabigler, a good but ignorant girl, accustomed to hearing

her elder brothers speak slightingly regarding the sanctity of love

and marriage, was greatly attached to Mary, whom she admired

exceedingly, and looked up to almost as a superior being. She

unconsciously imitated many of Mary's ways and mannerisms, and sought

to adopt her higher ideals of life and standard of morals.

One Sunday, as Jake Crouthamel was spending the evening with Sibylla,

as was his usual custom, he attempted some slight familiarity, which

annoyed Sibylla greatly. Jake, noticing the young girl's displeasure

at his action, remarked, "I think me Sibylla, you are stuck up yet" (a

grave fault in the Bucks County farm hand's opinion).

"No, Chake," Sibylla replied, "I ain't, but Mary, she say a man gives

a girl more respect what keeps herself to herself before she is

married, and I lofe you Chake and want that you respect me if we

marry."

Fritz and Elizabeth Schmidt, on hearing the news of Mary's approaching

marriage, promptly begged the privilege of decorating the old farm

house parlor for the expected ceremony. They scoured the surrounding

woods and countryside for decorations; along old stone fences and

among shrubbery by the roadside they gathered large branches of Bitter

Sweet. Its racemes of orange-colored fruit, which later in the season

becomes beautiful, when the orange gives place to a brilliant red, the

outer covering of the berry turns back upon the stems, forming one of

the prettiest pictures imaginable in late Autumn. They also gathered

branches of feathery wild clematis, which, after the petals had

fallen, resembled nothing so much as a cluster of apple seeds, each

seed tipped with what appeared like a tiny osprey feather. From the

woods near the farm they gathered quantities of trailing ground pine

and rainbow-tinted leaves from the numerous brilliant scarlet and

yellow maples, which appeared brighter in contrast to the sober-hued

trees of shellbark, oak and chestnut.

[Illustration: POLLY SCHMIDT.]

The wedding gifts sent to Mary were odd, useful and numerous. The

Campfire Girls, to whom she became endeared, gave her a "Kitchen

Shower," consisting of a clothes basket (woven by an old basketmaker

from the willows growing not far distant), filled to overflowing with

everything imaginable that could possibly be useful to a young

housekeeper, from the half dozen neatly-hemmed linen, blue ribbon

tied, dish clothes, to really handsome embroidered articles from the

girls to whom she had given instructions in embroidery during the past

summer.

Sibylla's wedding present to Mary was the work of her own strong,

willing hands, and was as odd and original as useful. 'Twas a "door

mat" made from corn husks, braided into a rope, then sewed round and

round and formed into an oval mat. Mary laughingly told Sibylla she

thought when 'twas placed on her kitchen doorstep she'd ask every one

to please step over it, as it was too pretty to be trod on, which

greatly pleased the young girl, who had spent many hours of loving

thought and labor on the simple, inexpensive gift.

Mary received from Professor Schmidt a small but excellent copy of one

of the world's most famous pictures, "The Night Watch," painted by

Rembrandt, in 1642.

"My dear," said the old Professor, "I saw what _was said to be_ the

original of this painting, the property of Queen Wilhelmina of

Holland, at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. It was in a small,

separate building. The size of the picture was fifteen feet by twenty

feet. It is the largest and best known of Rembrandt's works. It

acquired the wrong title of 'Night Watch' in a period when, owing to

the numerous coats of varnish and the effect of smoke and dust, it had

gotten so dark in appearance that only the most lucid parts could be

discerned. Nowadays, nobody doubts that the light falling from the

left on the boisterous company is that of the sun. The musketeers are

remarching out of the high archway of their hall, crossing the street

in front of it, and going up a bridge. The architecture of the

building is a product of Rembrandt's imagination. The steps, also,

which we see the men descending, were put there simply to make those

at the back show out above those in the front ranks. The march out was

to be above all a portrait group. Sixteen persons had each paid their

contributions, a hundred guilders on the average, to have their

likenesses transmitted to posterity, and every one of them was

therefore to be fully visible."

"It is certainly a wonderful picture," said Mary, "and while I have

seen few pictures painted by old masters, I think, even with my

limited knowledge of art, I cannot fail to appreciate this excellent

copy, and I thank you heartily. Professor, and shall always be

reminded of you when I look at this copy of a great work."

Mary would not go empty-handed to Ralph at her marriage. Her "hope

chest" in the attic was full to overflowing, and quite unique in

itself, as it consisted of an old, in fact ancient, wooden dough-tray

used in times past by Aunt Sarah's grandmother. Beside it stood a

sewing table, consisting of three discarded broom handles supporting a

cheese-box cover, with wooden cheese-box underneath for holding Mary's

sewing; stained brown and cretonne lined. Mary valued it as the result

of the combined labor of herself and Ralph Jackson. A roll of new,

home-made rag carpet, patchwork quilts and "New Colonial" rugs, jars

of fruit, dried sweet corn, home-made soap, crocks of apple butter,

jellies, jams and canned vegetables all bore evidence of Mary's busy

Summer at the farm.

The day of Mary's marriage, the twelfth of October, dawned clear and

bright, sunshine warm as a day in June. In the centre of the

gayly-decorated old farm house parlor, wearing a simple, little,

inexpensive dress of soft, creamy muslin, we find Mary standing beside

Ralph, who is looking supremely satisfied and happy, although a trifle

pale and nervous, listening to the solemn words of the minister.

Ralph's "I will" sounded clearly and distinctly through the long room.

Mary, with a sweet, serious, faraway look in her blue eyes, repeated

slowly after the minister, "I promise to love, honor and"--then a long

pause. She glanced shyly up at the young man by her side as if to make

sure he was worth it, then in a low, clear tone, added, "obey."

Ralph Jackson certainly deserved the appellation "Cave Man" given him

by Fritz Schmidt. He was considerably more than six feet in height,

with broad, square shoulders, good features, a clear brain and a sound

body. He had never used intoxicants of any description. He sometimes

appeared quite boyish in his ways, for on account of his matured look

and great size he was frequently judged to be older than he really

was.

Aunt Sarah had provided a bounteous repast for the few friends

assembled, and while looking after the comfort of her guests tears

dimmed the kindly, gray eyes at the thought of parting from Mary.

Small Polly Schmidt, as flower girl at the wedding, was so excited she

scarcely knew if she should laugh or cry, and finally compromised by

giving Mary what she called a "bear hug," much to Mary's amusement.

Fritz gravely said: "Allow me to congratulate you, Mr. Jackson," and

turning to Mary, "I wish you a beautiful and happy life, Mrs.

Jackson." Mary blushed becomingly on hearing her new name for the

first time.

Bidding farewell to friends, Mary and Ralph, accompanied by her Uncle,

were driven by "Chake" to the depot in a near-by town, where they

boarded the train for the little, newly-furnished home in the suburbs

of Philadelphia, the deed of which was Mary's wedding gift from her

Uncle, in appreciation of her faithful service on the farm during the

summer and for the brightness she had brought into his life and the

lives of those with whom she had come in contact, as every one at the

farm had felt the captivating charm and winning sweetness of the young

girl.

As the train came in sight, the old gentleman, in a voice husky with

emotion, bade the young couple, just starting the journey of life

together, an affectionate farewell, and repeated solemnly, almost as a

benediction, "Es Salamu Aleikum."

[Illustration]

MARY'S COLLECTION OF RECIPES

SMALL ECONOMIES, "LEFT-OVERS" OR "IVERICH BLEIBST" AS AUNT SARAH

CALLED THEM.

"The young housewife," said Aunt Sarah to Mary, in a little talk on

small economies in the household, "should never throw away pieces of

hard cheese. Grate them and keep in a cool, dry place until wanted,

then spread lightly over the top of a dish of macaroni, before baking;

or sprinkle over small pieces of dough remaining after baking pies,

roll thin, cut in narrow strips like straws, and bake light brown in a

hot oven, as 'Cheese Straws.'"

Wash and dry celery tips in oven, and when not wished for soup they

may be used later for seasoning. The undesirable outer leaves of a

head of lettuce, if fresh and green, may be used if cut fine with

scissors, and a German salad dressing added. The heart of lettuce

should, after washing carefully, be placed in a piece of damp cheese

cloth and put on ice until wanted, then served at table "au natural,"

with olive oil and vinegar or mayonnaise dressing to suit individual

taste. Should you have a large quantity of celery, trim and carefully

wash the roots, cut them fine and add to soup as flavoring. Almost all

vegetables may be, when well cooked, finely mashed, strained, and when

added to stock, form a nourishing soup by the addition of

previously-cooked rice or barley. Add small pieces of meat,

well-washed bones cut from steaks or roasts, to the stock pot. Small

pieces of ham or bacon (left-overs), also bacon or ham _gravy_ not

thickened with flour may be used occasionally, when making German

salad dressing for dandelion, endive, lettuce or water cress, instead

of frying fresh pieces of bacon.

[Illustration: AN OLD FASHIONED BUCKS COUNTY BAKE OVEN]

It is a great convenience, also economical, to keep a good salad

dressing on hand, and when the white of an egg is used, the yolk

remaining may he added at once to the salad dressing (previously

prepared). Mix thoroughly, cook a minute and stand away in a cool

place. Young housekeepers will be surprised at the many vegetables,

frequently left-overs, from which appetizing salads may be made by the

addition of a couple tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise, besides nut meats,

lettuce, watercress, celery and fruit, all of which may be used to

advantage. A good potato salad is one of the cheapest and most easily

prepared salads. A German dressing for dandelions, lettuce or potatoes

may be prepared in a few minutes by adding a couple of tablespoonfuls

of salad dressing (which the forehanded housewife will always keep on

hand) to a little hot ham or bacon gravy. Stirring it while hot over

the salad and serving at once.

A cup of mashed potatoes, left over from dinner, covered and set aside

in a cool place, may be used the next day, with either milk or potato

water, to set a sponge for "Dutch Cake," or cinnamon buns with equally

good results as if they had been freshly boiled (if the potatoes be

heated luke-warm and mashed through a sieve); besides the various

other ways in which cold boiled potatoes may be used.

Fruit juices or a couple tablespoonfuls of tart jelly or preserved

fruit may be added to mincemeat with advantage. Housewives should make

an effort to give their family good, plain, nourishing, wholesome

food. The health of the family depends so largely on the quality of

food consumed. When not having time, strength or inclination to bake

cake, pies or puddings, have instead good, sweet, home-made bread and

fruit; if nothing else, serve stewed fruit or apple sauce. Omit meat

occasionally from the bill of fare and serve instead a dish of

macaroni and cheese and fruit instead of other dessert. Serve a large,

rich, creamy rice pudding for the children's lunch. When eggs are

cheap and plentiful make simple custards, old-fashioned cornmeal

puddings, tapioca, bread puddings and gelatine with fruits. These are

all good, wholesome, and not expensive, and in Summer may be prepared

in the cool of the early morning with small outlay of time, labor or

money. Plan your housework well the day before and have everything in

readiness. The pudding may be placed in the oven and baked white

preparing breakfast, economizing coal and the time required for other

household duties.

Every wife and mother who does her own housework and cooking these

days (and their number is legion) knows the satisfaction one

experiences, especially in hot weather, in having dinner and luncheon

planned and partly prepared early in the morning before leaving the

kitchen to perform other household tasks.

Another small economy of Aunt Sarah's was the utilizing of cold mashed

potatoes in an appetizing manner. The mashed potatoes remaining from a

former meal were put through a small fruit press or ricer to make them

light and flaky. To one heaped cup of mashed potatoes (measured before

pressing them through fruit press) she added 3/4 cup of soft, stale

bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of flour sifted with 1/4 teaspoonful of baking

powder. Mix in lightly with a fork yolk of one egg, then the stiffly

beaten white, seasoned with salt and a little minced onion or parsley,

or both. With well-floured hands she molded the mixture into balls the

size of a shelled walnut, dropped into rapidly boiling water and

cooked them uncovered from 15 to 20 minutes, then skimmed them from

the water and browned in a pan with a little butter and served on

platter with meat, a pot roast or beef preferred. From the above

quantity of potatoes was made five potato balls.

THE MANY USES OF STALE BREAD

Never waste stale bread, as it may be used to advantage in many ways.

The young housewife will be surprised at the many good, wholesome and

appetizing dishes which may be made from stale bread, with the

addition of eggs and milk.

Take a half dozen slices of stale bread of equal size and place in a

hot oven a few minutes to become crisped on the outside so they may be

quickly toasted over a hot fire, a delicate brown. Butter them and for

breakfast serve with a poached egg on each slice.

A plate of hot, crisp, nicely-browned and buttered toast is always a

welcome addition to the breakfast table.

Serve creamed asparagus tips on slices of toast for luncheon.

The economical housewife carefully inspects the contents of her bread

box and refrigerator every morning before planning her meals for the

day, and is particular to use scraps of bread and left-over meat and

vegetables as quickly as possible. Especially is this necessary in hot

weather. Never use any food unless perfectly sweet and fresh. If

otherwise, it is unfit for use.

