the latter will naturally not be very digestible. What bakers call a “good sound oven” is the perfect one for baking. Experience teaches cooks to discriminate this heat by simply putting their bare hand and arm into the oven, but for novices it is well to give some practical tests. The famous French chef, M. Gfouffe, has given a very simple test in the following way. “ Have ready some pieces of ordinary white kitchen paper, and try the oven by putting in one every eight or ten minutes. If on being put in the paper blackens, or even blazes up, at once, the oven is manifestly too hot. If on being left in for two minutes or so the paper turns a deep, almost chocolate brown, the oven is ready for patties and small pastry generally, If th paper turns a Havanna or cigar brown, tarts, vol-au-vent, and such like may be put in. If the paper simply turns a pale yellowish brown, the shade of a deal plank, the oven is fit for bread, large meat or game pies, pound cake, &c., in short, anything requiring the ‘ good sound ’ (or soaking) heat mentioned above. If finally the paper, when left in the oven for the prescribed time, is barely tinged with a very faint shade of yellow, sponge cakes, meringues, and such things needing but light baking and little, if any, colouring, may be safely set in it.” Lately an oven thermometer has been introduced in this country by the Eagle Range Company, which, owing to its simplicity and durability, to say nothing of its relatively low price, will probably be in general use before long. Oven thermometers are not, strictly speaking, novelties. Such have been on the market for some time, but their susceptibility to heat, and their consequent fragility, rendered their use, save in very skilled hands, unsatis- factory. This new “ Eagle Heat Indicator,” to give it its proper name, has neither mercury nor springs to get out of order, the heat indications, shown on the dial let into the oven door, being the result of the expansion and con- traction of the alloy used in its manufacture. This alloy BREAD. I!) will continue to contract and expand for years without alteration. Its degrees may be compared with M. Gouffe’s test thus : Paper burnt a chocolate or deep brown equals 450° on the “ Eagle” thermometer, a “ hot” oven. Paper burnt a cigar or lighter brown equals 400° on the “ Eagle ” thermometer, or a “ quick ” or “ sharp ” oven. Paper burnt a deal brown equals 350° on the “ Eagle ” thermometer, or a “ moderately quick ” oven. Paper burnt a lighter deal brown equals 300° on the “ Eagle” thermometer, or a “ steady ” or “ soaking ” oven. Paper burnt a very faint yellow equals 250° to 275°, or a “slack ” oven. Bread should be put into a hottish oven at first, say 350°, which must then be allowed to slacken down to 320°. Remember that the thermometer, being on the door, is always a little cooler than the interior of the oven, so allowance must be made for this.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

the latter will naturally not be very digestible. What bakers call a “good sound oven” is the perfect one for baking. Experience teaches cooks to discriminate this heat by simply putting their bare hand and arm into the oven, but for novices it is well to give some practical tests. The famous French chef, M. Gfouffe, has given a very simple test in the following way. “ Have ready some pieces of ordinary white kitchen paper, and try the oven by putting in one every eight or ten minutes. If on being put in the paper blackens, or even blazes up, at once, the oven is manifestly too hot. If on being left in for two minutes or so the paper turns a deep, almost chocolate brown, the oven is ready for patties and small pastry generally, If the paper turns a Havana or cigar brown, tarts, vol-au-vent, and such like may be put in. If the paper simply turns a pale yellowish brown, the shade of a deal plank, the oven is fit for bread, large meat or game pies, pound cake, &c., in short, anything requiring the ‘ good sound ’ (or soaking) heat mentioned above. If finally the paper, when left in the oven for the prescribed time, is barely tinged with a very faint shade of yellow, sponge cakes, meringues, and such things needing but light baking and little, if any, colouring, may be safely set in it.” Lately an oven thermometer has been introduced in this country by the Eagle Range Company, which, owing to its simplicity and durability, to say nothing of its relatively low price, will probably be in general use before long. Oven thermometers are not, strictly speaking, novelties. Such have been on the market for some time, but their susceptibility to heat, and their consequent fragility, rendered their use, save in very skilled hands, unsatisfactory. This new “ Eagle Heat Indicator,” to give it its proper name, has neither mercury nor springs to get out of order, the heat indications, shown on the dial let into the oven door, being the result of the expansion and contraction of the alloy used in its manufacture. This alloy I!) will continue to contract and expand for years without alteration. Its degrees may be compared with M. Gouffe’s test thus : Paper burnt a chocolate or deep brown equals 450° on the “ Eagle” thermometer, a “ hot” oven. Paper burnt a cigar or lighter brown equals 400° on the “ Eagle ” thermometer, or a “ quick ” or “ sharp ” oven. Paper burnt a deal brown equals 350° on the “ Eagle ” thermometer, or a “ moderately quick ” oven. Paper burnt a lighter deal brown equals 300° on the “ Eagle” thermometer, or a “ steady ” or “ soaking ” oven. Paper burnt a very faint yellow equals 250° to 275°, or a “slack ” oven. Bread should be put into a hottish oven at first, say 350°, which must then be allowed to slacken down to 320°. Remember that the thermometer, being on the door, is always a little cooler than the interior of the oven, so allowance must be made for this.

Bread, cakes, and biscuits