Bread, cakes, and biscuits

Even in houses where bread making is eschewed, hot rolls are often liked, and, indeed, looked on as an integral part of breakfast. Now of rolls there are many varieties, and most of them are easy to make. The following rules may be of use. In heating the oven for bread, the baker’s test is to put in a teaspoonful of flour, and watch how long it takes to brown, putting in the batch if the flour browns in five minutes, or perhaps a trifle under ; but for rolls the flour must brown in a minute. Yeast, baking powder, or a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar, are all used as a raising mixture ; if yeast is used, remember the dough, when shaped for rolls, will need ten to twenty minutes rising before it is baked, but if the chemicals are used, the dry ingredients must be mixed and sifted together separately, the liquids by themselves, and then when ready it is all mixed and shaped as quickly as possible, and put into the oven at once. The proportions for the soda and cream of tartar are one part of the soda to two of the cream of tartar. The usual allowance of baking powder is a full, but not heaped, teaspoonful to the pound of flour ; but this must, of course, depend somewhat on the strength of the baking powder, as different makers var}< the strength a little, so in trying a new brand always test it first. (I use Cowen’s baking powder, and reckon by that.) Again, in making scones you are often bidden to take sour milk, or preferably buttermilk, to moisten the ingredients, in which case you allow a level teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda to each pint of milk. If, however, you have neither of the kinds of milk, use sweet milk, and half a teaspoonful of soda to a full one of cream of tartar. The same rule applies to molasses, often mentioned in American recipes ; you leave out the cream of tartar and use a level teaspoonful of soda to the half pint of molasses. These rules apply to most cakes and scones; so that, bearing these rules in mind, it is fairly easy to adapt recipes to your own conditions. It may be well here to remind amateurs that a littleattention is indispensable for the correct mastering of any new recipe. Always read it over carefully before starting, noting the ingredients required and the quantities, and have these ready, carefully weighed out, before beginning. I quite admit the experienced cook often “ does not hold ” with all such weighing, and prefers to judge by rule of thumb and eye, but there her experience comes in (sometimes it does not, by the way — a frequent cause for the astonishing failures in recipes, which she has, according to her mistress, " often made before most satisfactorily ! ”) so the beginner is advised to be particular as to her weights and measures. A level, or an even spoonful (of any size) means a spoon filled up to the very edge of the bowl, often lightly pressed down to get it level, and when full and thus lightly pressed, hold the back of a knife perpendicularly over the full spoon and gently shave off the top till quite level. Such a spoonful is very different from “ a heaped or rounded spoonful,” which is almost equivalent to threequarters of a spoonful more, and will, of course, play havoc with your recipe if used instead of the “ level ” spoonful given. The same rule applies to liquid measure.