Loaves of bread which have become stale can be freshened if wrapped in

a damp cloth for a few minutes, then remove and place in a hot oven

until heated through.

For a change, toast slices of stale bread quite crisp and serve a

plate of hot, plain toast at table, to be eaten broken in small pieces

in individual bowls of cold milk. Still another way is to put the

stiffly-beaten white of an egg on the centre of a hot, buttered slice

of toast, carefully drop the yolk in the centre of the beaten white

and place in hot oven a few minutes to cook. Serve with a bit of

butter on top, season with pepper and salt. Serve at once.

Another way to use stale bread is to toast slices of bread, spread

with butter, pour over 1 cup of hot milk, in which has been beaten 1

egg and a pinch of salt. Serve in a deep dish. Or a cup of hot milk

may be poured over crisply-toasted slices of buttered bread, without

the addition of an egg.

"BROD GRUMMELLA"

In a bowl containing 1 cup of soft bread crumbs pour 1 cup of sweet

milk, then add the slightly-beaten yolks of three eggs, a little

pepper and salt, then the stiffly-beaten whites of the three eggs.

Place in a fry-pan a tablespoonful of butter and 1 of lard or

drippings; when quite hot pour the omelette carefully in the pan. When

it begins to "set" loosen around the edges and from the bottom with a

knife. When cooked turn one side over on the other half, loosen

entirely from the pan, then slide carefully on a hot platter and serve

at once. Garnish with parsley.

CROUTONS AND CRUMBS

Still another way is to make croutons. Cut stale bread into small

pieces, size of dice, brown in hot oven and serve with soup instead of

serving crackers. Small pieces of bread that cannot be used otherwise

should be spread over a large pan, placed in a moderate oven and dried

until crisp. They may then be easily rolled fine with a rolling-pin or

run through the food chopper and then sifted, put in a jar, stood in a

dry place until wanted, but not in an air-tight jar. Tie a piece of

cheese-cloth over the top of jar. These crumbs may be used for

crumbing eggplant, oysters, veal cutlets or croquettes. All should be

dipped in beaten white of eggs and then in the crumbs, seasoned with

salt and pepper, then floated in a pan of hot fat composed of 2/3 lard

and 1/3 suet. All except veal cutlets. They should be crumbed, not

floated in deep fat, but fried slowly in a couple tablespoonfuls of

butter and lard.

Also fry fish in a pan of hot fat. Shad is particularly fine, prepared

in this manner (when not baked). Cut in small pieces, which when

breaded are floated in hot fat. If the fat is the right temperature

when the fish is put in, it absorbs less fat than when fried in a

small quantity of lard and butter.

"ZWEIBACH"

Cut wheat bread in slices not too thin. Place in a warm, not hot,

oven, and allow it to remain until thoroughly dry and crisp. Place in

a toaster or a wire broiler over a hot fire and toast a golden brown

and allow it to remain in the oven until toasted. Keep in cool place

until used. Zweibach is considered more wholesome than fresh bread.

"GERMAN" EGG BREAD

Cut stale bread into slices about 3/4 inch thick. Cut slices in half,

and soak for a few minutes, turning frequently, in the following

mixtures: 1 pint of sweet milk, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoonful flour mixed

smooth with a little of the cold milk and a pinch of salt. Fry half

dozen slices of thinly-sliced bacon in a pan. Put bacon, when fried,

in oven to keep hot. Dip the slices of soaked bread in fine, dried

bread crumbs and fry quickly in the bacon fat (to which has been added

one tablespoon of butter) to a golden brown. Serve at once on the same

platter with the bacon, or instead of using bacon fat, fry the

crumbed bread in sweet drippings, or a tablespoonful each of lard and

butter. This is an appetizing and wholesome breakfast or luncheon

dish, served with a tart jelly, either currant or grape.

CREAMED TOAST

Partly fill a large tureen with slices of crisply-browned and buttered

toast. (Slices of bread which have become dry and hard may be used for

this dish.) When ready to serve, not before, pour over the toasted

slices 1 quart of hot milk to which 1 teaspoonful of flour or

cornstarch has been added, after being mixed smoothly with a little

cold milk or water and cooked a few minutes until thick as cream. Add

also a pinch of salt.

If milk is not plentiful, prepare one pint of milk and dip each slice

of toasted bread quickly in a bowl of hot water; place in a deep dish

and quickly pour over the hot milk, to which a tablespoonful of butter

has been added, and serve at once.

BREAD AND ROLLS

Bread, called the "Staff of Life," on account of its nutritive value,

should head the list of foods for human consumption. Bread making

should stand first in the "Science of Cooking," as there is no one

food upon which the comfort, health and well-being of the average

family so largely depends as upon good bread. There is absolutely no

reason why the housewife of the present day should not have good,

sweet, wholesome, home-made bread, if good yeast, good flour and

common-sense are used. The milk or water used to mix with flour for

making bread sponge should be lukewarm. If too hot, the loaves will be

full of holes and coarse grained. If too cold the bread, chilled, will

not rise as it should have done had the liquid used been the right

temperature. Good bread may be made by using milk, potato water or

whey (drained from thick sour milk), and good bread may be made by

simply using lukewarm water. I prefer a mixture of milk and water to

set sponge. Milk makes a fine-grained, white bread, but it soon dries

out and becomes stale. Bread rises more slowly when milk is used. When

mashed potatoes are used, the bread keeps moist a longer time. Should

you wish extra fine, white, delicate bread, add one cup of sweet cream

to the liquid when setting sponge. When milk is used the dough is

slower in rising, but makes a creamy-looking and fine-flavored bread.

When one Fleischman yeast cake is used in any recipe the ordinary

half-ounce cake of compressed yeast is intended, twenty-eight cakes in

a pound. These are usually kept in a large refrigerator in a

temperature of 44 degrees and should not be kept longer in the home

than three days in Summer or six days in Winter, and should always be

kept in a cool place until used, if the cook would have success when

using.

Use the best hard, Spring wheat flour obtainable for baking bread, or

any sponge raised with yeast, as this flour contains a greater

quantity of gluten and makes bread of high nutritive value.

Winter wheat maybe used for cake-making and for baking pastry with

excellent results, although costing less than Spring wheat.

Always sift flour before using, when setting sponge for bread. When

mixing sponge use one quart liquid to about three pounds of flour.

"Aunt Sarah" always cut several gashes with a sharp knife on top of

loaves when ready to be placed in oven. She also made several cuts

across the top of loaves with a hot knife when set to rise to allow

gas to escape. If an impression made on a loaf of bread with the

finger remains, the bread is light. If the dent disappears, then the

loaf is not light enough to be placed in the oven; give it more time

to rise. An experienced cook, noted for the excellence and size of her

loaves of bread, said she always inverted a pail over the pan

containing loaves of bread when set to rise, and allowed the bread to

remain covered after being placed in the oven. Loaves will rise to a

greater height if this is done. Remove the covering to allow loaves to

brown a short time before taking them from the oven. "Aunt Sarah"

frequently placed four loaves in her large roasting pan, covered the

pan, when set to rise, and allowed the cover to remain until loaves

were nearly baked. She brushed the top and sides of loaves with melted

butter when set to rise to allow of their being broken apart easily. A

more crusty loaf is secured by placing each loaf singly in

medium-sized bread tins.

Aunt Sarah considered Fleischman's compressed yeast the best

commercial yeast in use, both quick and reliable, but thought better

bread was never made than that made by her mother, as she had been

taught to make it in years past, by the old-fashioned and slower

"sponge method." She was invariably successful in making sweet,

wholesome bread in that manner. She used home-made potato yeast or

"cornmeal yeast cakes," under different names, always with good

results.

Good bread may be made either by the old-fashioned "sponge" method or

"straight." Sponge method consists of a batter mixed from liquid yeast

(usually home-made potato yeast is used) and a small part of the flour

required for making the bread. This batter was usually set to rise at

night and mixed up in the centre of a quantity of flour, in an

old-fashioned wooden dough tray. The following morning enough flour

was kneaded in to form a dough, and when well-raised and light, this

dough was formed into loaves and placed in pans for the final rising.

The more easily and more quickly made "straight" dough, when using

Fleischman's compressed yeast, is mixed in the morning and all the

ingredients necessary are added at one time. It is then set to rise

and, when the dough has doubled in bulk, it is kneaded down and when

risen to once and half its size, shaped into loaves, placed in pans to

rise and, when risen to top of pans, bake.

Better bread may be made from flour not freshly milled. Flour should

be kept in a dry place; it improves with moderate age. Stand flour in

a warm place to dry out several hours before using if you would have

good bread.

When baking bread the heat of the oven should not be _too great_ at

_first_, or the outside of the bread will harden too quickly and

inside the loaves will not be thoroughly baked before the crust is

thick and dark. The temperature of the oven and time required for

baking depend upon the size of the loaves, yet the bread should be

placed in rather a quick oven, one in which the loaves should brown in

about fifteen minutes, when the heat may be reduced, finishing the

baking more slowly.

Small biscuits and rolls can stand a much hotter oven and quicker

baking than large loaves, which must be heated slowly, and baked a

longer time. A one-pound loaf should bake about one hour. On being

taken from the oven, bread should be placed on a sieve, so that the

air can circulate about it until it is thoroughly cooled. In the

_Farmers' Bulletin_, we read: "The lightness and sweetness depend as

much on the way bread is made as on the materials used." The greatest

care should be used in preparing and baking the dough and in cooking

and keeping the finished bread. Though good housekeepers agree that

light, well-raised bread can readily be made, with reasonable care and

attention, heavy, badly-raised bread is unfortunately very common.

Such bread is not palatable and is generally considered to be

unwholesome, and probably more indigestion has been caused by it than

by any other badly-cooked food. As compared with most meats and

vegetables, bread has practically no waste and is very completely

digested, but it is usually too poor in proteins to be fittingly used

as the sole article of diet, but when eaten with due quantities of

other food, it is invaluable and well deserves its title of "Staff of

Life."

When the housewife "sets" bread sponge to rise over night, she should

mix the sponge or dough quite late, and early in the morning mold it

at once into shapely-looking loaves (should the sponge have had the

necessary amount of flour added the night before for making a stiff

dough).

Being aware of the great nutritive value of raisins and dried

currants, Aunt Sarah frequently added a cup of either one or the

other, well-floured, to the dough when shaping into loaves for the

final rising.

Aunt Sarah frequently used a mixture of butter and lard when baking on

account of its being more economical, and for the reason that a lesser

quantity of lard may be used; the shortening qualities being greater

than that of butter. The taste of lard was never detected in her bread

or cakes, they being noted for their excellence, as the lard she used

was home-rendered, almost as sweet as dairy butter, free from taste or

odor of pork. She always beat lard to a cream when using it for baking

cakes, and salted it well before using, and I do not think the small

quantity used could be objected to on hygienic principles.

I have read "bread baking" is done once every three or four weeks, no

oftener, in some of the farm houses of Central Europe, and yet stale

bread is there unknown. Their method of keeping bread fresh is to

sprinkle flour into a large sack and into this pack the loaves, taking

care to have the top crusts of bread touch each other. If they have to

lie bottom to bottom, sprinkle flour between them. Swing the sack in a

dry place. It must swing and there must be plenty of flour between the

loaves. It sounds more odd than reasonable, I confess.

"BUCKS COUNTY" HEARTH-BAKED RYE BREAD (AS MADE BY AUNT SARAH)

1 quart sweet milk (scalded and cooled).

1 tablespoonful lard or butter.

2 table spoonsful sugar.

1/2 tablespoonful salt.

1 cup wheat flour.

3 quarts rye flour (this includes the one cup of wheat flour).

1 Fleischman yeast cake or 1 cup of potato yeast.

[Illustration: "BUCKS COUNTY" RYE BREAD]

Pour 1 quart of luke-warm milk in a bowl holding 7 quarts. Add butter,

sugar and salt, 1-1/2 quarts rye flour and 1 cup of yeast, or one

Fleischman's yeast cake, dissolved in a little lukewarm water. Beat

thoroughly, cover with cloth, and set in a warm place to rise about

three hours, or until it almost reaches the top of bowl. When light,

stir in the remaining 1-1/2 quarts of rye flour, in which one cup of

wheat is included; turn out on a well-floured bake board and knead

about twenty minutes. Shape dough into one high, round loaf, sprinkle

flour _liberally_ over top and sides of loaf, and place carefully into

the clean bowl on top of a _well-floured_ cloth. Cover and set to rise

about one hour, when it should be light and risen to top of bowl.

Turn the bowl containing the loaf carefully upside down on the centre

of a hot sheet iron taken from the hot oven and placed on top of

range. A tablespoonful of flour should have been sifted over the sheet

iron before turning the loaf out on it. Remove cloth from dough

carefully after it has been turned from bowl and place the sheet iron

containing loaf _immediately in the hot oven_, as it will then rise at

once and not spread. Bake at least sixty minutes. Bread is seldom

baked long enough to be wholesome, especially graham and rye bread.

