=COFFEE CAKE=
Take two cupfuls of bread sponge, add one egg well beaten, a half cupful of sugar, a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and a cupful of tepid water. Mix them well together, then add enough flour to make a thin dough. Let it rise until double in size. Turn it on a board, and roll it out an inch thick. Place it in a baking-tin, cutting it to fit the tin, and let it rise again until light. Just before placing it in the oven, spread over the top an egg beaten with a teaspoonful of sugar. Sprinkle over this some granulated sugar, and a few split blanched almonds. If preferred, the dough may be twisted and shaped into rings instead of being baked in sheets. This cake, which is a kind of bun, is, as well as bath buns, a good luncheon dish to serve in place of cake; or either of them, served with a cup of chocolate, makes a good light luncheon in itself.
=BRIOCHE=
Brioche is a kind of light bun mixture much used in France. It has many uses, and is much esteemed. It will not be found difficult or troublesome to make after the first trial. The paste once made can be used for plain brioche cakes, buns, rings, baba, savarins, fruit timbales (see page 406), cabinet puddings, etc.
1 cake of compressed yeast.
1/4 cupful of lukewarm water.
1 quart of flour.
7 eggs.
3/4 pound of b.u.t.ter.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
2 teaspoonfuls of sugar.
Dissolve the yeast-cake in a quarter of a cupful of lukewarm water. Stir it so it will be thoroughly mixed, then add enough flour to make a very soft ball of paste. Drop this ball into a pan of warm water (the water must not be hot, or it will kill the yeast plant). Cover, and set it in a warm place to rise, which will take about an hour. This is for leaven to raise the brioche. The ball of paste will sink to the bottom of the water at first, but will rise to the top later, and be full of bubbles.
Put the rest of the flour on a platter, and make a well in the center of it. Into this well put the b.u.t.ter, salt, sugar, and four eggs. Break the eggs in whole, and have the b.u.t.ter rather soft. Work them together with the hand, gradually incorporating the flour, and adding two more eggs, one at a time. Work and beat it with the hand until it loses its stickiness, which will take some time. When the leaven is sufficiently light, lift it out of the water with a skimmer, and place it with the dough. Work them together, add one more egg, the last of the seven, and beat it for a long time, using the hand. The longer it is beaten the better and the finer will be the grain. Put the paste in a bowl, cover, and let it rise to double its size, which will take four to five hours; then beat it down again, and place it on the ice for twelve or twenty-four hours. As beating and raising the paste require so much time, the work should be started the day before it is to be used.
After taking the paste from the ice, it will still be quite soft, and have to be handled delicately and quickly. It softens more as it becomes warm.
=TO MAKE A BRIOCHE ROLL WITH HEAD=
Take up carefully a little of the paste, and turn it into a ball about three inches in diameter; flatten it a little on top, and with a knife open a little place on top, and lay a small ball of paste into it. Let it rise to double its size, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty to thirty minutes. If a glazed top is wanted, brush it over with egg yolk diluted one half with water, before putting it in the oven. Serve hot or perfectly fresh.
=TO MAKE A BRIOCHE CROWN OR RING=
Roll the paste into a ball, roll it down to a thickness of half an inch, keeping the form round. Cut it several times through the middle, and twist the paste into a rope-like ring. Let it rise, brush the top with egg, and bake in a well-heated oven for about half an hour.
=TO MAKE BUNS=
Roll the paste into small b.a.l.l.s, glaze the tops when ready to go into the oven, and bake about twenty minutes.
=BRIOCHE FOR TIMBALE, OR CABINET PUDDINGS=
When the brioche is to be used for timbales, or cabinet puddings, turn the paste into a cylindrical mold, filling it half full. Let it rise to the top of the mold, and bake in a hot oven for about half an hour.
