My best 250 recipes

it must be perfectly baked and thoroughly cold, then pulled. French bread is best. Whittle off the outside crust, then with two forks pull the loaves in halves, divide each half in quarters, and the quarters in eighths. Place these strips, ragged edges upward, in a long shallow pan that has been lined with soft brown paper ; stand the pan in the oven, leaving the oven door open until each strip is dry to the centre. Close the door, increase the heat, and bake until a golden brown. This will keep as long as zwieback. After the first day, however, reheat at serving-time. POTATO TEA BISCUITS Pare half a pound of potatoes, cover with boiling water, boil for ten minutes; drain this water off and throw it away. Cover with a quart of freshly boiled water, and boil until the potatoes are tender ; press them through a sieve, using the water in which they were boiled. Add hastily, while the potatoes are hot, half a pint of flour; beat thoroughly until smooth; add a level teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sugar; when lukewarm add one yeast cake dissolved in a quarter of a cupful of warm water. Cover and stand at about 80° Fahrenheit for one hour. Add a pint of milk that has been scalded and cooled, and sufficient flour to make a batter ; beat thoroughly ; My Best 250 Recipes 139 cover again for one hour ; add one egg well beaten, and flour to make a dough; knead thoroughly until soft and elastic. Then pound with a potato-masher, constantly folding the dough. Form in one large loaf, put in a buttered bowl, stand in a warm place for one hour and a half. Mould in tiny rolls, place in French-roll pans, and stand aside for three-quarters of an hour. Brush the tops with milk, and bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. After they have been baked for fifteen minutes brush the tops with glaze made by beating the white of egg with a tablespoonful of water. EGG ROLLS Add half a teaspoonful of salt and two rounding teaspoonfuls of baking powder to one quart of flour; sift two or three times, and rub in one rounding tablespoonful of butter. Beat one egg without separating; add to it one cupful and a half of milk ; add this gradually to the flour. The dough must be soft but not wet. Turn out quickly, roll in a sheet half an inch thick, and cut with a large round cutter ; dip a knife handle in flour, press down the centre, making a sort of hinge; brush one-half with melted butter, fold over the same as "pocketbook" rolls. Stand at once in shallow pans, brush the tops with milk, and bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. I40 My Best 250 Recipes SWEET MILK SCONES Add half a teaspoonful of salt and one rounding teaspoonful of baking powder to a pint of flour; sift once or twice, and rub in one tablespoonful of butter. Stir in one cupful of sweet milk. The dough must be sufficiently soft to drop from the spoon. Dip a tablespoon in boiling water, then take up a tablespoonful of dough and drop into a greased pan, keeping the scones sufficiently far apart not to touch in the baking. Bake quickly for twenty minutes. Sour milk may be used in the place of sweet milk, substituting half a teaspoonful of baking soda for the baking powder. Scotch scones are made from sour milk and flour, the dough being sufficiently thick to roll and cut. These are baked on a griddle, turning them several times during the baking. BREAKFAST FRUIT GEMS Stone and chop twenty-four dates; mix them with half a cupful of seedless raisins. Separate two eggs, beat the yolks and add one cupful and a half of milk, then the dates and raisins, half a cupful of cornmeal and one cupful of whole wheat flour; beat thoroughly; add two rounding teaspoonfuls of baking powder; beat again and fold in the well-beaten whites. Bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. My Best 250 Recipes 141 OATMEAL WAFFLES