When baked and still hot, brush the top of loaf with butter and wash

the bottom of loaf well with a cloth wrung out of cold water, to

soften the lower, hard-baked crust. Wrap in a damp cloth and stand

aside to cool where the air will circulate around it. Always set rye

bread to rise early in the morning of the same day it is to be baked,

as rye sponge sours more quickly than wheat sponge. The bread baked

from this recipe has the taste of bread which, in olden times, was

baked in the brick ovens of our grandmother's day, and that bread was

unexcelled. I know of what I am speaking, having watched my

grandmother bake bread in an old-fashioned brick oven, and have eaten

hearth-baked rye bread, baked directly on the bottom of the oven, and

know, if this recipe be closely followed, the young housewife will

have sweet, wholesome bread. Some Germans use Kumel or Caraway seed in

rye bread.

Aunt Sarah's loaves of rye bread, baked from the above recipe, were

invariably 3-1/2 inches high, 14-1/2 inches in diameter and 46 inches

in circumference and always won a blue ribbon at Country Fairs and

Farmers' Picnics.

In the oven of Aunt Sarah's range was always to be found a piece of

sheet iron 17 inches in length by 16 inches in width. The three edges

of the sheet iron turned down all around to a depth of half an inch,

the two opposite corners being cut off about a half inch, to allow of

its being turned down. It is a great convenience for young housewives

to possess two of these sheet-iron tins, or "baking sheets," when

baking small cakes or cookies, as being raised slightly from the

bottom of the oven, cakes are less liable to scorch and bake more

evenly. One sheet may be filled while baking another sheetful of

cakes. In this manner a large number of cakes may be baked in a short

time. This baking sheet was turned the opposite way, upside down, when

baking a loaf of rye bread on it, and when the loaf of bread was

partly baked the extra baking sheet was slipped under the bottom of

the one containing the loaf, in case the oven was quite hot, to

prevent the bottom of the bread scorching. Wheat bread may be baked in

the same manner as rye bread, substituting wheat flour for rye. These

baking sheets may be made by any tinsmith, and young housewives, I

know, would not part with them, once they realize how invaluable they

are for baking small cakes on them easily and quickly.

"FRAU SCHMIDTS" GOOD WHITE BREAD (SPONGE METHOD)

To one quart of potato water, drained from potatoes which were boiled

for mid-day dinner, she added about 1/2 cup of finely-mashed hot

potatoes and stood aside. About four o'clock in the afternoon she

placed one pint of lukewarm potato water and mashed potatoes in a bowl

with 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 a dissolved Fleischman's

yeast cake, beat all well together, covered with a cloth and stood in

a warm place until light and foamy. About nine o'clock in the evening

she added the reserved pint of (lukewarm) potato water and 1/2

tablespoonful of salt to the yeast sponge, with enough warmed,

well-dried flour to stiffen, and kneaded it until dough was

fine-grained. She also cut through the dough frequently with a sharp

knife. When the dough was elastic and would not adhere to

molding-board or hands, she placed it in a bowl, brushed melted lard

or butter over top to prevent a crust forming, covered warmly with a

cloth and allowed it to stand until morning. Frau Schmidt always rose

particularly early on bake day, for fear the sponge might fall or

become sour, if allowed to stand too long. She molded the dough into

four small loaves, placed it in pans to rise until it doubled its

original bulk. When light she baked it one hour. Bread made according

to these directions was fine-grained, sweet and wholesome. She always

cut several gashes across top of loaf with a sharp knife when loaves

were set to rise, to allow gas to escape.

EXCELLENT "GRAHAM BREAD"

At 6.30 A.M. place in a quart measure 1/2 cup of sweet cream and

3-1/2 cups of milk, after being scalded (1 quart all together). When

lukewarm, add 1 Fleischman yeast cake, dissolved in a little of the

luke warm milk, 3 tablespoonfuls sugar and 1 tablespoonful salt. Add 3

cups each of white bread flour and 3 cups of graham flour (in all 6

cups or 1-1/2 quarts of flour). Mix well together and stand in a warm

place, closely covered, a couple of hours, until well-risen. Then stir

sponge down and add about 2-1/2 cups each of graham and of white

flour. (Sponge for graham bread should not be quite as stiff as a

sponge prepared from white flour.) Set to rise again for an hour, or

longer; when light, stir down sponge and turn on to a well-floured

board. Knead well, divide into four portions, mold into four small,

shapely loaves, brush with soft butter, place in well-greased pans,

set to rise, and in about one hour they should be ready to put in a

moderately-hot oven. Bake about fifty minutes. Graham bread should be

particularly well-baked. Brush loaves, when baked, with butter, which

makes a crisp crust with a nutty flavor.

Should cream not be available, one quart of scalded milk, containing

one tablespoonful of butter, may be used with good results. If cream

be used with the milk, no shortening is required in the bread. Bread

is considered more wholesome when no shortening is used in its

preparation.

GRAHAM BREAD (AN OLD RECIPE)

2 cups sour milk

2 cups sweet milk or water.

1 teaspoon soda (Salaratus)

Graham flour.

1/2 cup molasses.

1 tablespoonful melted butter.

Pinch of salt.

Stiffen about as thick as ordinary molasses cake. Bake at once.

"MARY'S" RECIPE FOR WHEAT BREAD

1 cup sweet milk (scalded).

1 cup cold water.

1 cake Fleischman's yeast

(dissolved in a small quantity of luke-warm water).

1-1/2 teaspoonfuls sugar.

1 rounded teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoonful butter.

Flour, about 1-1/2 quarts.

This makes good bread and, as bread is apt to chill if set over night

in a cold kitchen, or sour if allowed to stand over night in summer,

set this sponge early in the morning. Stiffen with flour and knead

about 25 minutes; place the dough in a covered bowl in a warm place to

rise about two hours and when well-risen and light, knead and stand

one hour. Then mold into shapely loaves, place in pans, brush tops of

loaves with melted butter, and when doubled in bulk, in about 45

minutes put in an oven which is so hot you can hold your hand in only

while you count thirty, or if a little flour browns in the oven in

about six minutes, it is hot enough for bread. The oven should be hot

enough to brown the bread slightly five minutes after being put in.

Medium-sized loaves of bread require from 3/4 of an hour to one hour

to bake. When bread is sufficiently baked it can be told by turning

the loaf over and rapping with the knuckles on the bottom of the loaf.

If it sounds hollow, it is thoroughly baked, and should be taken from

the oven. Stand loaves up on end against some object, where the air

can circulate around them, and brush a little butter over the top to

soften the crust. An authority on the chemistry of foods cautious

housewives against cooling loaves of bread too rapidly after taking

from the oven, and I should like to add a word of caution against

eating fresh breads of any kind. Bread should be baked at least twelve

hours before being eaten. The sponge for this bread was set at 6

o'clock in the morning; bread was baked at 10.30.

From 1 pint of liquid, 1 cake of yeast and about 1-1/2 quarts of flour

were made two loaves of bread. More yeast is required to raise a

sponge containing sugar, eggs and shortening than is required to raise

bread sponge containing only liquid, flour and yeast.

"FRAU SCHMIDTS" EASILY-MADE GRAHAM BREAD

Should you care to have a couple of loaves of graham bread instead of

all-wheat, take a generous cup of the above sponge before it is

stiffened beyond a thick batter, and add one tablespoonful of brown

sugar or molasses, stiffen with graham flour (not quite as stiff as

when making wheat bread), rub butter or lard on top of dough, cover

and set in a warm place to rise. When light, mold into one small loaf

(never make graham bread into large loaves), place in oblong pan,

cover, let stand until light, about 1-1/2 hours, when it should have

doubled in size; put in oven and bake thoroughly. When the loaf is

taken from the oven, brush butter over the top. This keeps the crust

moist.

If a wholesome loaf of "Corn Bread" is wished, use fine, yellow,

granulated cornmeal to stiffen the sponge instead of graham flour; do

not make dough too stiff.

WHOLE-WHEAT BREAD

1 pint boiling water.

1 pint sweet milk.

1/2 Fleischman's yeast cake dissolved in luke-warm water.

1/2 tablespoon salt.

Flour.

When the milk and water are lukewarm add the yeast cake and salt. Then

add enough whole wheat flour to make a thin batter. Let stand in a

warm place three or four hours. Then stir in as much wheat flour

(whole wheat) as can be stirred in well with a large spoon, and pour

into well-greased pans. Let rise to double its bulk; then bake from

three-fourths to one hour, according to the size of the loaves. This

quantity makes three loaves.

NUT BREAD

3 cups graham flour.

1 cup wheat flour.

4 teaspoons baking powder.

1 cup chopped English walnuts.

1 cup sugar.

1 small teaspoon "Mapleine" flavoring (if liked).

1/2 cup milk.

Pinch salt.

1/2 cup floured raisins (seeded).

Put in a good-sized bread pan and bake on hour in a moderate oven.

Strange as it may seem, this bread is lighter and better if allowed to

stand a half hour before being placed in the oven to bake.

FRAU SCHMIDTS "QUICK BREAD"

The Professor's wife seldom used any liquid except water to set a

sponge for bread. She seldom used any shortening. She taught Mary to

make bread by the following process, which she considered superior to

any other. From the directions given, housewives may think more time

devoted to the making of a couple of loaves of bread than necessary;

also, that too great a quantity of yeast was used; but the bread made

by "Frau Schmidt" was excellent, quickly raised and baked.

The whole process consumed only about four hours' time, and how could

time be more profitably spent than in baking sweet, crusty loaves of

bread, even in these strenuous days when the efficient housekeeper

plans to conserve strength, time and labor?

First, two Fleischman's compressed yeast cakes were placed in a bowl

and dissolved with 4 tablespoonfuls of luke-warm water; she then added

1 cup of lukewarm water, 1/2 tablespoonful of sugar and 1/2

teaspoonful of salt and stirred all well together. The bowl containing

this yeast foam was allowed to stand in a warm place, closely covered,

one hour.

At the end of that time the yeast mixture should be light and foamy.

It was then poured into the centre of a bowl containing about 4-1/2

cups of _warmed_ flour, mixing the foamy yeast with a _portion_ of the

flour to make a soft sponge, leaving a wall of flour around the inside

edge of bowl, as our grandmothers used to do in olden times when they

mixed a sponge for bread of liquid flour and yeast, in one end of the

old-fashioned wooden "dough tray," using a wooden stick or small

paddle for stirring together the mixture.

The bowl containing the sponge was placed in a warm place to rise. In

about 15 or 20 minutes 1/2 cup of lukewarm water was added to the

sponge, stirring in all the outside wall of flour until a dough, the

proper consistency for bread, was formed. The dough was turned out on

the molding board and given a couple of quick, deft turns with the

hands for several minutes, then placed in the bowl and again set to

rise in a warm place, free from draughts, for 25 or 30 minutes. When

light, with hands slightly greased with butter, she kneaded the dough

a short time, until smooth and elastic, divided the dough into two

portions, placed each loaf in warmed, well-greased bread pans and

stood in a warm place about 1/4 hour. Then turned the contents of

bread pans onto bake-board, one at a time. Cut each loaf into three

portions, rolled each piece into long, narrow strips with the palms of

the hands. Pinched ends of the three strips together and braided or

plaited them into a braid almost the length of bread pan. Placed each

braided loaf in a bread pan and set to raise as before. When

well-raised, brush the top of loaves with melted butter. Bake about

three-quarters of an hour in a moderately-hot oven. An old-fashioned

way of testing the heat of the oven was to hold the hand in the oven

while counting thirty. Should one be unable to bear the heat of oven a

longer time, then the temperature was correct for baking bread. Should

one be able to allow the hand to remain in the oven a longer time, the

heat of the oven should be increased.

As a result of carefully following these minute directions, even an

inexperienced housewife should have sweet, wholesome bread.

Frau Schmidt insisted that rolling portions of dough separately before

combining in a loaf, as for braided loaves, caused the bread to have a

finer texture than if just shaped into round loaves.

AN "OATMEAL LOAF"

For a loaf of oatmeal bread, place 1 cup of crushed oats, or common

oatmeal, in a bowl, pour over 1/2 cup of hot milk. When luke warm, add

1 cup of sponge, or batter, reserved from that raised over night for

making loaves of white bread; 1 teaspoonful butter, 1 teaspoonful

sugar and 1/2 teaspoonful salt, and about 2 scant cups of white flour.

Knead a few minutes, set to rise in a warm place, closely covered,

about one hour or until doubled in bulk. Then knead down and form into

a shapely loaf, place in a pan, brush melted butter over top (this

improves crust), and when raised, doubled in bulk (in about one hour),

place in a moderately hot oven and bake from 40 to 45 minutes. Raisins

may be added to this loaf, if liked. Mary preferred this oatmeal loaf

to graham bread.

