Experimental cookery

result the volume of the puff is poor. The fat may be omitted and the puffs are then similar to popovers. Cream-puff like popover batter can be beaten as much as desired without perceptibly toughening the finished prod- uct. The cooking of the flour with the water and fat coagulates a portion of the flour protein. The starch granules also swell as the flour is cooked with the liquid. The puffs like the popovers must be baked until very firm or they will collapse after removal from the oven. The best baking temperature is from 220° to 240 °C. Cream puffs may be baked as well by starting in a cold oven as in a preheated oven, provided the oven heats quickly enough to reach a temperature of 220°C. in about 25 minutes. The batter may stand some time before baking provided it is left in a bowl and covered to pre- vent evaporation. Griddle Cakes Griddle cakes are made of wheat flour, or a combination of cereal flours, a liquid, salt, and a leavening agent. They may or may not contain egg, fat, and sugar. Griddle cakes are partially leavened by steam, but some baking powder is necessary. Both the proportion of flour and baking powder can be altered to secure a thin or a moist thick cake. For example, the consistency of the batter made by using 1 1/3 cups of flour to a cup of liquid can be changed by increasing the baking powder. As the quantity of powder is increased the batter becomes increasingly stiffer so that the griddle cakes are less moist, more porous and tender, and of greater volume. Adding 1^ to 2 teaspoons of powder to 1 1/3 cups of flour gives desirable cakes. This is a rather large amount of baking powder, but thin batters do not retain the gas as well as stiff ones, nor is air incorporated by creaming or by folding in beaten egg white. The kind of baking powder, i.e., one that reacts slowly or rapidly at room temperature, does not seem to affect the results, unless the batter has to stand for a long time before it is cooked. If this is necessary, a larger quantity of rapid-acting baking powder may be used. The greater the proportion of flour used to liquid, the less the batter should be beaten in order to have a tender cake. With the very stiff batters, the mixing should be continued only until the dry ingredients have barely disappeared. Over-mixing gives a soggy texture, which is apt to contain tunnels. The texture with over-mixing seems to be about the same regard- less of the type of baking powder used. If colored oil or melted fat is used in griddle cakes and waffles the distribution of the fat can be easily seen. It is dispersed in the uncooked batter as small spheres that are large enough to be seen without the aid of a microscope. With the concentration of fat used in these fairly thin batters, this dispersion occurs by stirring the melted fat or oil into the 464 BATTERS AND DOUGHS batter and is the same whether the fat Is added first or last. After cooking, a portion of the fat is found in pools or absorbed on the surface of the cell walls of the cooked product.