A very important point in baking is the temperature of the oven. No rules as to the time of cooking can be of the slightest use unless the oven is of the right heat. The very safest way of testing it is to have a thermometer set into the front of the oven, and regulate the heat by this. Bakers in Paris and Vienna, who make most delicious bread, never bake it by guess, but are guided by a thermometer. If we have one of these useful articles in our oven door, we only need be careful that the quick- silver shall rise to 300 deg. for baking small articles of puff pastry, to 280 deg. for larger pieces of pastry, such as pies, tarts, <Scc., and to 240 deg. for cakes and meat. Bread will require 410 deg. of heat to begin with, as with modern iron ovens quick baking is best. Not many ovens, however, are provided with thermo- meters, and therefore we must have some other way of finding out the heat. Ovens are particular concerns. 'I'hey need to be looked after and managed and un- derstood, and if they are neglected they are sure to revenge the insult. There are so many varieties amongst modern stoves, that the particular kind each has to do with must be studied, or the most carefully mixed cake or the lightest pastry will be “spoilt in the baking.” An experienced cook could tell by putting her hand into the oven whether it was of the right temperature ; but until we can gain this experience we must adopt some simple test. Perhaps the easiest way of testing the heat of the oven is to sprinkle a little flour in it. If this should turn black in one minute the oven is too hot. If it should be of a bright brown colour the oven is hot enough for baking. If it should remain uncoloured, the oven is slack. An oven that is too hot is, however, to be preferred to one that is “slack.” It is always easy to put an addi- tional baking sheet underneath, or a strip of paper over what is to be baked ; but an oven that is too slow never bakes well. It will make bread and cakes heavy, pastry hard, and meat dry and flavourless. There is generally one part of the oven that is hotter than the other. I have already said that meat should go into this first, in oi'der to brown the surface quickly ; and so also should cakes and pastry, and anything that contains flour or any starchy substance. The small starchy grains Baking. 27 need to be burst with the heat, and after this is done the mixture can be allowed to bake more slowly. If it is not done the preparation will be heavy. Bread requires peculiar management, which must be the result of experience. As a rule, brick ovens are to be preferred to iron ones for baking bread, because the heat in them is more equal. Iron ovens, such as are attached to kitchen ranges, quickly become over-heated, which causes the surface of the bread to become hard before the heat has reached the centre of the dough, and this keeps the bread from rising. Therefore, if an iron oven must be used for this purpose, it will be found that small loaves or rolls are more easily baked than large ones.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

A very important point in baking is the temperature of the oven. No rules as to the time of cooking can be of the slightest use unless the oven is of the right heat. The very safest way of testing it is to have a thermometer set into the front of the oven, and regulate the heat by this. Bakers in Paris and Vienna, who make most delicious bread, never bake it by guess, but are guided by a thermometer. If we have one of these useful articles in our oven door, we only need be careful that the quicksilver shall rise to 300 deg. for baking small articles of puff pastry, to 280 deg. for larger pieces of pastry, such as pies, tarts, <Scc., and to 240 deg. for cakes and meat. Bread will require 410 deg. of heat to begin with, as with modern iron ovens quick baking is best. Not many ovens, however, are provided with thermometers, and therefore we must have some other way of finding out the heat. Ovens are particular concerns. 'I'hey need to be looked after and managed and understood, and if they are neglected they are sure to revenge the insult. There are so many varieties amongst modern stoves, that the particular kind each has to do with must be studied, or the most carefully mixed cake or the lightest pastry will be “spoilt in the baking.” An experienced cook could tell by putting her hand into the oven whether it was of the right temperature ; but until we can gain this experience we must adopt some simple test. Perhaps the easiest way of testing the heat of the oven is to sprinkle a little flour in it. If this should turn black in one minute the oven is too hot. If it should be of a bright brown colour the oven is hot enough for baking. If it should remain uncoloured, the oven is slack. An oven that is too hot is, however, to be preferred to one that is “slack.” It is always easy to put an additional baking sheet underneath, or a strip of paper over what is to be baked ; but an oven that is too slow never bakes well. It will make bread and cakes heavy, pastry hard, and meat dry and flavourless. There is generally one part of the oven that is hotter than the other. I have already said that meat should go into this first, in order to brown the surface quickly ; and so also should cakes and pastry, and anything that contains flour or any starchy substance. The small starchy grains Baking. 27 need to be burst with the heat, and after this is done the mixture can be allowed to bake more slowly. If it is not done the preparation will be heavy. Bread requires peculiar management, which must be the result of experience. As a rule, brick ovens are to be preferred to iron ones for baking bread, because the heat in them is more equal. Iron ovens, such as are attached to kitchen ranges, quickly become over-heated, which causes the surface of the bread to become hard before the heat has reached the centre of the dough, and this keeps the bread from rising. Therefore, if an iron oven must be used for this purpose, it will be found that small loaves or rolls are more easily baked than large ones.

The girl's own cookery book