The sponge or batter from which this oatmeal-loaf was made had been

prepared in the following manner:

To 1-1/2 cups of luke-warm potato water was added 1 teaspoonful of

sugar, 1 cake of yeast; when dissolved, add 1-1/2 cups of white bread

flour. Beat all together well, stand closely-covered in a warm place

until the following morning. From one cup of this sponge was made one

oatmeal loaf, and to the other cup of sponge white flour was added for

a loaf of white bread or rolls.

AUNT SARAH'S WHITE BREAD (SPONGE METHOD)

Prepare the following "Yeast Sponge" at noon, the day preceding that

on which you bake bread: Place in a bowl (after the mid-day meal) 1

quart of potato water (containing no salt), in which potatoes were

boiled; also two medium-sized, finely-mashed potatoes, 1 tablespoonful

of sugar and, when luke warm, add 1 cup of good home-made or baker's

yeast. Mix all well together; then divide this mixture and pour each

half into each of two 1-quart glass fruit jars. Place covers tightly

on jars and shake each jar well, to mix yeast and potato-water

thoroughly. Stand yeast in a warm place near the kitchen range over

night. Jars should be _covered only_ with a napkin. The sponge should

become light and foamy. In the morning use this freshly-prepared yeast

to set sponge for bread.

When preparing to set bread, place in a large bowl 1 pint of potato

water, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, 1 pint of the yeast sponge, 1/2

teaspoonful of salt, and use about 3 pounds of sifted flour,

well-dried and warmed. Knead from 15 to 20 minutes, until a stiff

dough is formed. The dough should be fine-grained and elastic and not

stick to bake board. Place dough in the bowl to rise; this should lake

about four hours. When well-risen and light knead down and set to rise

again, about 1-1/2 hours. When light, mold into three large, shapely

loaves; place in pans and allow to stand one hour. When loaves have

doubled in bulk, are very light and show signs of cracking, invert a

pan over top of loaves (if that was not done when loaves were put in

pans), and place in a rather hot oven to bake. Brush melted butter

over loaves of bread when set to rise, it will cause bread to have a

crisp crust when baked. The old-fashioned way of testing the heat of

an oven was to hold the hand in the oven, if possible, while one

counted thirty.

The pint of yeast remaining in jar may be kept in a cool place one

week, and may be used during this time in making fresh "yeast foam."

This should always be prepared the day before baking bread. Always

prepare double the quantity of "yeast foam." Use half to set bread,

and reserve half for next baking. Bread baked from this recipe has

frequently taken first prize at County Fairs and Farmers' Picnics.

When baking bread, the oven should be quite hot when bread is first

placed therein, when the bread should rise about an inch; then the

heat of the oven should he lessened and in a half hour a brown crust

should begin forming; and during the latter part of the hour (the time

required for baking an ordinary-sized loaf) the heat of the oven

should be less, causing the bread to bake slowly. Should the heat of

the oven not be great enough, when the loaves are placed within for

baking, then poor bread would be the result. This method of making

bread will insure most satisfactory results, although more troublesome

than ordinary methods.

RECIPE FOR "PULLED BREAD"

Take a Vienna loaf of bread, twelve-hours old, cut away all the crust

with a clean-cut knife, then break away gently (with your fingers

only) small finger-lengths of the bread, place in a moderate oven and

brown a golden brown, and it is ready to serve. 'Tis said six loaves

will be required for one pound of this pulled bread. 'Tis easily

prepared in the home, but quite costly, when purchased. Many people

prefer "pulled bread" to fresh bread, as it is more wholesome.

AUNT SARAH'S "HUTZEL BROD"

2 pounds dried pears.

2 pounds dried prunes.

2 quarts juice of fruit and water.

1 pound dried currants.

1 pound seeded raisins.

1 pound blanched and shredded almonds.

1 pound chopped English walnut meats.

1-1/2 ounces finely-shredded citron.

1-1/2 ounces orange peel.

1/2 ounce chopped figs.

1 ounce ground cinnamon.

1/4 ounce ground cloves.

2-1/2 ounces anise seed.

6 pounds flour (warmed and sifted).

2 cakes compressed yeast.

1-1/2 cups sugar.

1 large tablespoon butter.

1 tablespoon salt.

4 tablespoons brandy or sherry.

The whole recipe will make 12 loaves of bread.

This delicious German bread was usually made by "Aunt Sarah" one week

before Christmas. It may be kept two weeks, and at the end of that

time still be good. It is rather expensive as regards fruit and nuts,

but as no eggs are used, and a very small quantity of butter; and as

bread containing fruit is so much more wholesome than rich fruit cake.

I think American housewives would do well to bake this German bread

occasionally. Mary took one-fourth the quantity of everything called

for in the recipe, except yeast. She used 3/4 of a cake of

Fleischman's yeast and 1/4 of each of the other ingredients, and from

these baked three loaves of bread. The prunes and pears should be

covered with cold water at night and allowed to stand until the

following morning, when, after stewing until tender, the juice should

be drained from the fruit and water added to the fruit-juice to

measure two quarts. Remove pits from prunes, cut pears and prunes in

small pieces; stand aside. Clean currants and raisins, blanch and

shred almonds, chop walnut meats, citron, orange peel and figs; add

cinnamon, cloves and anise seed. Mix together flour and one quart of

the fruit juice; add the compressed yeast cakes (dissolved in a little

warm water), knead well, set a sponge as for ordinary bread; when

raised, add the remaining quart of fruit juice, sugar, butter and

salt. A small quantity of brandy or sherry may be added, but if not

liked, fruit juice may be substituted.

Add the remaining ingredients, and knead thoroughly. Allow dough to

raise from two to three hours and when light form into loaves and

allow to stand an hour, when bake. This quantity of dough should be

made into twelve small loaves. Should the flour and liquid used be

warmed before mixing, the dough will raise more quickly. It simplifies

the work if the fruits and nuts be prepared the day before the bread

is baked.

AUNT SARAH'S WHITE BREAD AND ROLLS

1 quart potato water.

1 mashed potato.

1 tablespoonful butter or lard.

1 tablespoonful sugar.

1 Fleischman yeast cake, or 1 cup good yeast.

1/2 tablespoonful salt.

Flour to stiffen (about three quarts).

At 9 o'clock in the evening put in a large bowl the mashed potato, the

quart of luke-warm potato water (water in which potatoes were boiled

for dinner), butter or sweet lard, sugar, salt, and mix with flour

into a batter, to which add the Fleischman's or any good yeast cake,

dissolved in a little luke-warm water. Beat well and stir in flour

until quite stiff, turn out on a well-floured bake-board and knead

well about 25 minutes, until the dough is smooth, fine-grained and

elastic, and does not stick lo the bake-board or hands. Chop a knife

through the dough several times; knead and chop again. This makes the

bread finer and closer-grained, or, so Aunt Sarah thought. Knead in

all the flour necessary when first mixing the bread. When sufficiently

kneaded, form into a large, round ball of dough, rub all over with

soft lard, or butter, to prevent forming a crust on top and keep from

sticking to bowl, and set to rise, closely-covered with a cloth and

blanket, in a warm place until morning. In the morning the bread

should be very light, doubled in quantity. Take out enough dough for

an ordinary loaf, separate this into three parts, roll each piece with

the hand on the bake-board into long, narrow pieces. Pinch the three

pieces together at one end and braid, or plait, into a narrow loaf.

Brush over top with melted butter; set to rise in a warm place in a

bread pan, closely-covered, until it doubles in size--or, if

preferred, mold into ordinary-shaped loaves, and let rise until

doubled in size, when bake in a moderately-hot oven with steady heat.

Frequently, when the "Twist" loaves of bread were quite light and

ready to be placed in the oven, Aunt Sarah brushed the tops with yolk

of egg, or a little milk, then strewed "Poppy Seeds" thickly over. The

poppy seeds give an agreeable flavor to the crust of the bread.

AUNT SARAH'S RAISED ROLLS (FROM BREAD DOUGH)

A portion of the white bread dough may be made into raised rolls.

These rolls are excellent without additional shortening, or, in fact,

without anything else being added. Mold pieces of the bread dough into

balls the size of a walnut; roll each piece flat with the rolling pin,

dip in melted butter, fold and place close together in a bake pan. Let

rise _very_ light, then bake about 15 minutes in a very hot oven. If a

teaspoonful of flour browns in about two minutes in the oven, it is

the right temperature for rolls.

CLOVER-LEAF ROLLS

Take pieces of the bread dough, the size of a walnut, cut into three

pieces, mold with the hand into round balls the size of small marbles;

dip each one in melted butter, or butter and lard, and place three of

these in each Gem pan. (These pans may be bought six or twelve small

pans fastened together, and are much more convenient than when each

one must be handled separately when baking). Allow small rolls to

become _very light_, bake in a hot oven, and you will find them

excellent. Dipping the rolls in melted butter makes them crisp. Serve

hot, or place in a hot oven a few minutes until heated through, if

served after they have become cold.

"POLISH" RYE BREAD (AS MADE IN BUCKS COUNTY)

This excellent, nutritious bread, is made from the whole-ground grain.

Every part of the grain is used in the flour, when ground. To bake

this bread, sift together one quart of this "whole-ground" rye flour

and two quarts of white-bread flour. Early in the morning of the day

on which bread is to be baked, prepare a thick batter, or sponge,

consisting of one quart of potato water (or the same quantity of

luke-warm, scalded milk, or a mixture of the two); add one

tablespoonful of a mixture of lard and butter and two boiled, mashed

potatoes. Two tablespoonfuls of sugar, one-half tablespoonful of salt

and one Fleischman's compressed yeast cake, dissolved in a small

quantity of water; add about five cups of the mixed, sifted flour,

beat the batter well, and stand in a warm place, covered, from one and

a half to two hours. When well-risen and light, stir in balance of

flour gradually, until all except one cup has been added; then turn

onto a bake-board and knead well. This sponge should not be quite as

stiff as for wheat bread. Turn the dough onto a clean, well-floured

cloth in a large bowl, set to rise and bake according to directions

for baking "Hearth-baked Rye Bread" or, if preferred, form into

loaves, place in bread pans and, when light, bake.

PERFECT BREAKFAST ROLLS

One quart of scalded milk, when lukewarm, add the following: 1/2 cup

of butter and lard (mixed), 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, 1

teaspoonful of salt and 1 Fleischman's yeast cake; add flour to form a

thick batter; beat all thoroughly. Mix the above at 9.30 P.M., stand

in a warm place, closely-covered, over night. The following morning

add more flour; dough should not be mixed quite as stiff as for bread.

Allow it to raise in a warm place. When well-risen, place on bread

board, roll, cut into small biscuits; dip each biscuit in melted

butter, fold together, place in pans a distance apart, and when they

have doubled in size, bake in a hot oven.

"AN OLD RECIPE" FOR GOOD BREAD

This country cook invariably baked good bread and always used

potato-water in preference to any other liquid for setting sponge.

She stood aside water, in which potatoes had been boiled for dinner

(usually about one quart or less) and added two finely-mashed

potatoes. About 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the day _before_

that on which she intended baking bread, she dissolved one cake of

yeast (she used the small cornmeal commercial yeast cakes, sold under

different names, such as National, Magic, etc.) in a half-cup of

luke-warm water, added 1/2 teaspoon of salt and sufficient warmed,

well-dried flour to make a thin batter. She placed all in a bowl and

stood it in a warm place, closely-covered, until about 9 o'clock in

the evening, when she added this sponge, which should be light and

foamy, to the potato water, which should be lukewarm. She also added 1

tablespoon of salt and enough flour to make a rather thick batter.

Heat thoroughly and allow this sponge to stand, well-covered, in a

warm place until morning, when add 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon

butter or lard and warmed flour enough to make a stiff dough. Turn out

on the bread board and knead for about twenty minutes, until the dough

does not stick to the hands. Place stiffened dough into howl; allow it

to rise until bulk is doubled. Mold into loaves, adding as little

extra flour as possible. Cut several gashes on top of loaves, brush

with melted butter, place in bread pans, and when loaves have doubled

in bulk, place in moderately hot oven and bake about one hour.

STEAMED BROWN BREAD

Place in a bowl 3/4 cup graham flour and 1/2 cup of yellow, granulated

cornmeal. Sift into this 3/4 cup of white flour, 1 teaspoonful of

baking powder and 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. Mix all ingredients

together to form a batter by adding 1 cup of sour milk, in which has

been dissolved 3/4 teaspoonful of soda. Then add 2 tablespoonfuls of

molasses. Pour into a well-greased quart can (the tin cans in which

coffee is frequently sold will answer nicely), cover closely, place in

a kettle of boiling water, steam about three hours; stand in oven a

short time after being steamed. Cut in slices and serve as bread, or,

by the addition of raisins or currants, and a little grated nutmeg or

other flavoring, a very appetizing and wholesome pudding may be served

hot, with sugar and cream or any pudding sauce preferred.

A WHOLESOME BREAD (MADE FROM BRAN)

Place in a bowl 4 cups of clean bran and 2 cups of white flour, sifted

with 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1

tablespoonful of melted butter. Mix into a soft batter with 2 cups of

sweet milk; add 1/2 cup of molasses. Fill two layer cake pans and bake

in a hot oven about 25 minutes. This is so easily and quickly made.

