The school kitchen textbook

stirring and beating ? How do you mix a batter ? When do we stir, and when do we beat, a mixture ? Why do we grease a dish in which a batter is to be cooked ? What causes the differences in crusts of anything cooked on a griddle, in the oven, and by steam ? How many kinds of griddle cakes may be made ? How could you vary the popovers ? LESSON XV THICKER BATTERS OR DOUGHS TO BE DROPPED There are several degrees of thickness in batters. Thin batters are about the consistency of thin cream; thick batters are like thick cream ; still thicker batters are stiff enough to keep their shape when dropped from a spoon. Any batter is a " pour batter " until it is made so stiff that it breaks in the pouring and drops from the spoon. Then it is called a drop batter. So long as it is soft enough to be beaten it is a batter, but when a spoon can no longer be made to go through it easily, with a beating motion, it is a dough. Doughs may be of any thickness, from " just stiff enough to be shaped," or " as soft as can be handled easily," to those that are so stiff that they may be " rolled thin as a wafer." It is better to become familiar with the proper consistency of batters and doughs by learning these descriptions, than to trust to such phrases as these, — " stiff as pound cake," or " soft as ginger-bread," which one often hears. Muffin mixtures are thicker than the batters of griddle cakes. The general proportion is one scant measure of liquid to two full measures of flour. The proportions will vary somewhat according to the thickness of the liquid — cream, milk, or water — and the thickening quality of the meal or flour. This lesson shows another way of obtaining carbon dioxide gas to lighten batter, namely, by the union of soda with molasses. Sugar cane molasses (not syrup) contains acetic acid, and when it is mixed properly with soda, carbon dioxide gas is liberated, and the soda is neutralized. Carbon dioxide gas may also be obtained by combining THICKER BATTERS OR DOUGHS TO BE DROPPED 243 soda with the lactic acid in sour milk. In using soda with any acid, care must be taken to use the correct proportion, so that no alkali may be left, as an excess of alkali hinders digestion. As the amount of acid in sour milk varies, it is difficult to know how much soda to use. Sour milk is best when it sours quickly and becomes thick and solid. Then the proportion is one teaspoon of soda to one pint of milk. When the milk is so old that it becomes watery and separates, or has a mouldy scum on the surface it is unfit to use. In winter, milk grows bitter before it sours, and often tastes sour but is not thick. Then it may be used as if it were sweet milk, with baking-powder, or in ginger-bread or brown bread where molasses completes the acidity. Soda is sometimes dissolved in water, but as part of the gas escapes as soon as the soda is wet, a better way is to mix the soda with the flour, or other dry ingredients. Soda becomes lumpy in keeping, and should always be pulverized finely before it is measured ; then sifted through a fine wire strainer, and thoroughly mixed with the flour. When liquid is added, the chemical action takes place in the dough, and none of the gas is lost, provided the mixture is cooked immediately.