Foods and home making

If the tea leaves have been placed in the tea ball or in the bag, the leaves can very easily be removed from the beverage. If the tea leaves have been placed loosely in the tea pot, the beverage may be strained into a hot receptacle. Some find it convenient to make the tea in a sauce pan and then strain it into a tea pot. If this plan is followed, care should be taken to have the sauce pan and tea pot hot so the bev- erage will not become too cool before it is served. Tea is usually served with cream or top milk and sugar, or with sliced lemon and sugar. CHAPTER VIII TOAST AND OTHER BREAKFAST BREADS Can you answer these questions ? If not, look for the answers as you study this chapter. 1. What makes a slice of bread curl up when it is being toasted? 2. Why is baking powder generally used in making muffins? 3. What ingredients do muffins contain ? 4. Why was Graham flour so called ? 5. Does whole- wheat flour contain all parts of the wheat grains? 6. Which costs less a pound — flour bought in small packages or in large sacks? 7. What makes eggs foam when they are beaten? 8. How full should muffin pans be filled ? Why ? 9. What is the boiling point of water? What is the lowest baking temperature commonly used ? the highest baking temperature ? 10. How can you tell when muffins are ready to be taken from the oven? Why does toast taste different from bread? Toast not only looks different from bread but tastes different. When bread is heated so that it becomes golden brown on the outside, changes take place in the composition of the bread. One of the materials in bread which changes is the starch. Some of the starch in bread is changed to a substance which is slightly sweet in taste. This is one reason why we like the taste of toast. Then too, many persons like toast because it is crisp. Besides tasting good, toast is perhaps the most wholesome of the warm breads. It is believed that toast is more readily digested than such warm breads as muffins, biscuits, or griddle cakes. How is bread toasted ? Perhaps you have toast often at your home. Some families like it well enough to eat it every morning 77 78 Breakfast for breakfast. This is a good way to use bread which has be- come too hard to serve plain. If toast is often served for breakfast at your home, would it not be well for you to learn to make perfect toast? Your mother would doubtless be very glad of your help. TOAST Cut bread into slices of even thickness from I to ^ inch. Put the bread on a baking sheet or pie pan. Bread may be toasted in the baking oven or broiling oven. If toast is to be crisp, it should be dried out slowly. The baking oven is the better place to dry it out. If you have a heat-regulated oven, set the temperature wheel to 400° F. Put the bread in the oven. If the bread is moist, it may curl up if it is dried more rapidly on one side than the other. To keep the slices flat, turn them often. When the bread is evenly browned, it should be removed from the oven. Toast may be made more quickly in the broiling oven. Place the slices of toast on the rack of the broiling tray. Insert the tray in the broiling oven. Keep the door of the broiling oven open. Watch the bread, lest it burn.