Different kinds of flour vary so much that it is impossible to tell the exact amount of liquid that will be needed in any given mixture. It will be necessary to know the correct con- sistency or thickness of the batter and add liquid to the mixture until it is of the proper consistency. In general the proportion of liquid to flour is: Pour batter 1 C. liquid to 1 C. flour. Soft drop batter ^ C. liquid to 1 C. flour. Stiff drop batter | C. liquid to 1 C. flour. FLOUR MIXTURES lit.') Other Ingredients Contained in Flour Mixtures. A mixture consisting only of flour and milk or water would be tough, heavy and tasteless when baked. It is therefore neces- sary to add other ingredients to have a food that is palatable and digestible. Salt is added to take away the "flat" taste; fat (commonly called shortening) in the form of butter, lard, dripping, suet, etc., is used to make the cooked food more tender. Baking powder, or soda with sour milk or molasses, or air beaten into eggs will make the food lighter and more porous, therefore more digest- ible. These additions make a change in the batter as well as in the taste and texture of the food after it is cooked. Shortening will tend to make the batter thinner and if a large amount of shortening is used, less liquid will be needed. Eggs make a batter thinner but the cooked food will be stiffer and tougher because the heat of the oven hardens and toughens the albumin in the egg. Shortening added to the mix- ture will overcome this toughness. A batter that contains many eggs and little fat should be baked at a very low temperature. In changing a recipe, if fewer eggs are used, the amount of flour should be increased or the amount of liquid decreased. It would be better to decrease the amount of liquid as recipes are usually written with the baking powder, flavoring, etc., calculated to the amount of flour, therefoi^ any change in the amount of flour would make a change in the other ingredients necessary. Methods of Mixing. There are three methods of putting flour mixtures together, called the batter method, the dough method and the cake method. 196 FOOD AND COOKERY The amount of shortening used and the texture desired in the finished product decides which process shall be used. Batter Method of Mixing. 1. Mix and sift the dry materials. (If sifted two or three times, more air will be mixed with the dry materials and the food will be lighter.) If granulated sugar is used it can be stirred into the other dry materials after sifting. 2. Add beaten egg to half the milk and stir into the dry materials. 3. Add enough more milk to make the batter the desired consistency. 4. Add the melted butter, beat well and cook immediately. If allowed to stand it will not be so light. Flour should always be sifted before it is measured. It should then be put lightly into the cup with a spoon and leveled off with a knife. Do not shake or rap the cup to level it or the flour will pack and you will have more than a cupful. In meas- uring part of a cupful, fill the measuring cup a little above the right mark in the cup and then lift out the flour to the rim with a spoon. If only i C. is needed it will be quicker and more accurate to measure it by tablespoonfuls. Baking. Experience is the only safe guide to follow in telling when an oven is the right temperature. It will be some help until one has become experienced to tell the heat of the oven by testing it with the bare hand. If you can hold the hand in the oven until you can count thirty you have a hot oven. If the hand must be taken out before you have counted thirty it is too hot, if you can hold it longer it is not hot enough. For moderate oven you FLOUR MIXTURES 197 should be able to hold the hand there until you can count forty and for a slow oven you should be able to count forty-five.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Different kinds of flour vary so much that it is impossible to tell the exact amount of liquid that will be needed in any given mixture. It will be necessary to know the correct consistency or thickness of the batter and add liquid to the mixture until it is of the proper consistency. In general the proportion of liquid to flour is: Pour batter 1 C. liquid to 1 C. flour. Soft drop batter ^ C. liquid to 1 C. flour. Stiff drop batter | C. liquid to 1 C. flour. FLOUR MIXTURES Other Ingredients Contained in Flour Mixtures. A mixture consisting only of flour and milk or water would be tough, heavy and tasteless when baked. It is therefore necessary to add other ingredients to have a food that is palatable and digestible. Salt is added to take away the "flat" taste; fat (commonly called shortening) in the form of butter, lard, dripping, suet, etc., is used to make the cooked food more tender. Baking powder, or soda with sour milk or molasses, or air beaten into eggs will make the food lighter and more porous, therefore more digestible. These additions make a change in the batter as well as in the taste and texture of the food after it is cooked. Shortening will tend to make the batter thinner and if a large amount of shortening is used, less liquid will be needed. Eggs make a batter thinner but the cooked food will be stiffer and tougher because the heat of the oven hardens and toughens the albumin in the egg. Shortening added to the mixture will overcome this toughness. A batter that contains many eggs and little fat should be baked at a very low temperature. In changing a recipe, if fewer eggs are used, the amount of flour should be increased or the amount of liquid decreased. It would be better to decrease the amount of liquid as recipes are usually written with the baking powder, flavoring, etc., calculated to the amount of flour, therefore any change in the amount of flour would make a change in the other ingredients necessary. Methods of Mixing. There are three methods of putting flour mixtures together, called the batter method, the dough method and the cake method. The amount of shortening used and the texture desired in the finished product decides which process shall be used. Batter Method of Mixing. 1. Mix and sift the dry materials. (If sifted two or three times, more air will be mixed with the dry materials and the food will be lighter.) If granulated sugar is used it can be stirred into the other dry materials after sifting. 2. Add beaten egg to half the milk and stir into the dry materials. 3. Add enough more milk to make the batter the desired consistency. 4. Add the melted butter, beat well and cook immediately. If allowed to stand it will not be so light. Flour should always be sifted before it is measured. It should then be put lightly into the cup with a spoon and leveled off with a knife. Do not shake or rap the cup to level it or the flour will pack and you will have more than a cupful. In measuring part of a cupful, fill the measuring cup a little above the right mark in the cup and then lift out the flour to the rim with a spoon. If only i C. is needed it will be quicker and more accurate to measure it by tablespoonfuls. Baking. Experience is the only safe guide to follow in telling when an oven is the right temperature. It will be some help until one has become experienced to tell the heat of the oven by testing it with the bare hand. If you can hold the hand in the oven until you can count thirty you have a hot oven. If the hand must be taken out before you have counted thirty it is too hot, if you can hold it longer it is not hot enough. For moderate oven you should be able to hold the hand there until you can count forty and for a slow oven you should be able to count forty-five.

Student's manual in household arts