All breads, whether fermented or unfermented, are lighter if baked in some small form, and this is particularly true of unfermented breads made light with air. For this reason, breads made into a dough are best baked in the form of rolls, biscuits, or crackers, and batter breads in small iron cups similar to those in the accompanying ill.u.s.tration. These cups or "gem irons" as they are sometimes called, are to be obtained in various shapes and sizes, but for this purpose the more shallow cups are preferable. For baking the dough breads a perforated sheet of Russia iron or heavy tin, which any tinner can make to fit the oven, is the most serviceable, as it permits the hot air free access to all sides of the bread at once. If such is not obtainable, the upper oven grate, carefully washed and scoured, may be used Perforated pie tins also answer very well for this purpose.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Making Unfermented Bread.]
The heat of the oven for baking should be sufficient to form a slight crust over all sides of the bread before the air escapes, but not sufficient to brown it within the first fifteen minutes. To aid in forming the crust on the sides and bottom of batter breads, the iron cups should be heated previous to introducing the batter. The degree of heat required for baking will be about the same as for fermented rolls and biscuit, and the fire should be so arranged as to keep a steady but not greatly increasing heat.
Air is incorporated into batter breads by brisk and continuous agitating and beating; into dough breads by thorough kneading, chopping, or pounding.
Whatever the process by which the air is incorporated, it must be _continuous_. For this reason it is especially essential in making aerated bread that every thing be in readiness before commencing to put the bread together. All the materials should be measured out, the utensils to be used in readiness, and the oven properly heated. Success is also dependent upon the dexterity with which the materials when ready are put together. Batter bread often proves a failure although the beating is kept up without cessation, because it is done slowly and carelessly, or interspersed with stirring, thus permitting the air to escape between the strokes.
If the bread is to be baked at once, the greater the dispatch with which it can be gotten into a properly-heated oven the lighter it will be.
Crackers, rolls and other forms of dough breads often lack in lightness because they were allowed to stand some time before baking. The same is true of batter breads. If, for any reason, it is necessary to keep such breads for any length of time after being prepared, before baking, set the dish containing them directly on ice.
The lightness of aerated bread depends not only upon the amount of air incorporated in its preparation, but also upon the expansion of the air during the baking. The colder the air, the greater will be its expansion upon the application of heat. The colder the materials employed, then, for the bread-making, the colder will be the air confined within it, and the lighter will be the bread. For this reason, in making batter bread, it will be found a good plan, when there is time, to put the materials together, and place the dish containing the mixture on ice for an hour or two, or even over night. When ready to use, beat thoroughly for ten or fifteen minutes to incorporate air, and bake in heated irons. Rolls and other breads made into a dough, may be kneaded and shaped and put upon ice to become cold. Thus treated, less kneading is necessary than when prepared to be baked at once.
Many of the recipes given for the batter breads include eggs. The yolk is not particularly essential, and if it can be put to other uses, may be left out. The white of an egg, because of its viscous nature, when beaten, serves as a sort of trap to catch and hold air, and added to the bread, aids in making it light. Very nice light bread may be made without eggs, but the novice in making aerated breads will, perhaps, find it an advantage first to become perfectly familiar with the processes and conditions involved, by using the recipes with eggs before attempting those without, which are somewhat more dependent for success upon skill and practice.
When egg is used in the bread, less heating of the irons will be necessary, and not so hot an oven as when made without.
If the bread, when baked, appears light, but with large holes in the center, it is probable that either the irons or the oven was too hot at first. If the bread after baking, seems sticky or dough-like in the interior, it is an indication that either it was insufficiently baked, or that not enough flour in proportion to the liquid has been used. It should be stated, that although the recipes given have been prepared with the greatest care, and with the same brands of flour, careful measurement, and proper conditions, prove successful every time, yet with different brands of flour some variation in quant.i.ty may needed,--a trifle more or less,--dependent upon the absorbent properties of the flour, and if eggs are used, upon the size of the eggs.
A heavy bread may be the result of the use of poor flour, too much flour, careless or insufficient beating, so that not enough air was incorporated, or an oven not sufficiently hot to form a crust over the bread before the air escaped. Breads made into a dough, if moist and clammy, require more flour or longer baking. Too much flour will make them stiff and hard.
