=BOSTON BROWN BREAD=
2 cupfuls of white cornmeal.
2 cupfuls of yellow cornmeal.
2 cupfuls of Graham flour or of rye meal or of white flour.
1 cupful of mola.s.ses.
2 cupfuls of milk (one of them being sour milk, if convenient).
2 cupfuls of boiling water.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1 teaspoonful of soda.
Mix well the flour, meal, and salt; add to them the boiling water. Mix the sweet milk and mola.s.ses together, and add them to the scalded meal.
Dissolve the soda in the sour milk, and add it last. Turn the mixture into a covered cylindrical mold or into a covered pail, and steam it for three hours; then uncover and bake in the oven for half an hour. Slices of this bread toasted, b.u.t.tered, and covered with cream make a good breakfast or luncheon dish.
=TOAST=
Cut the bread in even slices one quarter of an inch thick. Cut off the crust and trim the pieces into even and uniform shape. There is no waste in this, as the sc.r.a.ps of bread can be dried and crumbed. If the bread is fresh, let it dry a few minutes in the oven. Place it on a wire toaster, and turn often until well dried through; then hold it over the coals a minute to take an even golden color. Toast requires careful watching, or it will burn or be unevenly colored. Toast should not be served until the moment it is required. A few pieces only should be served at a time, and the plate should be hot. If wrapped in a napkin, or piled up, it quickly becomes damp and loses its crispness. If a soft toast is wanted, color the bread at once without drying it; the center will then be only heated. Toast used under game or meats is made dry, b.u.t.tered, and sprinkled with salt; then softened with a little boiling water.
=MILK TOAST=
Make a dry toast; spread it with b.u.t.ter, and sprinkle it with salt.
Place it in the dish in which it is to be served, and pour over it a little boiling water; cover it, and place in the oven a few minutes to steam and soak up the water. It should have enough water to entirely soften it, but not lose its shape. Put one teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter in a saucepan. When it bubbles, stir in a teaspoonful of flour, and let it cook a minute without coloring. Add slowly, stirring all the time, one cupful of milk. Cook until it is slightly thickened; add a saltspoonful of salt. Pour this thickened milk over the softened toast just before serving. Bread for milk toast should be cut in even slices one half inch thick, thoroughly dried in toasting, evenly colored, and steamed until tender. When cream is used, it is scalded and poured over the softened toast.
=PANADA=
Split Bent"s water biscuits in two; sprinkle salt or sugar between them, and place together again; or, use two large soda biscuits, or pilot bread, or Pa.s.sover bread. Place them in the dish in which they will be served; pour over enough boiling water to cover them. Cover the dish, and place it in the open oven, or on the hot shelf, until the biscuits have become soft like jelly; pour off any water that has not been absorbed, using care not to break the biscuits. Sprinkle again with salt or sugar. A little cream or hot milk can be added if desired.
=PULLED BREAD=
Break off irregular pieces of the crumb of fresh bread, and dry it in a very slow oven until lightly colored. The inside of fresh biscuits left over can be treated in this way, and will keep an indefinite time. They should be heated in the oven when served, and are good with chocolate, or coffee, or bouillon. The crusts of the biscuits may be used as cups for creamed meats or vegetables, or for eggs.
=ZWIEBACK=
Cut rusks into slices one half inch thick, and dry them in a very slow oven until dried through, and of a deep yellow color. Slices of Vienna bread can be used in the same way.
=BREAD FRITTERS=
Take pieces of raised bread-dough the size of an egg, drop them into smoking hot fat, and fry to a gold color, the same as doughnuts. Drain and serve on a napkin for breakfast, or sprinkle them with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon mixed, and serve them for luncheon.
=BREAD ROLLS=
For one panful of biscuits take as much raised bread-dough as will make one loaf of bread. Use any kind of bread-dough, but if no shortening has been used, add a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter to this amount of dough. Add also more flour to make a stiffer dough than for bread. Work it for ten minutes so as to give it a finer grain. Cut it into pieces half the size of an egg, roll them into b.a.l.l.s, and place in a pan some distance apart. If enough s.p.a.ce is given, each roll will be covered with crust, which is the best part of hot breads. If, however, the crumb is preferred, place them in the pan near enough to run together in rising.
