Simple cooking of wholesome food for the farm home

Baking Bread. — Bread is baked to kill the yeast plant and stop fermentation ; to cook the starch, so that it will be thoroughly digestible ; to improve the flavor ; and to form a brown crust. The oven should be hot when the bread is first put into it. Turn the pans frequently the first six or eight minutes, so that the loaves will be even. At the end of fifteen minutes the loaves should begin to brown. Reduce the heat gradually. At the end of a half -hour the loaves should be well browned. Let them remain for another half hour, but have a very moderate oven to complete the baking. Remove from the pans at once and stand on end until thoroughly cold. If bread is covered while warm, the crust will be soft instead of crisp. When thoroughly cold put away in a tightly covered jar or tin box. Some of the dough may be removed .after the first rising, made into rolls, and baked for dinner or supper. They must rise until very light, but if they are ready to bake before it is time to use them, put them in the ice box or in a cool place to prevent the further growth of the yeast. Dry Yeast. — Yeast foam or magic yeast is also used in bread making. The dry cake is soaked in warm water, and added to the following mixture : Dice or mash four potatoes, add one cup flour and enough hot water in which the potatoes were boiled tc make a soft paste. Cool to luke-warm and add yeast. Allow it to stand and ferment. This takes from four to six hours. This yeast is best made at noon if bread is to be sponged at night or made at noon or at night if bread is sponged in the morning. The one cake of dry yeast is equal in strength to one cake of compressed yeast. When light it may be added to the bread sponge or kept in cool place until needed. 24 Bulletin of the University of Texas Muffins. — One-fourth cup butter, one tablespoon sugar, one egg, one cup milk, two cups flour, four teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon salt. Cream butter with stiff-handled tablespoon. Cream it until the butter feels like wax. Add sugar and beat to a creamy mass. Add beaten egg and blend well with butter and sugar. Add milk gradually. Sift dry ingredients, add gradually. Beat until smooth. Butter muffin pans well and fill them three-fourths full. Bake twenty-five minutes in an oven that is hot enough to brown paper in eight minutes. Biscuits. — Two cups flour, four teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon salt, two to four tablespoons fat, three-fourths cup sweet milk and water, or all water or all milk. Mix dry ingredients and sift. Work in fat with the tips of fingers; add gradually the liquid, mixing with a knife or a wooden spoon to a soft dough. It is impossible to state the exact amount of liquid required, owing to differences in flours. Toss on a floured bread board, pat, and roll lightly to one-half inch thickness. Shape with a biscuit cutter. Place on buttered pan,' and bake in hot oven twelve or fifteen minutes. If baked in too slow an oven the gas will escape before it has done its work, and biscuits will not rise sufficiently. If sour milk, soar cream, or buttermilk is to be used, use one-half teaspoon of soda to each cup of liquid, and one teaspoon of baking powder. DESSERTS. Steamed Custard. — One quart milk, six egg yolks, two-thirds cup sugar, one-fourth teaspoon salt, one teaspoon vanilla.