Flour or meal, if merely wet, and then heated or cooked, will be dry, tough, and compact, and when eaten it will be difficult for the digestive fluids to penetrate the mass. To be digested easily, doughs and batters must be light and porous and there are various ways of making them so. One of these ways is illustrated in the recipe for suet pudding made by the use of baking-powder. Baking-powder is a mixture of an acid salt (cream of tartar) and a carbonate of an alkali (soda), — substances which do not act upon each other when dry. Put a teaspoon of baking powder into two tablespoons of water and see what 162 FIRST LESSON IN DOUGH 163 happens. A chemical reaction takes place, by which carbon dioxide gas is liberated. This gas, as it tries to escape, fills the liquid, and causes effervescence. The gas soon disappears and the liquid is still, and is neither acid nor alkaline, be- cause the soda and cream of tartar have neutralized each other. But if there had been too much soda in the baking- powder the liquid would have had an alkaline taste, and if too much acid, an acid taste. On account of the difficulty of measuring these two sub- stances in the correct proportion, manufacturers have mixed them by weight and called them baking-powders. It is safer to use soda and cream of tartar in the form of baking- powder. In making this pudding, if baking-powder be put into the flour and mixed thoroughly, so that every particle of flour will have its share of the powder, when the flour is wet and made into dough, carbon dioxide gas will be liberated and try to escape, as it did from the water ; but on account of the sticky and elastic nature of the gluten in the wheat flour, the gas cannot escape so readily, but will stretch and expand the dough and make it full of bubbles or cells. Then, if the dough be cooked quickly, before the gas escapes, the starch grains will be ruptured by the combined effect of heat and moisture, the glutinous walls of the cells will be hardened, and we shall have a light, porous loaf of pudding. Loaf is from the word hlifian, " to raise, to lift up." This recipe also shows us how dough may be made more tender by the use of fat or shortening. Suet is one form of beef fat. It is used in doughs or flour mixtures to make them tender and is a wholesome and economical form of fat, and particularly suitable for a winter diet. By adding different flavoring in- gredients, such as ginger, molasses, nutmeg, or fruit, a vari- ety of puddings may be made from one formula. Recipe, No. 82. Plain Suet Pudding 1 pt. flour. i cup beef suet. 2 tsp. baking powder. Cold water to make a soft J tsp. salt. dough. 164 SCHOOL KITCHEN TEXTBOOK Mix the flour, baking-powder, and salt ; add the chopped suet and mix it well. Add the cold water gradually to form a soft dough. Grease a mould or several cups, fill to within an inch of the top, and cover with greased paper. Put the cups into a kettle of boiling water, enough to come half way up the mould. Cover the kettle and steam two hours if in a mould, and one hour if in cups. Serve on a hot platter, and eat with hot gravy or a sweet sauce. Recipe, No. 83. Fruit Suet Pudding Make the same as for plain suet pudding, adding to the dry ingredients : 1 c. currants. i e. sugar. i c. raisins. spk. nutmeg. 2 sq. in. citron, sliced. ✪ Plain Suet Pudding

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Flour or meal, if merely wet, and then heated or cooked, will be dry, tough, and compact, and when eaten it will be difficult for the digestive fluids to penetrate the mass. To be digested easily, doughs and batters must be light and porous and there are various ways of making them so. One of these ways is illustrated in the recipe for suet pudding made by the use of baking-powder. Baking-powder is a mixture of an acid salt (cream of tartar) and a carbonate of an alkali (soda), — substances which do not act upon each other when dry. Put a teaspoon of baking powder into two tablespoons of water and see what FIRST LESSON IN DOUGH 163 happens. A chemical reaction takes place, by which carbon dioxide gas is liberated. This gas, as it tries to escape, fills the liquid, and causes effervescence. The gas soon disappears and the liquid is still, and is neither acid nor alkaline, because the soda and cream of tartar have neutralized each other. But if there had been too much soda in the bakingpowder the liquid would have had an alkaline taste, and if too much acid, an acid taste. On account of the difficulty of measuring these two substances in the correct proportion, manufacturers have mixed them by weight and called them baking-powders. It is safer to use soda and cream of tartar in the form of bakingpowder. In making this pudding, if baking-powder be put into the flour and mixed thoroughly, so that every particle of flour will have its share of the powder, when the flour is wet and made into dough, carbon dioxide gas will be liberated and try to escape, as it did from the water ; but on account of the sticky and elastic nature of the gluten in the wheat flour, the gas cannot escape so readily, but will stretch and expand the dough and make it full of bubbles or cells. Then, if the dough be cooked quickly, before the gas escapes, the starch grains will be ruptured by the combined effect of heat and moisture, the glutinous walls of the cells will be hardened, and we shall have a light, porous loaf of pudding. Loaf is from the word hlifian, " to raise, to lift up." This recipe also shows us how dough may be made more tender by the use of fat or shortening. Suet is one form of beef fat. It is used in doughs or flour mixtures to make them tender and is a wholesome and economical form of fat, and particularly suitable for a winter diet. By adding different flavoring ingredients, such as ginger, molasses, nutmeg, or fruit, a variety of puddings may be made from one formula. Recipe, No. 82. Plain Suet Pudding 1 pt. flour. i cup beef suet. 2 tsp. baking powder. Cold water to make a soft J tsp. salt. dough. Mix the flour, baking-powder, and salt ; add the chopped suet and mix it well. Add the cold water gradually to form a soft dough. Grease a mould or several cups, fill to within an inch of the top, and cover with greased paper. Put the cups into a kettle of boiling water, enough to come half way up the mould. Cover the kettle and steam two hours if in a mould, and one hour if in cups. Serve on a hot platter, and eat with hot gravy or a sweet sauce. Recipe, No. 83. Fruit Suet Pudding Make the same as for plain suet pudding, adding to the dry ingredients : 1 c. currants. 1 c. sugar. i c. raisins. 1 spk. nutmeg. 2 sq. in. citron, sliced.

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