Add molasses with soda is another old-fashioned method. Here the acid is developed by the fermentation of the molasses. Cream of tartar (acid potassium tartrate), obtained from crystals deposited in wine vats, came into use later, neutralized by bicar- bonate of soda, two parts of cream of tartar to one of soda. Baking powder. — The "first baking powders were made of cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda, mixed with a starch, to prevent the slight chemical action which would cause the powder to lose strength ; and these two substances are now used in the best baking powders. The resulting salt is the Rochelle salt of medicine. An add phosphate is sometimes used with soda, and this gives a harmless neutral substance. Cheaper acids have sometimes been used, especially alum. It is best not to use an alum i)owder. Select a standard kind, avoid- ing those that offer prizes for a certain number of boxes purchased. Even if these latter do not contain alum, there is probably an excess of starch or flour. The advantage of baking powder is in the accuracy of the propor- tions of the two substances by weight. Even though the measur- ing of the cream of tartar and soda separately is accurate, the proportions may not be correct. There is no great advantage in homemade baking powder. It costs almost as much as the manu- factured, and is not as perfect a product. The proportions of the main ingredients. — Attempts are made to define the degrees of stiffness of batters and doughs, but these distinctions are not very accurate. A '^ pour bat- ter " is liquid enough to pour, and a " dough batter " soft enough to drop from a spoon; a "soft dough" is next in grade, and " dough " is the stiffest of all. MUFFINS, BISCUIT, CAKE, AND PASTRY 173 To understand proportioning the ingredients, the nature of the ingredients when heated must be taken into account. Butter and other fats melt when heated, and behave like a liquid in the mixture. Therefore, when there is a very large amount of butter, no other wetting is necessary, as in pound cake. We may make a scale, with a thin popover mixture at one extreme, with no butter in it, and the stiff poimd cake at the other, with butter the only liquid (except the flavor- ing). Between these two are the mixtures of medium stiff- ness, with both butter and liquid. This general rule may be given: As the quantity of butter is increased, the batter must increase in stiffness, and there must be either less liquid or more flour. A beaten egg looks like a liquid and behaves so during the mixing, but in the oven it stiffens. For this reason we can make a sponge cake with many eggs and no liquid in the mixing, and use no other leavening agent than the air beaten into the e^. One old-fashioned rule for sponge cake reads : Take the weight of the eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour, with the juice and rind of a lemon for ten eggs. Such a rule was adapted to the days when eggs were cheap. We should now use fewer eggs in sponge cake, and this means that water and baking powder must replace the eggs omitted. Methods of mixing. — (1) For popovers, griddlecakes, muffins, and plain cake. Sift together the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs, without separating the yolk and white, and stir the eggs and milk together. Pour the liquid gradually into the flour, first stirring, then beating.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Add molasses with soda is another old-fashioned method. Here the acid is developed by the fermentation of the molasses. Cream of tartar (acid potassium tartrate), obtained from crystals deposited in wine vats, came into use later, neutralized by bicarbonate of soda, two parts of cream of tartar to one of soda. Baking powder. — The "first baking powders were made of cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda, mixed with a starch, to prevent the slight chemical action which would cause the powder to lose strength ; and these two substances are now used in the best baking powders. The resulting salt is the Rochelle salt of medicine. An acid phosphate is sometimes used with soda, and this gives a harmless neutral substance. Cheaper acids have sometimes been used, especially alum. It is best not to use an alum i)owder. Select a standard kind, avoiding those that offer prizes for a certain number of boxes purchased. Even if these latter do not contain alum, there is probably an excess of starch or flour. The advantage of baking powder is in the accuracy of the proportions of the two substances by weight. Even though the measuring of the cream of tartar and soda separately is accurate, the proportions may not be correct. There is no great advantage in homemade baking powder. It costs almost as much as the manufactured, and is not as perfect a product. The proportions of the main ingredients. — Attempts are made to define the degrees of stiffness of batters and doughs, but these distinctions are not very accurate. A '^ pour batter " is liquid enough to pour, and a " dough batter " soft enough to drop from a spoon; a "soft dough" is next in grade, and " dough " is the stiffest of all. To understand proportioning the ingredients, the nature of the ingredients when heated must be taken into account. Butter and other fats melt when heated, and behave like a liquid in the mixture. Therefore, when there is a very large amount of butter, no other wetting is necessary, as in pound cake. We may make a scale, with a thin popover mixture at one extreme, with no butter in it, and the stiff poimd cake at the other, with butter the only liquid (except the flavoring). Between these two are the mixtures of medium stiffness, with both butter and liquid. This general rule may be given: As the quantity of butter is increased, the batter must increase in stiffness, and there must be either less liquid or more flour. A beaten egg looks like a liquid and behaves so during the mixing, but in the oven it stiffens. For this reason we can make a sponge cake with many eggs and no liquid in the mixing, and use no other leavening agent than the air beaten into the e^. One old-fashioned rule for sponge cake reads : Take the weight of the eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour, with the juice and rind of a lemon for ten eggs. Such a rule was adapted to the days when eggs were cheap. We should now use fewer eggs in sponge cake, and this means that water and baking powder must replace the eggs omitted. Methods of mixing. — (1) For popovers, griddlecakes, muffins, and plain cake. Sift together the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs, without separating the yolk and white, and stir the eggs and milk together. Pour the liquid gradually into the flour, first stirring, then beating.

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