The young housewife may mix, when commencing to prepare lunch, and

when the meal is ready to serve the bread will be baked, and it is an

excellent laxative.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S "HUTZEL BROD"

1 quart dried pears.

1 pint of pear juice.

1 Fleischman's yeast cake.

1 scant cup brown sugar.

2 eggs.

1/4 teaspoonful soda.

1 pound of soaked raisins.

3/4 cup of a mixture of lard and butter.

1 teaspoonful of fennel seed.

Pinch of salt.

2 teaspoonfuls of ground cinnamon.

Flour to stiffen, as for ordinary bread.

Cover one quart of dried pears with cold water and cook slowly about

20 minutes until they have cooked tender, but not soft (the night

before the day on which the bread is to be baked).

Then drain the juice from stewed pears, which should measure 1 pint;

when lukewarm, add 1 yeast cake, dissolved in a small quantity of

lukewarm water, and about 3 cups of flour and a pinch of salt. Stand,

closely-covered, in a warm place over night to raise.

The following morning, add 1/4 teaspoonful of baking soda, dissolved

in a little warm water, to counteract any acidity of batter. Cream

together sugar, butter and lard, add eggs one at a time, men the

well-floured, diced pears, also raisins, cinnamon and fennel seed, and

enough flour to stiffen as for ordinary bread. Knead well, let rise;

it will require some time, as the fruit retards the raising process.

When light, turn onto a bake-board, cut into four portions, mold into

four shapely loaves, place in pans, brush with melted butter and when

quite light, place in a moderate oven and bake one hour. This bread

will keep well several weeks, if kept in a tin cake box.

This recipe is much simpler than Aunt Sarah's recipe for making

"Hutzel Brod," but bread made from this recipe is excellent.

"AUNT SARAH'S" QUICKLY-MADE BROWN BREAD

2 cups of buttermilk, or thick, sour milk.

1/2 cup of sugar.

1/4 cup of molasses.

1 tablespoonful of melted butter.

1 egg.

1 teaspoonful of soda.

3/4 teaspoonful of salt.

3-1/2 cups of graham flour.

1/2 cup of white flour, sifted with 3/4 teaspoonful of baking powder.

The egg was placed in a bowl, and not beaten separately; sugar and

butter were creamed together, before being added; then mix in salt and

molasses, and gradually add buttermilk, in which the soda had been

dissolved; then add white and graham flour, 3/4 cups of raisins may be

added, if liked. Bake in a bread pan in a moderately hot oven.

"STIRRED" OATMEAL BREAD

Early in the morning 1 cup of oatmeal porridge, left over from that

which had been cooked for breakfast, was placed in a bowl and added

gradually 2 cups of scalded, luke-warm milk, 1 tablespoon of a mixture

of lard and butter, 1/4 cup New Orleans molasses and one Fleischman's

yeast cake, dissolved in a little of the milk; stir in about 3 cups of

bread flour and stand in a warm place about 1-1/4 hours to rise; then

add 3-1/2 cups more of bread flour and 1 teaspoonful of salt. Stir

well with a spoon, and pour into three small bread tins; let rise,

when well-risen, bake about 3/4 of an hour in a moderately hot oven.

This is a delicious and wholesome bread and no kneading is necessary.

1-1/2 cups of the cooked oatmeal might be used, then use less white

bread flour when mixing.

NUT AND RAISIN BREAD

2 cups buttermilk, or sour milk.

1/2 cup brown sugar,

2 cups graham flour.

1 cup wheat flour.

1 teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a little of the milk.

1 teaspoonful of baking powder, sifted with the wheat flour.

Mix all together, add one cup of seeded raisins, 1/4 cup of ground

peanuts and 1/4 cup chopped walnut meats. Bake in an ordinary bread

pan.

"SAFFRON" RAISIN BREAD

For this old-fashioned, "country" bread, set a sponge in the evening,

consisting of 1 cup of luke-warm water, 1 Fleischman's compressed

yeast cake and 2 tablespoonfuls of saffron water, obtained by steeping

1/2 tablespoonful of dried saffron flowers in a small quantity of

boiling water a short time. Use about 2 cups of flour to stiffen the

sponge. Cover bowl containing sponge and stand in a warm place until

morning, when add the following: 3/4 cup of soft A sugar, 1/4 cup lard

and 1/8 cup of butter (beaten to a cream); then add one egg. Beat

again and add this mixture to the well-risen sponge. Add also 3/4 cup

of seeded raisins and about 1-3/4 cups of flour.

The dough should be almost as stiff as ordinary bread dough. Set to

rise about one hour. Then divide the dough and mold into two shapely

loaves. Place in oblong bread pans. Let rise about 1-1/2 hours. Brush

melted butter over top of loaves and bake in a moderately hot oven, as

one would bake ordinary bread.

This bread is a rich, golden yellow, with a distinctive, rather

bitter, saffron flavor, well-liked by some people; saffron is not

unwholesome.

"Speaking of saffron bread," said John Landis, to his niece, Mary, "I

am reminded of the lines I was taught when quite a small boy:"

"Wer will gute kuchen haben, der muss sieben sachen haben;

Eier, butter un schmalz, milch, zucker un mehl;

Un saffron mach die kuchen gehl."

"Of course, Mary, you do not understand what that means. I will

translate it for you. 'Who would have good cakes, he must have seven

things--eggs, butter and lard, milk, sugar and flour, and saffron

makes the cakes yellow.'"

RAISED ROLLS

2 quarts of sifted flour.

1 pint of boiled milk (lukewarm).

1 tablespoon sugar.

1/2 cup butter and lard, mixed.

3/4 cake compressed yeast, or 3/4 cup yeast.

1 teaspoon salt.

At 5 o'clock P.M. set sponge with half or three-fourths of the flour

and all the other ingredients.

About 9 o'clock in the evening, knead well, adding the balance of the

flour. Cover and let stand in a warm place until morning. In the

morning, roll out about 3/4 of an inch thick, cut into small rolls,

place in baking pans far enough apart so they will not touch, and when

raised quite light, bake.

Or, take the same ingredients as above (with one exception; take one

whole cake of compressed yeast), dissolved in half a cup of luke-warm

water, and flour enough to make a thin batter. Do this at 8.30 in the

morning and let rise until 1 o'clock; then knead enough flour in to

make a soft dough, as soft as can be handled. Stand in a warm place

until 4.30, roll out quite thin; cut with small, round cake-cutter and

fold over like a pocketbook, putting a small piece of butter the size

of a pea between the folds; set in a warm place until 5.30, or until

very light; then bake a delicate brown in a hot oven. If made quite

small, 70 rolls may be made from this dough.

To cause rolls of any kind to have a rich, brown glaze, when baked,

before placing the pan containing them in the oven, brush over the top

of each roll the following mixture, composed of--yolk of 1 egg, 1

tablespoon of milk, and 1 teaspoon of sugar.

"GRANDMOTHER'S" FINE RAISED BISCUITS

1 quart scalded milk (lukewarm).

3/4 cup of butter, or a mixture of butter and lard.

1/2 cup of sugar.

1 teaspoonful of salt.

2 Fleischman's yeast cakes.

Whites of 2 eggs.

Flour.

Quite early in the morning dissolve the two yeast cakes in a little of

the milk; add these, with one-half the quantity of sugar and salt in

the recipe, to the remainder of the quart of milk; add also 4 cups of

flour to form the yeast foam. Beat well and stand in a warm place,

closely-covered, one hour, until light and foamy.

Beat the sugar remaining and the butter to a cream; add to the yeast

foam about 7 to 8 cups of flour, and the stiffly-beaten whites of the

two eggs.

Turn out on a well-floured bread board and knead about five minutes.

Place in a bowl and let rise again (about one hour or longer) until

double in bulk, when roll out about one inch in thickness. Cut small

biscuits with a 1/2 pound Royal Baking Powder can.

Brush tops of biscuits with a mixture consisting of yolk of one egg, a

teaspoonful of sugar and a little milk; this causes the biscuits to

have a rich brown crust when baked.

Place biscuits on pans a short distance apart, let rise until doubled

in bulk; bake in a rather quick oven.

From this recipe was usually made 55 biscuits. One-half of this recipe

would be sufficient for a small family.

Mary's Aunt taught her the possibilities of what she called a "Dutch"

sponge--prepared from one Fleischman's yeast cake. And the variety a

capable housewife may give her family, with the expenditure of a small

amount of time and thought.

About 9 o'clock in the evening Mary's Aunt placed in a bowl 2 cups of

potato water (drained from potatoes boiled for dinner). In this she

dissolved one Fleischman's yeast cake, stirred into this about 3 cups

of well-warmed flour, beat thoroughly for about ten minutes. Allowed

this to stand closely covered in a warm place over night. On the

following morning she added to the foamy sponge 1-1/2 cups lukewarm,

scalded milk, in which had been dissolved 1 tablespoonful of a mixture

of butter and lard, 2 generous tablespoonfuls of sugar and 1

teaspoonful of salt. About 6-1/4 cups of well-dried and warmed flour;

she stirred in a part of the flour, then added the balance. Kneaded

well a short time, then set to raise closely covered in a warm place

2-1/2 to 3 hours.

When dough was light it was kneaded down in bowl and allowed to stand

about one hour, and when well risen she placed 2 cups of light bread

sponge in a bowl, and stood aside in warm place; this later formed the

basis of a "Farmers' Pound Cake," the recipe for which may be found

among recipes for "Raised Cakes."

From the balance of dough, or sponge, after being cut into 3 portions,

she molded from the one portion 12 small turn-over rolls, which were

brushed with melted butter, folded together and placed on tins a

distance apart and when _very_ light baked in a quick oven.

From another portion of the sponge was made a twist or braided loaf.

And to the remaining portion of dough was added 1/2 cup of currants or

raisins, and this was called a "Currant" or "Raisin Loaf," which she

served for dinner the following day.

The rolls were placed in the oven of the range a few minutes before

breakfast and served hot, broken apart and eaten with maple syrup or

honey and the delicious "Farmers' Pound Cake" was served for supper.

Aunt Sarah baked these on ironing day. The kitchen being unusually

warm, as a result of the extra heat required in the range for heating

flatirons, caused the dough to rise more quickly than otherwise would

have been the case.

STIRRED BREAD

Frau Schmidt thought bread more easily digested and wholesome if

ingredients of a loaf be stirred together instead of kneaded. This is

the method she taught Mary. She poured into a bowl 3 cups of

luke-warm water, added 1 cake of Fleischman's yeast, dissolved in a

little of the water; sifted in gradually about 8-1/2 cups of flour,

added 1 tablespoonful of sugar, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, mixed all

well together with a spoon until a stiff dough was formed, which she

molded into two shapely loaves, handling as little as possible; placed

in bread pans, allowed to stand several hours to raise, and when light

baked. Mary said, "This bread may be more wholesome than old-fashioned

bread, which has been kneaded, but I prefer Aunt Sarah's bread,

well-kneaded, fine-grained and sweet," but, she continued, "I will

make an exception in favor of Aunt Sarah's 'Stirred Oatmeal' bread,

which, I think, fine."

POTATO BISCUITS

At 6 o'clock in the morning place in a bowl 1 cup of finely-mashed

(boiled) potatoes (the cup of left-over mashed potatoes may be used as

a matter of economy). Add 1 cup of potato water (the water drained

from boiled potatoes), in which 1/2 cake of Fleischman's yeast had

been dissolved, add 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Stand in a

warm place to raise, from 1 to 1-1/4 hours. At the expiration of that

time add to the foamy sponge 1 large tablespoonful of butter or lard,

1 egg and 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, beaten together before adding. Add

about 2 cups of flour, beat thoroughly and allow to raise another

hour; then roll out the dough about 1 inch in thickness and cut into

small biscuits, dip each one in melted butter and place on pans, a

short distance apart, stand about one hour to raise, when bake in a

rather hot oven. These Potato Biscuits are particularly nice when

freshly baked, and resemble somewhat biscuits made from baking powder.

From this recipe was made two dozen biscuits.

AUNT SARAH'S POTATO YEAST

9 medium-sized potatoes.

5 tablespoons sugar.

2 tablespoons salt.

1 quart water.

Grate the raw potatoes quickly, so they will not discolor, pour over

the grated potato the quart of boiling water, add salt and sugar, cook

several minutes until the consistency of boiled starch, let cool, and

when lukewarm add 1 cup of good yeast. Stir all together in a crock,

cover and let stand in a warm place three or four hours, when it is

foamy and rises to top of crock, stir down several times, then fill

glass fruit jars, cover and stand away in a cool place until needed.

This yeast will keep about ten days. Use one cup to about three pounds

of flour, or one quart of liquid, when setting sponge for bread. Save

one cup of this yeast to start fresh yeast with.

PERFECTION POTATO CAKES

1 cup of boiled mashed potatoes.