The length of time requisite for baking aerated breads made with whole-wheat, wheat berry, or Graham flours, will vary from forty minutes to one hour, according to the kind and form in which the bread is baked, and the heat of the oven.
The irons in which batter breads are to be baked should not be smeared with grease; if necessary to oil them at all, they should only be wiped out lightly with a clean, oiled cloth. Irons well cared for, carefully washed, and occasionally scoured with Sapolio to keep them perfectly smooth, will require no greasing whatever.
In filling the irons, care should be taken to fill each cup at first as full as it is intended to have; it, as the heat of the irons begins the cooking of the batter as soon as it is put in, and an additional quant.i.ty added has a tendency to make the bread less light.
_RECIPES._
WHOLE-WHEAT PUFFS.--Put the yolk of an egg into a basin, and beat the white in a separate dish to a stiff froth. Add to the yolk, one half a cupful of rather thin sweet cream and one cupful of skim milk. Beat the egg, cream, and milk together until perfectly mingled and foamy with air bubbles; then add, gradually, beating well at the same time, one pint of wheat berry flour. Continue the beating vigorously and without interruption for eight or ten minutes; then stir in, lightly, the white of the egg. Do not beat again after the white of the egg is added, but turn at once into heated, shallow irons, and bake for an hour in a moderately quick oven. If properly made and carefully baked, these puffs will be of a fine, even texture throughout, and as light as bread raised by fermentation.
WHOLE-WHEAT PUFFS NO. 2.--Make a batter by beating together until perfectly smooth the yolk of one egg, one and one half cups of new or unskimmed milk, and one pint of whole-wheat flour. Place the dish containing it directly upon ice, and leave for an hour or longer. The bread may be prepared and left on the ice over night, if desired for breakfast. When ready to bake the puffs, whip the white of the egg to a stiff froth, and after vigorously beating the batter for ten minutes, stir in lightly the white of the egg; turn at once into heated irons, and bake. If preferred, one third white flour and two thirds sifted Graham flour may be used in the place of the wheat berry flour.
WHOLE-WHEAT PUFFS NO. 3.--Take one cupful of sweet cream (twelve-hour cream), one half cupful of soft ice water, and two slightly rounded cupfuls of wheat berry flour. Beat the material well together, and set the dish containing it on ice for an hour or more before using.
When ready to bake, beat the mixture vigorously for ten minutes, then turn into heated iron cups (shallow ones are best), and bake for about an hour in a quick oven.
GRAHAM PUFFS.--Beat together vigorously until full of air bubbles, one pint of unskimmed milk, the yolk of one egg, and one pint and three or four tablespoonfuls of Graham flour, added a little at a time. When the mixture is light and foamy throughout, stir in lightly and evenly the white of the egg, beaten to a stiff froth; turn into heated irons, and bake in a rather quick oven. Instead of all Graham, one third white flour may be used if preferred.
GRAHAM PUFFS NO. 2.--Beat the yolks of two eggs in two cupfuls of ice water; then add gradually, beating well meantime, three and one fourth cupfuls of Graham flour. Continue the beating, after all the flour is added, until the mixture is light and full of air bubbles. Add last the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, and bake at once in heated irons.
CURRANT PUFFS.--Prepare the puffs as directed in any of the foregoing recipes with the addition of one cup of Zante currants which have been well washed, dried, and floured.
GRAHAM GEMS.--Into two cupfuls of unskimmed milk which has been made very cold by standing on ice, stir gradually, sprinkling it from the hand, three and one fourth cupfuls of Graham flour. Beat vigorously for ten minutes or longer, until the batter is perfectly smooth and full of air bubbles. Turn at once into hissing hot gem irons, and bake in a hot oven. If preferred, the batter may be prepared, and the dish containing it placed on ice for an hour or longer; then well beaten and baked. Graham gems may be made in this manner with soft water instead of milk, but such, in general, will need a little more flour than when made with milk. With some ovens, it will be found an advantage in baking these gems to place them on the upper grate for the first ten minutes or until the top has been slightly crusted, and then change to the bottom of the oven for the baking.
