Miss Parloa's Young Housekeeper / Designed Especially to Aid Beginners; Economical Receipts for Those Who Are Cooking for Two or Three

by Maria Parloa

Testing the Oven Heat with Paper.

Have white paper for testing the heat of the oven. Put a piece on the bottom of the oven and close the door. For pastry, the oven should be hot enough to turn the paper dark brown in five minutes; for bread, the heat should turn it in six minutes. All kinds of muffins can be baked at this heat. Cup cakes should be put into an oven that will turn a piece of white paper dark yellow in five minutes. