Foods and home making

Add the butter or bacon fat to the hot corn-meal mixture. Stir until the fat is melted. Beat the eggs. Add the milk and leavening materials to the eggs. Now add the egg mixture to the corn-meal mixture and mix well. Pour the batter into a greased g^-inch pie plate or shallow baking dish. Bake at 400° F. for 45 minutes. Serve from the dish in which the bread is baked. Variation: Instead of butter or bacon fat, fat tried out from pork, beef, or chicken may be used in spoon corn bread. Also, the cracklings ( i.e ., the crisp particles strained from tried-out fat) from bacon or other fat may be used along with the fat. How is nut bread made ? A loaf of bread is usually leavened with yeast. However, bread leavened with baking powder may also be baked in a loaf. Because a loaf of bread is so much thicker than corn bread or muffins, it must be baked longer. If the bread is baked for a longer time, the oven must not be so hot. The longer breads are baked, the lower the temperature of the oven must be. NUT BREAD 1 egg cups thick sour milk £ cup sugar 3 cups pastry or soft wheat flour (sift before measuring) 3 or 4-2 teaspoons baking powder (See footnote, page 88.) £ teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup soft-shelled walnut meats Sift flour, then measure 3 cups. Add the other dry ingredients to the flour. Get the nuts ready. They should be coarsely chopped. Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Add the sour milk and sugar. Mix. Sift the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Add the nuts. Beat until well mixed. Pour into a greased bread pan. Bake in a moderate oven — 325° F. — for 1 hour or until it is done when tested as directed on page 87. Variations: Date or Raisin Bread. — 1 package (10 ounces) of dates or 1 cup of raisins may be used in place of the nuts. Mix the fruit with the flour mixture. Breads for Luncheon or Supper 309 How is steamed brown bread made ? Breads made of coarse flours are often steamed. A longer time is required to steam breads than to bake them. Put the sugar, sour milk, and molasses into a mixing bowl and mix. Mix the dry ingredients and the raisins. Pour them into the milk mixture. Beat until well mixed. Grease three i-pound baking-powder cans or other molds. Pour the mixture into the cans, filling them about § full. Put the covers on the cans. Place the molds in a steamer or in a kettle containing a rack. If the kettle is used, pour water around the molds so that it comes halfway to the top of the molds. As the water evaporates, add more boiling water. Let the bread steam for at least 2 hours. After steaming, take the bread from the molds. Place the loaves on a pie pan and let them dry in the oven for a few minutes. Baking powder contains : 1. Baking soda 2. Starch 3. Substance with acid properties, either a phosphate, a tartrate, or an alum phosphate (S. A. S. phosphate) Leavening agents for quick breads : 1. Baking powder 2. Baking soda with sour milk The gas produced by these leavening agents is carbon dioxide. Proportions of leavening agents to use: Phosphate and tartrate baking powder: 1 ^ to 2 teaspoons to each cup flour Alum phosphate (S. A. S. phosphate ) baking powder: 1 to 1 % teaspoons to each cup flour ^ teaspoon baking soda with each cup sour milk STEAMED BROWN BREAD \ cup sugar 1| cups sour milk y cup molasses If cups Graham flour f cup corn meal | teaspoon salt