Part 46

Dried rusk is exceedingly easy of digestion, and makes a delicious lunch with a glass of warm milk or a cup of tea.

GRAHAM BREAD

1 Pint of milk. 2 Tablespoons of sugar. 1 Teaspoon of salt. ⅕ Cake of compressed yeast. 2 Cups of white flour. Enough Graham flour to make a dough.

Scald some milk, and from it measure a pint; to this add the sugar and salt. While it is cooling sift some Graham flour, being careful to exclude the chaff or outside silicious covering of the grain, but nothing else. When the milk has become lukewarm, put in the yeast, which has previously been dissolved in a little cold water, and the white flour (sifted), with enough of the Graham to make a dough which shall be stiff, but yet not stiff enough to mold. Mix thoroughly, and shape it with a spoon into a round mass in the dish. After this follow the same directions as for water bread, letting it rise the same time, and baking it in the same manner.

After the dough has risen, although it is soft, it can be shaped into a loaf on the bread-board, but not molded.

CREAM-OF-TARTAR BISCUIT

First, attend to the fire; see that you have a clear, steady one, such as will give a hot oven by the time the biscuits are ready for baking. Then sift some flour, and measure a quart. Into it put two teaspoons of cream of tartar, and one of soda, the latter to be measured exactly like the teaspoons of cream of tartar, and then a very little taken off. This is a more accurate way of getting a scanted teaspoon than by taking some on the spoon and guessing at it. Add one teaspoon of salt, and sift all together four times, then with the fingers rub into the flour one spoon of butter.

At this point, if it has not been already done, get the baking-pans, rolling-pin, board, dredging-box, and cutter ready for use. Then with a knife stir into the flour enough milk to make a soft dough. Do this as quickly as convenient, and without any delay mold the dough just enough to shape it; roll it out, cut it into biscuits, and put them immediately into the oven, where they should bake for thirty minutes.

=Pocket-Books.= Work or knead together the pieces that are left after making cream-of-tartar biscuit (or make a dough on purpose), roll it out very thin, cut it into rounds, brush them over with milk or melted butter, fold once so as to make a half-moon shape, and you will have "pocket-books."

=Twin Biscuit.= Roll out some dough very thin, cut it into very small rounds, and place one on top of another, with butter between.

Iced water may be substituted for milk in the above rule. In baking, however, the oven should be unusually hot, so as to take advantage of the expansion of the water. Also, baking-powder may be substituted for the cream of tartar and soda, using a fourth more of the baking-powder than of the two together.

SNOW-CAKES

½ Tablespoon of butter. 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Whites of two eggs. 1½ Cups of flour. 1 Saltspoon of salt. 1½ Teaspoons of baking-powder. 1 Cup of milk.

Measure each of the ingredients carefully, then sift the flour, salt, and baking-powder together four times. Cream the butter and sugar with a little of the milk, then add the whites of the eggs well beaten, the rest of the milk, and last the flour. Bake this batter in hot buttered gem-pans from twenty minutes to half an hour. These cakes are delicious eaten hot for lunch or tea. This mixture may also be baked in small, round earthen cups.

GRAHAM GEMS

1 Cup of milk. ½ Teaspoon of salt. ½ Cup of white flour. 1 Cup of Graham flour. 2 Tablespoons of sugar. 1 Teaspoon of cream of tartar. ½ Teaspoon of soda (slightly scanted). 1 Tablespoon of melted butter.

Sift and measure the Graham flour, add the cream of tartar, soda, and white flour, and sift again. Mix the milk, salt, and sugar together, and stir it into the flour; last, put in the melted butter, beat for a minute, and then drop a spoonful in each division of a roll gem-pan, which should be well buttered, and made very hot on the top of the stove. Bake in a hot oven from twenty-five minutes to half an hour. Serve hot.

OATMEAL MUFFINS

2¼ Cups of flour. 2 Teaspoons of baking-powder. 1 Teaspoon of salt. 2 Tablespoons of sugar. 1 Egg. 1 Cup of milk. 1 Cup of cooked oatmeal. 1 Tablespoon of butter melted.

Sift the flour and baking-powder together twice. Beat the egg very light, stir into it the salt, sugar, and milk, then add the flour, and last the oatmeal and butter; beat for half a minute, and bake immediately in gem-pans or muffin-rings in a hot oven for half an hour.

N. B.--The oatmeal should not be cooked to a soft, thin mush, but should be rather dry; so, in preparing it, use less water than for porridge. These cakes are to be eaten hot.

GLUTEN BREAD

Gluten flour is prepared in such a way that much of the starch of the grain is excluded. It is frequently required for persons suffering with diabetes, who cannot digest either sugar or starch. It should be made with flour, water, yeast, and salt only. Do not use milk for mixing, as it contains sugar.

One pint of water, one half teaspoon of salt, one fifth of a cake of yeast, one tablespoon of butter, and enough flour to make the usual bread dough will be required. Otherwise the process is exactly the same as for ordinary bread.

BAKING-POWDER

Baking-powder is a mixture of cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, and arrowroot. The latter is used to keep the two chemicals dry, and thus prevent the slow union which would otherwise take place. Sometimes tartaric acid is used instead of cream of tartar. The following rule may be relied upon:

Tartaric acid 2 oz. by weight. Bicarbonate of soda 3 " " " Arrowroot 3 " " "

Mix and sift together thoroughly. Keep in a dry place, in a wide-mouthed bottle.