1 cup sweet milk.

1 cup water in which 1 Fleischman yeast cake was dissolved.

2 cups soft A sugar.

1/2 cup butter and lard mixed.

2 eggs.

A little salt.

About 7 cups of flour.

Cream the sugar, butter and eggs together. Add mashed potatoes, milk

and cup of water containing yeast, alternately with the flour, until

about 7 cups of flour have been used, making a dough as stiff as can

be stirred with a spoon. Stand, covered, in a warm place by the range

until morning. These should be set to rise about nine o'clock in the

evening. The following morning take pieces of the dough, on a

well-floured bake board; roll about one inch thick, to fit in pie

tins, place in pie tins to raise; when doubled in bulk spread with

melted butter and sprinkle sugar thickly over top and bake in a

moderately hot oven until lightly browned on top. This quantity of

dough makes six cakes.

Instead of brushing the cakes with above mixture, place in a bowl 1/2

cup of soft A sugar, 1/2 cup flour, a tiny pinch of salt and baking

powder each and 2 tablespoonfuls of butter (not melted), mix all

together as crumbly as possible, then the crumbs were sprinkled

thickly over tops of cakes, which had been brushed with a mixture of

milk and sugar. Place cakes in oven when raised; bake 20 minutes.

This recipe was given Mary by an old "Bucks County" cook, noted for

the excellence of her raised cakes.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR CINNAMON BUNS

Early in the morning mix a sponge or batter consisting of 1/2 cup of

potato water (water drained from boiled potatoes) and 1/2 cup of

lukewarm, scalded milk, one Fleischman's compressed yeast cake,

dissolved in the 1/2 cup of lukewarm potato water, 1 teaspoonful

sugar, pinch of salt and about 1-1/2 cupfuls of warmed flour. Stand

this sponge in a warm place, closely covered, about 3/4 of an hour, to

raise. At the end of that time add to the light, well-risen sponge,

the following: 3 tablespoonfuls of a mixture of lard and butter, and

1/3 cup of soft A sugar, creamed together. Add one large egg. Beat

well. Lastly, add about 2 cupfuls of flour. Mix all together

thoroughly, and let raise again about 1-1/2 hours. Divide the

well-risen sponge into four portions. Roll each piece with rolling-pin

into lengthwise pieces about 1/2 inch thick and spread with one

tablespoonful of melted butter, scant 2 tablespoonfuls of brown sugar,

dust over this a small quantity of cinnamon, and 1 tablespoonful of

dried currants. Shape into a long, narrow roll with the hands, on a

well-floured bake-board. Cut each roll into five pieces. Pinch one end

of each piece together and place each bun, cut side down, a short

distance apart, in an iron pan which has been well greased, having

brushed a little melted butter and a sprinkling of sugar over pan.

Allow these to rise in a warm place as before, about 1-1/2 hours,

until quite light, as having the extra sugar, butter and currants

added retards their rising as quickly as would plain biscuits.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes in a moderate oven.

From this quantity of material was made 20 cinnamon buns.

"KLEINA KAFFE KUCHEN" (LITTLE COFFEE CAKES)

Scant 1/2 cup lard and butter.

2 cups sifted flour.

2 whole eggs and the yolks of 2 more.

3 tablespoons sugar.

1/4 cup cream.

1/4 milk.

1 Fleischman's yeast cake.

1/8 teaspoon salt.

The yeast cake was dissolved in the 1/4 cup lukewarm milk, a couple

tablespoons of flour were added and mixed into a batter, and stood in

a warm place to rise. The butter and sugar were stirred to a cream,

salt was added, the eggs were beaten in, one at a time, next was added

the sponge containing the yeast, the lukewarm cream, and the sifted

flour. Grease slightly warmed Gem pans, sift a little flour over them,

fill two-thirds full with the soft dough, set in a warm place to rise

to tops of pans, and when quite light bake in a medium hot oven about

25 minutes. The oven should be hot enough to allow them to rise

quickly. Put something underneath the pans in the oven to prevent

bottom of cakes from burning. These may be set about 8 o'clock in the

morning if cakes are wished for lunch at noon. These are not cheap, as

this quantity makes only 12 cakes, but they are light as puffballs.

The Professor's wife served them when she gave a "Kaffee Klatch." She

doubled the recipe, baked the cakes in the morning, and placed them in

the oven to heat through before serving. The cakes should be broken

apart, not cut. The cakes made from this recipe are particularly fine.

GROSSMUTTER'S POTATO CAKES

1 cup hot mashed potatoes.

1-1/2 cups sugar.

1 scant cup butter and lard.

1 cup home-made yeast or 1 yeast cake dissolved in 1 cup

lukewarm water.

3 eggs.

Flour.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon set to rise the following: One cup of

sugar and one cup of hot mashed potatoes; when lukewarm add one cup of

flour and one cup of yeast; beat all together, stand in a warm place

to rise and at 9 o'clock in the evening cream together 1 cup of a

mixture of lard and butter, 1 cup of sugar, 3 eggs and pinch of salt;

add the sponge and beat well. Stir as stiff as you can stir it with a

large spoon, cover, set in a warm place to rise until morning, when

roll out some of the dough into cakes about one inch thick, put in pie

tins to rise, and when light, make half a dozen deep impressions on

top of each cake with the forefinger, spread with melted butter and

strew light-brown sugar thickly over top, or mix together 1 cup sugar,

butter size of an egg, 2 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons boiling

water, beat well and spread the mixture on cakes just before placing

in oven. Bake the cakes about 20 minutes in a moderate oven. This is a

very old recipe used by Aunt Sarah's grandmother, and similar to the

well-known German cakes called "Schwing Felders."

AUNT SARAH'S "BREAD DOUGH" CAKE

1 cup bread dough.

1 egg.

1/2 cup soft A sugar.

1 tablespoon lard or butter.

1/4 teaspoon soda.

When her bread dough was raised and ready to put in the pans she

placed a cupful of it in a bowl and added the egg, sugar, butter, soda

(dissolved in a little hot water); some dried raisins or currants, and

just enough flour so it might be handled easily. Put in a small agate

pan four inches deep, let rise until light, dust pulverized sugar over

top and bake about 25 or 30 minutes in a moderate oven.

Double the materials called for, using 2 _cups_ of well-risen bread

dough or sponge, and you will have a good-sized cake.

GOOD, CHEAP DUTCH CAKES

To a bowl containing 1 cup of scalded milk, add 1 tablespoonful of

lard and 1 cup of sugar. When lukewarm add 1 yeast cake

(Fleischman's), dissolved in 1 cup of lukewarm water, and about 5 cups

of good flour. Set to rise at night about nine o'clock, the next

morning roll out pieces about one and a half inches thick, to fit in

medium-sized pie tins. Set in a warm place to rise. When light, brush

top with melted butter and strew sugar thickly over and bake from 15

to 20 minutes in a moderately hot oven. These cakes are _inexpensive_

and _good_; _no eggs_ or _butter_ being used.

RECIPE FOR "LIGHT CAKES" (GIVEN MARY BY A FARMER'S WIFE)

In the evening mix a sponge consisting of 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes,

1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup of yeast or 1 cake of Fleischman's yeast

dissolved in a cup of lukewarm water; 1/2 cup of a mixture of butter

and lard and a pinch of salt and flour to thicken until batter is

quite thick. Stand in a warm place, closely covered, until morning,

when add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of sugar and flour to stiffen as thick as

sponge can be stirred with a spoon. Set to rise; when light roll out

one inch thick, place in pie tins, brush tops with melted butter and

brown sugar, set to rise, and, when well risen, bake.

BUTTER "SCHIMMEL"

Place in a mixing bowl 2 cups of warm, mashed potatoes and add 3/4 of

a cup of shortening (a mixture of lard and butter), (or use Aunt

Sarah's substitute for butter); one cup of A sugar and 1 teaspoonful

salt.

Beat all to a cream. When lukewarm, add 2 eggs and either 1 yeast cake

dissolved in 1 cup of lukewarm water, or 1 cup of potato yeast; use

about 2 cups of flour to make a thin batter. Set to raise over night

or early in the morning. When well risen add about 4 cups of flour.

Make about as stiff a dough as can be stirred well with a mixing

spoon. Place soft dough on a bake-board; roll out into a sheet about

one-half inch thick; cut into squares about the size of a common soda

cracker; bring each of the four corners together in the centre like an

envelope; pinch together; place a small piece of butter (about

one-eighth teaspoonful) on the top where the four corners join. Stand

in a warm place to rise. When well risen and light place in the oven.

When baked, take from oven, and while hot dip all sides in melted

butter and dust granulated or pulverized sugar over top. These are

not as much trouble to prepare as one would suppose from the

directions for making. The same dough may be cut in doughnuts with a

tin cutter and fried in hot fat after raising, or the dough may be

molded into small, round biscuits if preferred, and baked in oven.

"BUCKS COUNTY" DOUGHNUTS

About nine o'clock in the evening a batter was mixed composed of the

following:

1 cup milk.

1 cup hot water.

1 teaspoonful of sugar.

1 cup yeast (or one cake of Fleischman's yeast dissolved in

one cup of lukewarm water).

1 pinch of salt.

3-1/2 cups of flour.

Stand in a warm place until morning. Then add 1/2 cup of butter and

1-1/2 cups of soft A sugar, creamed together, and from 3 to 4 cups of

flour. The dough should be as stiff as can be stirred with a spoon.

Set to rise in a warm place; when light and spongy, roll out on a

well-floured bake-board and cut into round cakes with a hole in the

centre. Let rise again, and when well risen fry a golden brown in deep

fat and sift over pulverized sugar. This recipe will make 45

doughnuts. These are good and economical, as no eggs are used in this

recipe.

EXTRA FINE "QUAKER BONNET" BISCUITS

For these quaint-looking, delicious biscuits, a sponge was prepared

consisting of:

1 pint milk.

3 eggs.

1/2 cup mixture butter and lard.

1 yeast cake (Fleischman's).

About 7 cups flour.

Set to rise early in the morning. When well risen (in about 3 hours),

roll dough into a sheet about 1/4 inch in thickness, cut with a

half-pound baking powder can into small, round biscuits, brush top of

each one with melted butter (use a new, clean paint brush for this

purpose), place another biscuit on top of each one of these, and when

raised very light and ready for oven brush top of each biscuit with a

mixture consisting of half of one yolk of egg (which had been reserved

from the ones used in baking), mixed with a little milk. Biscuits

should have been placed on a baking sheet some distance apart, let

rise about one hour until quite light, then placed in a quick but not

_too hot_ an oven until baked a golden brown on top.

Mary gave these the name of "Quaker Bonnet" Biscuits, as the top

biscuit did not raise quite as much as the one underneath and greatly

resembled the crown of a Quaker bonnet.

From this quantity of dough was made three dozen biscuits. These are

not cheap, but extra fine.

BUCKS COUNTY CINNAMON "KUCHEN"

Explicit directions for the making of these excellent raised cakes was

given Mary by an old, experienced Pennsylvania German cook. They were

prepared from the following recipe: Early in the morning 1 pint of

milk was scalded. When lukewarm, add 3-1/2 cups of flour and 1 cake of

Fleischman's compressed yeast (which had been dissolved in 1

tablespoonful of lukewarm water). Beat the mixture well. Cover and

stand in a warm place to rise. When well risen, which should be in

about 2 hours, add the following mixture, composed of 3/4 cup of sugar

and 1/2 cup of butter, creamed together; 1/2 teaspoonful of salt; 1

egg was beaten into the mixture, and about 2 cups of flour were added,

enough to make a dough as stiff as can be stirred with a spoon. Dough

should not be as stiff as for bread. Let stand about 1 hour. When well

risen and light, divide into four portions. Roll out each piece of

dough to thickness of one inch. Place cakes in medium-sized pie tins

and allow them to stand about one hour. When well risen, doubled in

bulk, make half dozen deep impressions on top of each cake with the

forefinger. Brush top of each cake with 1/2 tablespoonful of melted

butter. Sprinkle over 2 tablespoonfuls of soft A sugar and sift over a

little pulverized cinnamon, if liked, just before placing cakes in

oven. Bake cakes from 20 to 25 minutes in a moderately hot oven. From

this dough may be made four cakes.

Excellent biscuits may also be made from this same dough, by simply

moulding it into small biscuits and place in a pan some distance

apart. Let rise and brush tops of biscuits with a mixture composed of

a part of an egg yolk, a tablespoonful of milk and 1/2 teaspoonful

sugar. This causes the biscuits to have a rich, brown color when

baked.

The sponge from which these cakes or biscuits were made was mixed and

set to rise at 6 o'clock in the morning, and the baking was finished

at 11 o'clock. Sponge should be set to rise in a warm room. If these

directions are carefully followed the housewife will invariably have

good results. Always use hard Spring wheat for bread or biscuits,

raised with yeast; and Winter wheat, which costs less, will answer for

making cake and pastry. In cold weather always warm flour before

baking, when yeast is used for baking raised cakes. Soft A sugar or a

very light brown is to be preferred to granulated.