Let the biscuits rise to more than double size, and bake in a quick oven twenty to thirty minutes.
When removed from the oven rub the crusts with a little b.u.t.ter, and wrap the rolls in a cloth until ready to serve. This will give a tender crust. If a deep color is liked, brush the rolls with milk or egg before placing them in the oven. A glaze is obtained by brushing them with sugar dissolved in milk when taken from the oven, then replacing them in the oven again for a moment to dry.
=CRESCENTS=
Add to bread-dough a little more sugar, and enough flour to make a stiff dough. Roll it to one eighth inch thickness. Cut it into strips six inches wide, and then into sharp triangles. Roll them up, commencing at the base; the point of the triangle will then come in the middle of the roll. Turn the points around into the shape of crescents. Place on tins to rise for half an hour, brush the tops with water, and bake until lightly colored. When taken from the oven brush the tops with thin boiled cornstarch water, and place again for a minute in the oven to glaze.
=BRAIDS AND TWISTS=
Take any bread- or biscuit-dough. Roll it one inch thick, and cut it into strips one inch wide. Roll the strips on the board to make them round. Brush the strips with b.u.t.ter. Braid or twist the strips together, making them pointed at the ends, and broad in the middle. Let them rise a little, but not so much as to lose shape, and bake in a quick oven.
Glaze the tops the same as directed above for crescents.
=CLEFT ROLLS=
Make the dough into b.a.l.l.s of the size desired. After the rolls have risen cut each roll across the top with a sharp knife about an inch deep. If cut twice it makes a cross roll. Glaze the tops as directed for crescents, or brush them with milk and sugar.
=LUNCHEON AND TEA ROLLS=
2 quarts of flour.
3 cups of boiled milk.
3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1/2 cupful of b.u.t.ter.
Whites of 2 eggs.
1/2 yeast cake.
Boil the milk, dissolve in it the sugar and salt, and add the b.u.t.ter to melt it. When this mixture becomes tepid, add the beaten whites of the eggs and the yeast, dissolved in two tablespoonfuls of water; then stir in the flour, and knead it for twenty to thirty minutes; cover it well, and put it aside in a warm place free from draughts to rise over night.
If to be used for breakfast, mold the rolls to any shape desired; let them rise to more than double their size, and bake for thirty minutes.
If they are to be used for luncheon, cut down with a knife the raised dough in the morning, and keep it in a cool place until an hour and a half before the time for serving the rolls; then mold, raise, and bake them. If they are to be used for tea, do not set the dough until morning. In summer allow four and a half hours for the whole work, the same as directed for bread on page 340.
=PARKER HOUSE ROLLS=
2 quarts of flour.
2 tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, or lard, or cottolene.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1 pint of milk.
1/3 compressed yeast cake.
1/2 cupful of sugar (scant).
Put the salt into the flour, and work in the shortening thoroughly.
Dissolve the yeast in one cupful of warm water. Scald the milk, and dissolve the sugar in it after it is taken off the fire. When the milk is lukewarm, mix the yeast with it. Make a hollow in the center of the flour, and pour into it the milk and yeast mixture. Sprinkle a little of the flour over the top. Cover the pan well, and leave it to rise. If this sponge is set at five o"clock, at ten o"clock stir the whole together thoroughly with a spoon. Do not beat it, but stir it well, as it gets no other kneading. In the morning turn the dough onto a board, work it together a little, and roll it evenly one half inch thick. Lift the dough off the board a little to let it shrink all it will before cutting. Cut it into rounds with a good-sized biscuit-cutter. Place a small piece of b.u.t.ter on one side, and double the other side over it, so the edges meet. Let them rise for two hours, and bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. If the rolls are to be used for luncheon, cut down the dough in the morning and keep it in a cool place until the time for molding them. If for tea, set the sponge in the morning, using one half cake of compressed yeast.[352-*]
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