Gas cookery

Method.— The flour and salt should be passed through a sieve into a basin, then make a well in the centre. In a small basin put the German yeast and sugar, and cream them together till they form a liquid. Add the tepid water ; mix these well together and strain it into the centre of the flour. Work some of the flour into it and set it in a warm place to rise for half an hour ; then mix in all the flour, cover it up, and let it rise for two hours ; then knead it well on a floured board for ten minutes. This quantity is sufficient for a cottage loaf. Divide it in two portions one larger than the other, and make each into a smooth ball without cracks, placing the smaller one on the top of the other, and pressing the forefinger into the centre on the top. Put this loaf on a baking sheet and set it to rise in a warm place, then put it I 2 1 into a hot oven, and give it a gradually decreasing heat. Note. — That in a gas oven the half quartern loaf will take exactly 40 minutes. Put the loaf in when the oven is hot, then turn the flames down to half an inch, in ten minutes’ time to quarter of an inch, and gradually decrease the heat, turning the gas quite out for the last ten minutes. Unfermented Bread. Ingredients.— 1 lb. Flour, ]/2 pint Milk or Water, 2 teaspoons Baking Powder, or use self rising Flour. Method.— Pass the flour and baking powder through a wire sieve and mix the milk in smoothly. Divide the dough into equal parts and form little cottage loaves. They will take from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour to bake. Lower the gas every five minutes, and place them under the browning shelf. A hot oven is required. Vienna Bread. Ingredients. — 1 lb. Vienna Flour, ]4. oz. German Yeast, 1 teaspoonful Castor Sugar, 1 Egg, 1 oz. Butter, 1 gill of tepid Milk. METHOD. — Cream the yeast and sugar and add the milk and butter, by warming the butter first in a stewpan and then adding the milk, letting it just get lukewarm, and mixing it with the yeast. Pour this into the flour, which should be passed through a sieve, beat in the egg, and having formed a dough, set it to rise for an hour and a half in a warm place, covered over with a cloth. When the dough is well risen, knead it well and form it into fancy twists and rolls. Place them on a floured baking sheet and let them prove in a warm place for 10 or 15 minutes; then place in the gas oven underneath the sheet deflector in a quick oven. Lower the gas after the first five minutes, and when the bread is nearly done, brush it over with milk and return it to the oven to finish off and glaze. Breakfast IRolls. Ingredients.— 1 lb. Self Rising Flour, y. pint Milk, 1 oz. Butter. METHOD. — Pass the flour through a sieve, rub in the butter, moisten with cold milk till it forms a light dough, stirring with a knife. Knead a little, then take off pieces and roll them. Put on floured tins and bake in a quick oven for quarter of an hour, having previously brushed over each a little milk or egg. Plain Biscuits. Ingredients.— 2 ozs. Butter, 1 gill of Milk, yz lb. Flour. Method. — Melt the butter, add the milk, and then mix it with the flour. Work it into a smooth paste and roll it out thinly. Cut into rounds with a cutter and place on a buttered baking sheet ; prick them with a fork. Five minutes to bake.