Food study

Baking is much easier -if a thermometer can be used in the oven, because then the temperature can readily be measured and not guessed at. Many home ovens can quite easily have a hole bored, so that a thermometer can be inserted. The result is more accurate than the results obtained from oven thermometers. With gas ovens, it is possible to tell with a little practice how hot a given oven is by the length of time the gas has been lighted and the degree to which it is turned on. Many ovens bake unevenly. This is especially liable to be true of small ovens. In these, care must be taken not to put pans too near the sides. It is impossible to fill such an oven too full and get good results. A pan of water will help cool an oven ; an asbestos mat placed under a pan will keep the bottom from baking as fast ; paper put over the top will keep the top from browning as rapidly. But all these ought to be unnecessary with a good oven and sufficient skill in baking. 1. Is pour-batter an appropriate name for batters of the type of pop-overs ? 2. Look up a recipe for cream puffs. Cream cakes. Eclairs. How do these compare in proportions with the pop-over recipe ? 3. If you mixed cream puffs as pop-overs and attempted to bake them on a flat surface what would happen ? Account, then, for the partial cooking of the flour during the mixing. 4. Compare the proportions of flour to liquid in cream soups, white sauces, and pop-overs. Also with the amount of flour you would have to substitute for cornstarch to make a mold. Compare the textures when cooked. APPLE FRITTERS A. Class Experiments. THE PRINCIPLE OF LEAVEN- ING. 1. Tie a piece "of rubber sheeting over the top of a test tube, cool the tube, then heat it slightly. Notice the effects on the rubber. What effect has heat and cold upon the volume of the air in the tube ? 2. How is the gas held in the dough ? Mix one teaspoon of flour with an equal amount of water. Repeat, using cornstarch instead of flour. Notice the difference in the result. To explain : mix \ c. flour with water (a teaspoon at a time) to make a very stiff dough. Wash, by kneading it gently in a bowl of cold water until the part left, the gluten, no longer gives a blue color with iodine. (What has been washed out ?) a. Reserve a pinch of the gluten, divide the rest into two balls. Bake one in a hot oven, the other in a slow oven. Explain difference in results. b. With the piece reserved, determine if gluten is protein. B. APPLE FRITTERS. Prepare a pop-over batter, using J c. liquid. Pare and core an apple and cut crossways into slices. Dip a slice into the batter. Is it thick enough to make a cover for the apple? Add enough flour to make a "coverbatter." Record proportions one would need for a cup of liquid. Fry in deep fat and serve with syrup LEAVENING, , _ . , 22J. LEAVENING The term leavening means "making lighter." Bread is leavened and, instead of being a solid, heavy mass, is spongy, light, and porous. The process is supposed to improve not only the flavor but the digestibility of the mass.