CRUSTS.--Beat together very thoroughly one cupful of ice-cold milk, and one cupful of Graham flour. When very light and full of air bubbles, turn into hot iron cups, and bake twenty-five or thirty minutes. The best irons for this purpose are the shallow oblong, or round cups of the same size at the bottom as at the top. Only a very little batter should be put in each cup. The quant.i.ty given is sufficient for one dozen crusts.
RYE PUFFS.--Beat together the same as for whole-wheat puffs one cupful of milk, one tablespoonful of sugar, and the yolk of an egg. Add one cupful of good rye flour, mixed with one half cupful of Graham flour, and stir in lastly the well beaten white of the egg. Bake at once, in heated gem-irons.
RYE PUFFS NO. 2.--Beat together until well mingled one pint of thin cream and the yolk of one egg. Add gradually, beating meanwhile, four cups of rye flour. Continue to beat vigorously for ten minutes, then add the stiffly-beaten white of the egg, and bake in heated irons.
RYE GEMS.--Mix together one cupful of corn meal and one cupful of rye meal. Stir the mixed meal into one and a half cupfuls of ice water.
Beat the batter vigorously for ten or fifteen minutes, then turn into hot irons, and bake.
BLUEBERRY GEMS.--To one cupful of rich milk add one tablespoonful of sugar, and the yolk of an egg. Beat well till full of air bubbles; then add gradually one cupful of Graham flour, and one cupful of white flour, or white corn meal. Beat vigorously until light; stir in the beaten white of the egg, and one cupful of fresh, sound blueberries.
Bake in heated irons, in a moderately quick oven. Chopped or sour apples may be used in place of the berries.
HOMINY GEMS.--Beat one egg until very light, add to it one tablespoonful of thick sweet cream, a little salt if desired, and two cupfuls of cooked hominy (fine). Thin the mixture with one cupful or less of boiling water until it will form easily, beat well, and bake in heated irons.
SALLY LUNN GEMS.--Beat together the yolk of one egg, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and one cupful of thin, ice-cold, sweet cream.
Add slowly, beating at the same time, one cup and two tablespoonfuls of sifted Graham flour. Beat vigorously, until full of air bubbles, add the white of the egg beaten stiffly, and bake in heated irons.
CORN PUFFS.--Mingle the yolk of one egg with one cupful of rich milk. Add to the liquid one cupful of flour, one-half cupful of fine, yellow corn meal, and one-fourth cupful of sugar, all of which have previously been well mixed together. Place the batter on ice for an hour, or until very cold. Then beat it vigorously five or ten minutes, till full of air bubbles; stir in lightly the stiffly beaten white of the egg, and put at once into heated irons. Bake in a moderately quick oven, thirty or forty minutes.
CORN PUFFS NO. 2.--Scald two cupfuls of fine white corn meal with boiling water. When cold, add three tablespoonfuls of thin sweet cream, and the yolk of one egg. Beat well, and stir in lastly the white of the egg, beaten to a stiff froth. The batter should be sufficiently thin to drop easily from a spoon, but not thin enough to pour. Bake in heated irons, in a moderately quick oven.
CORN PUFFS NO. 3.--Take one cupful of cold mashed potato, and one cupful of milk, rubbed together through a colander to remove all lumps.
Add the yolk of one well beaten, egg, and then stir in slowly, beating vigorously meantime, one cupful of good corn meal. Lastly, stir in the white of the egg beaten to a stiff froth, and bake in heated irons, in a rather quick oven.
CORN PUFFS NO. 4.--Beat together one and one-half cupfuls of unskimmed milk and the yolks of two eggs, until thoroughly blended. Add two cupfuls of flour, and one cupful best granular corn meal. Beat the batter thoroughly; stir in lightly the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, turn into heated irons, and bake.
CORN DODGERS.--Scald one cupful of best granular corn meal, with which a tablespoonful of sugar has been sifted, with one cup of boiling milk. Beat until smooth, and drop on a griddle, in cakes about one inch in thickness, and bake slowly for an hour. Turn when brown.
CORN DODGERS NO. 2.--Mix one tablespoonful of sugar with two cups best corn meal. Scald with one cup of boiling water. Add rich milk to make a batter thin enough to drop from a spoon. Lastly, add one egg, yolk and white beaten separately, and bake on a griddle in the oven from three fourth of an hour to one hour.
CREAM CORN CAKES.--Into one cup of thin cream stir one and one half cups of granular corn meal, or enough to make a stiff batter; beat well, drop into heated irons, and bake.
HOE CAKES.--Scald one pint of white corn meal, with which, if desired, a tablespoonful of sugar, and one half teaspoonful of salt have been mixed, with boiling milk, or water enough to make a batter sufficiently thick not to spread. Drop on a hot griddle, in large or small cakes, as preferred, about one half inch in thickness. Cook slowly, and when well browned on the under side, turn over. The cake may be cooked slowly, until well done throughout, or, as the portion underneath becomes well browned the first browned crust may be peeled off with a knife, and the cake again turned. As rapidly as a crust becomes formed and browned, one may be removed, and the cake turned, until the whole is all browned. The thin wafer-like crusts are excellent served with hot milk or cream.
OATMEAL GEMS.--To one cupful of well-cooked oatmeal add one half cupful of rich milk or thin cream, and the yolk of one egg. Beat all together thoroughly; then add, continuing to beat, one and one third cupfuls of Graham flour, and lastly the stiffly beaten white of the egg.
Bake in heated irons. If preferred, one cupful of white flour may be used in place of the Graham.
SNOW GEMS.--Beat together lightly but thoroughly two parts clean, freshly fallen, dry snow, and one part best granular corn meal. Turn into hot gem irons and bake quickly. The snow should not be packed in measuring, and the bread should be prepared before the snow melts.
POP OVERS.--For the preparation of these, one egg, one cupful of milk, and one scant cupful of white flour are required. Beat the egg, yolk and white separately. Add to the yolk, when well beaten, one half of the milk, and sift in the flour a little at a time, stirring until the whole is a perfectly smooth paste. Add the remainder of the milk gradually, beating well until the whole is an absolutely smooth, light batter about the thickness of cream. Stir in the stiffly beaten white of the egg, and bake in hot earthen cups or m.u.f.fin rings, and to prevent them from sticking, sift flour into the rings after slightly oiling, afterward turning them upside down to shake off all of the loose flour.
GRANOLA GEMS.--Into three fourths of a cup of rich milk stir one cup of Granola (prepared by the Sanitarium Food Co.). Drop into heated irons, and bake for twenty or thirty minutes.
BEAN GEMS.--Prepare the gems in the same manner as for Whole-Wheat Puffs, using one half cup of milk, one egg, one cup of cooked beans which have been rubbed through a colander and salted, and one cup and one tablespoonful of white flour. A little variation in the quant.i.ty of the flour may be necessary, dependent upon the moisture contained in the beans, although care should be taken to have them quite dry.
BREAKFAST ROLLS.--Sift a pint and a half of Graham flour into a bowl, and into it stir a cupful of very cold thin cream or unskimmed milk. Pour the liquid into the flour slowly, a few spoonfuls at a time, mixing each spoonful to a dough with the flour as fast as poured in.
When all the liquid has been added, gather the fragments of dough together, knead thoroughly for ten minutes or longer, until perfectly smooth and elastic. The quant.i.ty of flour will vary somewhat with the quality, but in general, the quant.i.ty given will be quite sufficient for mixing the dough and dusting the board. When well kneaded, divide into two portions; roll each over and over with the hands, until a long roll about once inch in diameter is formed; cut this into two-inch lengths, p.r.i.c.k with a fork and place on perforated tins, far enough apart so that one will not touch another when baking. Each roll should be as smooth and perfect as possible, and with no dry flour adhering. Bake at once, or let stand on ice for twenty minutes. The rolls should not be allowed to stand after forming, unless on ice. From thirty to forty minutes will be required for baking. When done, spread on the table to cool, but do not pile one on top of another.
Very nice rolls may be made in the same manner, using for the wetting ice-cold soft water. They requite a longer kneading, are more crisp, but less tender than those made with cream.
With some brands of Graham flour the rolls will be much lighter if one third white flour be used. Whole-wheat flour may be used in place of Graham, if preferred.