MORAVIAN SUGAR CAKES

At 5 o'clock P.M. set a sponge or batter, consisting of 1 cup of

mashed potatoes, 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of sweet milk, scalded and

cooled, 1/2 cake of yeast, dissolved in 1 cup of lukewarm water, 2

eggs 3/4 cup of a mixture of lard and butter, add 3 cups of flour,

beat well, stand in a warm place to raise; at 9 o'clock add about 6

cups of flour. Stand until morning in a warm place, near the range.

The following morning turn out on a floured bake-board, roll out cakes

one inch thick, place in pie tins, when ready for the oven; punch half

a dozen small holes in the top of cakes, in which place small bits of

butter. Sprinkle sugar over liberally and cinnamon if liked. Bake in a

moderate oven.

MARY'S POTATO CAKES

1 cup freshly-boiled mashed potatoes.

1 cup scalded sweet milk.

1 cup sugar.

Flour about 6 cups.

1 cake Fleischman's yeast.

2 eggs.

1/2 cup butter and lard mixed.

1/2 cup potato water.

At 7 o'clock in the morning Mary mixed a sponge consisting of a cup of

mashed potatoes, 1 cup scalded milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1-1/2 cups of

flour and the cake of Fleischman's yeast, dissolved in half a cup of

lukewarm potato water. This was set to rise in a warm place near the

range for several hours until light. Then she creamed together 1/2 cup

of sugar, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of butter and lard, or use instead the

"Substitute for Butter." Added the creamed sugar, butter and eggs to

the well-risen sponge and about 4-1/2 cups of flour. Sift a couple of

tablespoons of flour over top of sponge, and set to rise again about

1-1/2 hours. When light, take cut pieces of the sponge on a

well-floured bread-board, knead for a minute or two, then roll out

with a rolling-pin inlo pieces about one inch thick, place in

well-greased small pie tins, over which a dust of flour has been

sifted, set to rise about 1-1/2 hours. When light and ready for oven

brush top with milk, strew crumbs over or brush with melted butter and

strew sugar over top; after punching half dozen holes in top of each

cake, bake in a moderately hot oven from 20 to 25 minutes until a rich

brown, when cakes should be baked. Five potato cakes may be made from

this sponge, or four cakes and one pan of biscuits if preferred. Use

soft "A" sugar rather than granulated for these cakes, and old

potatoes are superior to new. Or when these same cakes were raised,

ready to be placed in the oven, Mary frequently brushed the tops of

cakes with melted butter, strewing over the following: 1 cup of flour

mixed with 1/2 cup of sugar and yolk of 1 egg, and a few drops of

vanilla. This mixture rubbed through a coarse sieve and scattered over

cakes Mary called "Streusel Kuchen."

GERMAN RAISIN CAKE (RAISED WITH YEAST)

Place in a bowl 1 cup of milk, scalded and cooled until lukewarm; add

1 tablespoonful of sugar and dissolve one cake of yeast in the milk.

Mix in 1 cup of flour and stand in a warm place to raise 3/4 of an

hour. Then cream together in a separate bowl 1/2 cup soft "A" sugar,

1/2 cup of butter or "butter substitute," add 1 egg and a pinch of

salt; stir in 1-1/4 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of well-floured raisins,

and 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla flavoring. Add the yeast mixture and

allow it to raise about 2 hours longer. At the expiration of that time

turn the well-risen sponge out on a floured bake-board. After giving

the dough several deft turns on the board with the hand, place in a

well-greased fruit cake pan, which has been dusted with flour. Stand

pan containing cake in a warm place, let rise until very light,

probably 1-1/4 hours, when brush the top of cake with a small quantity

of a mixture of milk and sugar. Sift pulverized sugar thickly over

top. Place the cake in a moderately hot oven, so the cake may finish

rising before commencing to brown on the top. Bake about 35 minutes.

"KAFFEE KRANTZ" (COFFEE WREATH)

1 cup sugar.

3/4 cup butter and lard.

4 eggs.

1 pint milk.

1 Fleischman's yeast cake.

4 cups flour.

Cream together the sugar, butter, lard and eggs, add the milk, which

has been scalded and allowed to cool; flour, and yeast cake, dissolved

in a half cup of lukewarm water; beat well. Set this sponge to rise in

a warm place, near the range, as early as possible in the morning.

This will take about 1-1/2 hours to rise. When the sponge is light add

about 3 cups more of flour. The dough, when stiff as can be stirred

with a spoon, will be right. Take about 2 cups of this sponge out on a

well-floured bake-board, divide in three pieces, and braid and form

into a wreath or "Krantz," or they may be made out into flat cakes and

baked in pie tins after they have been raised and are light. Sprinkle

sugar thickly over top after brushing with milk containing a little

sugar, before placing in oven. These should rise in about 1-1/2 hours.

Place in a moderately hot oven and bake from 20 to 25 minutes. This

recipe Frau Schmidt translated from the German language for Mary's

especial benefit.

This coffee wreath is particularly fine if small pieces of crushed

rock candy be sprinkled liberally over the top and blanched almonds

stuck a couple of inches apart over the top just before placing the

cake in the oven, after the cakes had been brushed with a mixture of

milk and sugar.

"MONDEL KRANTZ" OR ALMOND CAKE (AS MADE BY FRAU SCHMIDT)

1 pint sweet milk.

3/4 cup sugar.

3 eggs.

1 yeast cake or 1 cup yeast.

1/3 cup butter.

2 tablespoons rock candy.

1 orange.

2 tablespoons chopped almonds.

Flour.

Set to rise early in the morning. To the scalded milk, when lukewarm,

add the yeast and flour enough to make a batter, cover, set to rise

until light, near the range, which will take several hours. Then add

the sugar, butter and eggs beaten to a cream, grated rind and juice of

orange, a couple tablespoons finely-chopped almonds, and add enough

flour to make a soft dough, as stiff as can be stirred with a spoon;

set to rise again, and when light, divide the dough in two portions,

from which you form two wreaths. Roll half the dough in three long

strips on the floured bake-board with the hands, then braid them

together. Place a large coffee cup or bowl inverted on the centre of a

large, round or oval, well-greased pan, lay the wreath around the

bowl. The bowl in the centre of the pan prevents the dough from

running together and forming a cake. Brush the top of the wreath with

a little milk, containing teaspoon of sugar, over the top of the

wreath, stick blanched, well-dried almonds, and strew thickly with

crushed rock candy or very coarse sugar.

Let rise until light, then bake. This makes two quite large wreaths.

The Professor's wife told Mary when she gave her this recipe, this

almond wreath was always served at the breakfast table on Christmas

morning at the home of her parents in Germany, and was always baked by

her mother, who gave her this recipe, and it was found on the

breakfast table of Frau Schmidt Christmas morning as regularly as was

made "Fast Nacht Kuchen" by Aunt Sarah every year on "Shrove Tuesday,"

the day before the beginning of the Lenten season.

THE PROFESSOR'S WIFE'S RECIPE FOR "DUTCH CAKES"

2 tablespoons of butter or lard.

2 eggs.

1 cup "Soft A" sugar.

1/2 yeast cake.

1 pint milk.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

Flour.

She scalded the milk, added butter and eggs, well beaten, when the

milk was lukewarm, then added yeast, dissolved in a little lukewarm

water, sugar, salt and flour to make a thin batter. Beat all together

five minutes, stood the batter, closely covered, in a warm place, over

night. In the morning, added flour to make a soft dough, kneaded

lightly for ten minutes, placed in bowl and set to rise again. When

light, she rolled out dough one inch in thickness, placed in pie tins,

and when raised a second time spread over the cakes the following

mixture before placing in oven: 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of

flour, 2 tablespoonfuls of boiling water and butter size of an egg,

beaten well together. Bake 20 minutes.

"FARMERS' POUND CAKE" (AS AUNT SARAH CALLED THIS)

Place in a bowl 2 cups of light, well-raised bread sponge (when all

flour necessary had been added and loaves were shaped ready to be

placed in bread pan for final rising). Cream together 3/4 cup of a

mixture of lard and butter, add 2 eggs, first yolks then stiffly

beaten whites, also add 1-1/2 cups soft A sugar. Add to the 2 cups of

bread sponge in bowl and beat well until fully incorporated with the

dough, then add 1/2 cup of lukewarm milk, in which had been dissolved

1/2 teaspoonful of salaratus.

Beat all together until mixture is smooth and creamy, then add 2 cups

of bread flour and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon flavoring. Beat well and add

1-1/2 cups of either currants or raisins, dusted with flour. Pour

mixture into an agate pudding dish (one holding 3 quarts, about 2-1/2

inches in depth and 30 inches in circumference). Stand in a warm place

3 to 4 hours to raise; when raised to top of pan place in a moderately

hot oven and bake about 40 minutes, when, taken from oven, dust with

pulverized sugar thickly over top of cake.

This cake should be large as an old-fashioned fruit cake, will keep

moist some time in a tin cake box, but is best when freshly baked.

GERMAN "COFFEE BREAD"

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 cup hot milk

1 yeast cake

2 eggs

2-1/2 cups flour.

As Aunt Sarah taught Mary to bake this, it was fine. She creamed

together in a bowl the sugar and butter, poured the hot milk over

this, and when lukewarm, added the compressed yeast cake, dissolved in

1/4 cup of lukewarm water. She then added two small, well-beaten eggs,

about 2-1/2 cups flour, or enough to make a stiff _batter_, and 1/2

teaspoonful salt. Beat thoroughly, cover and set to rise in a warm

place about 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk. This was set to rise

quite early in the morning. When light, beat thoroughly and with a

spoon spread evenly on top of well-greased, deep pie tins, which have

been sprinkled with a little flour.

Spread the crumbs given below over the top of cakes, cover and let

rise 15 minutes and bake a rich brown in moderate oven.

For the crumbs, mix together in a bowl 1 heaped cup of fine, soft,

stale bread crumbs, 2-1/2 tablespoonfuls light brown sugar, 3/4 of a

teaspoonful cinnamon, pinch of salt, 1/4 cup of blanched and chopped

almonds, and 2 tablespoonfuls of soft butter. This sponge or dough

should be unusually soft when mixed, as the crumbs sink into the dough

and thicken it. Add only the quantity of flour called for in recipe.

"FAST NACHT KUCHEN" (DOUGHNUTS)

3 tablespoons honey.

3/4 quart milk.

2 quarts flour.

1 yeast cake.

1/2 cup butter.

2 eggs.

Without fail, every year on Shrove Tuesday, or "Fast Nacht," the day

before the beginning of Lent, these cakes were made. Quite early in

the morning, or the night before, the following sponge was set to

rise: The lukewarm, scalded milk, mixed into a smooth batter with 1

quart of flour; add 1 Fleischman's yeast cake, dissolved in a very

little water. Beat well together, set in a warm place to rise over

night, or several hours, and when light, add the following, which has

been creamed together: eggs, butter and lard, a little flour and the

honey. Beat well, and then add the balance of the flour, reserving a

small quantity to flour the board later. Set to rise again, and when

quite light roll out on a well-floured board, cut into circles with a

doughnut cutter, cut holes in the centre of cakes, let rise, and then

fry in deep fat; dust with pulverised sugar and cinnamon, if liked.

These are regular German doughnuts, and are never very sweet. If liked

sweeter, a little sugar may be added. From this batter Mary made 18

"fried cakes," or "Fast Nacht Kuchen," as the Germans call them. She

also made from the same dough one dozen cinnamon buns and two Dutch

cakes. The dough not being very sweet, she sprinkled rivels composed

of sugar, flour and butter, generously over the top of the "Dutch

cakes." The dough for doughnuts, or fried cakes, should always have a

little more flour added than dough for "Dutch cakes" or buns; baked in

the oven. If _too soft_, they will absorb fat while frying.

"KAFFEE KUCHEN" (COFFEE CAKE)

2 cups milk.

1 heaped cup soft A sugar.

1/2 cup butter and lard.

1 egg.

1 Fleischman's yeast cake.

Flour.

These German Coffee Cakes should be set to rise either early in the

morning or the night before being baked. Scald 2 cups sweet milk and

set aside to cool. Cream together in a bowl 1 heaped cup of A sugar,

1/2 cup butter and lard and the yolk of egg. Add this to the lukewarm

milk alternately with 6-1/2 cups flour and the yeast cake dissolved in

1/3 cup lukewarm water. Beat all together, and, lastly, add the

stiffly-beaten white of egg. Cover and set in a warm place to rise

over night, or, if set to rise in the morning, stand about 2-1/2 hours

until light. Put an extra cup of flour on the bake-board, take out

large spoonfuls of the dough, mix in just enough flour to roll out

into flat cakes, spread on well-greased pie tins, stand in a warm

place until light, about 1-1/4 hours. When the cakes are ready for the

oven, brush melted butter over the top, strew thickly with brown

sugar, or spread rivels over top, composed of 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup

flour and 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, crumbled together. Strew these

over the cakes just before placing them in the oven of range.