=PANCAKES=
The batter for pancakes should be smooth, and thin enough to run freely when turned onto the griddle. In order to have all the cakes of the same size an equal quant.i.ty of batter must be used for each cake. It should be poured steadily at one point, so the batter will flow evenly in all directions, making the cake perfectly round. An iron spoonful of batter makes a cake of good size; but if a larger one is wanted, use a ladle or cup; for if the batter is put on the hot griddle by separate spoonfuls, the first becomes a little hardened before the second is added, and the cake will not be evenly baked, or have so good an appearance. Lastly, the baking is of great importance. The cakes must be well browned on both sides, the color even and uniform on every part. To effect this the griddle must be perfectly clean and evenly heated. A soap-stone griddle is the best, as it holds the heat well, and as it requires no greasing.
The cakes baked thus are by some considered more wholesome. The griddle should stand on the range for some time before it is needed in order to get thoroughly and evenly heated. Where an iron griddle is used, it should also be given time to become evenly heated, and while the cakes are baking it should be moved so the edges may in turn come over the hottest part of the range. It must be wiped off and greased after each set of cakes is baked. A piece of salt pork on a fork is the best thing for greasing, as it makes an even coating, and too much grease is not likely to be used. An iron griddle is often allowed by careless cooks to collect a crust of burned grease around the edges. When in this condition, the cakes will not, of course, be properly baked. The griddle should be hot enough to hiss when the batter is turned onto it. Serve the cakes as soon as baked, in a folded napkin on a hot plate. Two plates should be used, so while one is being pa.s.sed the next griddleful may be prepared to serve.
=PLAIN PANCAKES=
Stir two cupfuls of milk into two beaten eggs; add enough flour to make a thin batter. Add a half teaspoonful of salt and a heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder. Sour milk can be used, in which case omit the baking-powder and add a half teaspoonful of soda. The baking-powder or soda should not be put in until just before beginning to bake the cakes.
The cakes will be lighter and better if the eggs are beaten separately, and the whipped whites added the last thing.
=FLANNEL CAKES=
1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.
1 tablespoonful of sugar.
2 eggs.
2 cupfuls of flour.
Milk.
1 teaspoonful of baking-powder.
Rub the b.u.t.ter and sugar to a cream, add the beaten eggs, then the flour, in which the baking-powder has been sifted. Add enough milk to make a smooth, thin batter.
=RICE PANCAKES=
Make the same batter as for plain cakes, using half boiled rice and half flour. Any of the cereals--hominy, oatmeal, cracked wheat, etc.--can be used in the same way, utilizing any small quant.i.ties left over; a little b.u.t.ter is sometimes added.
=BREAD PANCAKES=
Soak stale bread in hot water until moistened; press out the water. To two cupfuls of softened bread, add two beaten eggs, a teaspoonful of salt, a half cupful of flour, and enough milk to make a thin, smooth batter; add, the last thing, a teaspoonful of baking-powder, or use soda if sour milk has been used in the batter.
=CORNMEAL PANCAKES=
Pour a little boiling water on a cupful of cornmeal, and let it stand half an hour. Add a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sugar, one egg and two cupfuls of flour. Add enough milk to make a smooth batter, and a teaspoonful of baking-powder just before baking. Instead of white flour rye meal may be used: one cupful of rye to one of cornmeal, a tablespoonful of mola.s.ses instead of the sugar, and soda in place of baking-powder.
=BUCKWHEAT CAKES=
Scald a cupful of yellow meal in a quart of boiling milk. Add a half teaspoonful of salt; when cold add a quarter of a compressed yeast-cake, and enough buckwheat flour to make a soft batter. Beat it well together.
Let it rise over night. In the morning stir in a tablespoonful of mola.s.ses and a teaspoonful of soda. Although the above method is the old and better way, these cakes can be made in the morning, and baking-powder used instead of yeast; in which case divide the batter, and add the baking-powder, one half at a time.
=ADIRONDACK PANCAKES=
Bake several pancakes as large as a plate. b.u.t.ter, and cover them with maple syrup. Pile them one on another, and cut like a pie.
CHAPTER XVI
SANDWICHES