"STREUSEL KUCHEN"

For these German-raised cakes, take 1/2 cup mashed potatoes and 1/2

cup of potato water, 1/2 cup lard and butter mixed, creamed with 1/2

cup sugar. Mix with these ingredients about 3-1/2 cups of flour and 1

cup of yeast. Set this sponge to rise at night in a warm place, well

covered. The next morning add to the light, well-risen sponge, 2 eggs,

1/2 cup sugar and about 1-1/2 cups flour. Let stand in a warm place

until light. Then roll out pieces size of a plate, one inch thick;

place on well-greased pie tins, let rise, and when light and ready for

the oven brush over tops with melted butter and strew over the tops of

cakes the following: Mix 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar and yolk of

1 egg. Flavor with a few drops of vanilla (or use vanilla sugar, which

is made by placing several vanilla beans in a jar of sugar a short

time, which flavors sugar). Rub this mixture of flour, sugar and yolk

of egg through a coarse sieve and strew over tops of cakes.

Or, this same recipe may be used by taking, instead of 1 cup of yeast,

one Fleischman yeast cake, dissolved in 1 cup of lukewarm water.

Instead of sponge being set to rise the night before the day on which

the cakes are to be baked, the sponge might be set early in the

morning of the same day on which they are to be baked--exactly in the

same manner as if sponge was set the night before; when light, add

eggs, sugar and balance of flour to sponge, and proceed as before.

MUFFINS, BISCUITS, GRIDDLE CAKES AND WAFFLES

Use 1 scant cup of liquid to 1 good cup of flour, usually, for

"Griddle Cake" batter. Use baking powder with sweet milk, 1 heaping

teaspoonful of Royal baking powder is equivalent to 1 teaspoonful of

cream of tartar and 1/2 teaspoonful of salaratus (baking soda)

combined. Use either baking powder or salaratus and cream of tartar

combined, when using sweet milk. Use 1 teaspoonful of baking soda to 1

pint of sour milk. Allow a larger quantity of baking powder when no

eggs are used. Have all materials cold when using baking powder. When

milk is only slightly sour, use a lesser quantity of soda and a small

quantity of baking powder.

SALLY LUNN (AS AUNT SARAH MADE IT)

As "Aunt Sarah" made this, it required 1 cup of sweet milk, 2 eggs, 1

tablespoonful of butter, 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar, flour to make a

stiff batter, about 2-3/4 cups (almost three cups) of flour sifted

with 3 scant teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Served immediately when

taken from the oven, this is an excellent substitute for bread for

lunch.

AUNT SARAH'S RECIPE FOR "JOHNNY CAKE"

One and one half cups of sour milk, 1/3 cup of shortening, a mixture

of lard and butter, 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of sugar, 2 cups of yellow

cornmeal, 1 cup of white bread flour, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of soda,

dissolved in a little hot water, a little salt. Mix all together, add

the stiffly-beaten white of egg last. Pour batter in an oblong bread

tin, bake about 45 minutes in a quick oven. Granulated corn meal was

used for this cake.

MARY'S BREAKFAST MUFFINS

3 cups sifted flour.

1 teaspoon salt.

1 teaspoon sugar.

1 tablespoon butter and lard.

1/4 cake Fleischman's yeast.

2 eggs.

2 cups boiled milk.

Place the flour, salt, sugar, butter, lard and yeast cake, dissolved

in water, in a bowl and mix well; then add the eggs and milk, which

should be lukewarm. Set to rise in a warm place over night. In the

morning do not stir at all, but carefully place tablespoonfuls of the

light dough into warm, well-greased Gem pans, let stand a short time,

until quite light, then bake in a hot oven 15 to 20 minutes and serve

hot for breakfast. These should be light and flakey if made according

to directions.

RICE MUFFINS

1 cup cold boiled rice.

Yolk of egg and white beaten separately.

1 teaspoon sugar.

1/2 teaspoon salt.

1 cup sweet milk.

2 cups flour.

2 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Put the rice, yolk of egg, sugar and salt in a bowl and beat together;

then add 1 teacup sweet milk alternately with the flour, in which has

been sifted the baking powder. Add the stiffly-beaten white of egg;

bake in muffin pans in hot oven. This makes about fifteen muffins.

INDIAN PONE

Beat together, in the following order, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful of

white sugar, 1-1/2 cups of sweet milk, 1 teaspoonful of salt; to which

add 1 cup of granulated yellow corn meal and 2 cups of white flour,

sifted, with 3 scant teaspoonfuls of Royal baking powder. Lastly, add

1 tablespoonful of melted (not hot) butter. Pour batter in bread pan

and bake in a hot oven 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot. Do not cut with a

knife when serving, but break in pieces. When the stock of bread is

low this quickly-prepared corn bread or "pone" is a very good

substitute for bread, and was frequently baked by Mary at the farm.

Mary's Aunt taught her to make a very appetizing pudding from the

left-over pieces of corn bread, which, when crumbled, filled 1 cup

heaping full; over this was poured 2 cups of sweet milk; this was

allowed to stand until soft; when add 1 large egg (beaten separately),

a generous tablespoonful of sugar, a couple of tablespoonfuls of

raisins, a pinch of salt; mix well, pour into a small agate pudding

pan, grate nutmeg over the top, and bake in a moderate oven 1 hour or

a less time. Serve with sugar and cream.

"PFANNKUCHEN" (PANCAKES)

Four eggs, whites and yolks were beaten separately, 2 tablespoonfuls

of milk, were added; 1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley; mix lightly

together, add salt to season. Place 2 tablespoonfuls of butter in a

fry pan. When butter has melted, pour mixture carefully into pan. When

cooked, sprinkle over a small quantity of finely minced parsley. Roll

like a "jelly roll." Place on a hot platter and serve at once, cut in

slices.

"EXTRA FINE" BAKING POWDER BISCUITS

One quart of flour was measured; after being sifted, was placed in a

flour sifter, with 4 heaping teaspoonfuls of Royal baking powder and 1

teaspoonful of salt. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl, cut

through this mixture 1 tablespoonful of butter and lard each, and mix

into a soft dough, with about 1 cup of sweet milk. 1 egg should have

been added to the milk before mixing it with the flour. Reserve a

small quantity of the yolk of egg, and thin with a little milk. Brush

this over the top of biscuits before baking.

Turn the biscuit dough onto a floured bake-board. Pat out about one

inch thick. Cut into rounds with small tin cake cutter. Place a small

bit of butter on each biscuit and fold together. Place a short

distance apart on baking tins and bake in a quick oven.

"FLANNEL" CAKES, MADE FROM SOUR MILK

One pint of sour milk, 2 eggs (beaten separately), a little salt, 1

large teaspoon of melted butter, 1 teaspoonful of molasses, 1 good

teaspoon of soda, sifted with enough flour to make a smooth batter.

Beat hard and then add the 2 yolks and the stiffly-beaten whites of

eggs. Bake small cakes on a hot, well-greased griddle. Serve with

honey or maple syrup.

"FLANNEL" CAKES WITH BAKING POWDER

Sift together in a bowl 1 pint of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2

teaspoons of Royal baking powder, mixed to a smooth batter, with about

1 pint of sweet milk. Add two yolks of eggs, 1 tablespoon of melted

butter. Lastly, add the 2 stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. 1 teaspoon of

baking molasses added makes them brown quickly. Bake on a hot griddle,

well greased.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S RECIPE FOR WAFFLES

One pint of sour milk, 1 quart of sweet milk, 1 teaspoon salt, 1

tablespoon butter, whites of three eggs and yolks of two and 1

teaspoon of baking soda, and flour to make a rather thin batter. Beat

the two yolks of the eggs until light and creamy, then add 1/2

teaspoon of baking powder, little flour, then the sour milk with soda

dissolved in it, stirring all the time. Then add 1 tablespoon of

melted or softened butter, then the sweet milk; beat well; and lastly,

add the stiffly-beaten whites of the three eggs. Bake in hot waffle

iron.

"CRUMB" CORN CAKES

One pint of stale bread crumbs (not fine, dried crumbs), covered with

1 pint of sour milk. Let stand over night. In the morning add 1

tablespoon of butter, yolks of 2 eggs and a little salt, 1/2 teaspoon

of salaratus (good measure), 3/4 cup of granulated corn meal, to which

add a couple of tablespoons of bread flour, enough to fill up the cup.

Stir all well together, add the 2 stiffly-beaten whites of eggs and

drop with a tablespoon on a hot, greased griddle. Make the cakes

small, as they do not turn quite as easily as do buckwheat cakes. This

makes about two dozen cakes. These are good.

"GRANDMOTHER'S" RECIPE FOR BUTTERMILK WAFFLES

Mix to a smooth batter, 4 cups of sour buttermilk, 5 cups of flour,

and add 1 tablespoon of melted butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon

of molasses. Add the well-beaten yolks of 3 eggs, 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls

of baking soda, dissolved in a little hot water. Lastly, add the

stiffly-beaten whites of 3 eggs. Place about 3 tablespoonfuls of the

batter on hot, well-greased waffle irons. If buttermilk cannot be

procured, sour milk may be used with good results, providing the milk

is quite sour. From this quantity of batter may be made twelve

waffles. Serve with maple syrup or honey.

BREAD GRIDDLE CAKES

To 1 pint of sour milk add about 3 slices of stale bread and allow the

bread to soak in this mixture over night. In the morning beat up

smoothly with 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoonful of soda, a pinch of salt and

enough cornmeal and white flour, in equal quantities, to make a

moderately thin batter. Lastly, add the stiffly-beaten white of egg,

bake on a hot griddle. Cakes should be small in size, as when baked

cakes are less readily turned than other batter cakes. These cakes are

economical and good.

NEVER FAIL "FLANNEL" CAKES

2 cups thick sour milk (quite sour).

2 tablespoonfuls sweet milk.

1 egg.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

2 cups flour.

1 teaspoonful baking soda (good measure).

Pour the milk in a bowl, add yolk of egg. Sift together flour, baking

soda and salt, four times. Beat all well together. Then add the

stiffly-beaten white of egg, and bake at once on a hot griddle, using

about two tablespoonfuls of the batter for a cake. Serve with butter

and maple syrup or a substitute.

This recipe, given Mary by an old, reliable cook, was unfailing as to

results, if recipe be closely followed. The cakes should be

three-fourths of an inch thick, light as a feather, and inside, fine,

like bread, not "doughy," as cakes baked from richer batters

frequently are.

From this recipe was made eighteen cakes.

WAFFLES MADE FROM SWEET MILK AND BAKING POWDER

Sift together 1 quart of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder and

1/2 teaspoonful of salt. Mix into a batter, a little thicker than for

griddle cakes, with sweet milk; add yolks of 3 eggs, 3 tablespoonfuls

of melted butter; lastly, stir in lightly the 3 stiffly-beaten whites

of eggs. Bake on a hot, well-greased waffle iron and serve with maple

syrup.

"BUCKS COUNTY" BUCKWHEAT CAKES

About 12 o'clock noon dissolve 1 cake of yeast (the small, round or

square cornmeal cakes) in 1 pint of lukewarm water. Add to this 1

tablespoonful wheat flour, 1 tablespoonful yellow cornmeal, and enough

good buckwheat flour to make a thin batter. Set in a warm place near

the range to rise. About 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening add this sponge

to 1 quart and 1 pint of lukewarm potato water (water drained from

boiled potatoes), 1 tablespoonful of mashed potatoes added improves

the cakes; add salt. They need considerable. Stir in enough buckwheat

flour to make quite a stiff batter, beat hard and set to rise,

covered, in a warm place over night. The next morning add 1

teaspoonful salaratus, dissolved in a little hot water; 1

tablespoonful of baking molasses and a little warm milk, to thin the

batter; or water will answer. The batter should be thin enough to

pour. Let stand a short time, then bake on a hot griddle. Half this

quantity will be enough for a small family. Then use only 1/2

teaspoonful salaratus. Bake golden brown on hot griddle. Serve with

honey or maple syrup. If this recipe for buckwheat cakes is followed,

you should have good cakes, but much of their excellence depends on

the flour. Buy a small quantity of flour and try it before investing

in a large quantity, as you cannot make good cakes from a poor brand

of flour.

DELICIOUS CORN CAKES

One cup of sweet milk heated to boiling point; stir in 2 heaping

tablespoonfuls yellow, granulated cornmeal; add a tablespoonful of

butter or lard and salt to taste. As soon as the mixture has cooled,

stir in 1 tablespoonful of wheat flour. If the batter should be too

thick, stir in enough cold, sweet milk to make it run easily from the

spoon. Add 1 heaping teaspoonful of Royal baking powder. Drop

spoonfuls on hot, greased griddle, and bake. This quantity makes cakes

enough to serve three people, about sixteen small cakes. This is an

economical recipe, as no eggs are used.

RICE WAFFLES

(AS AUNT SARAH MADE THEM.)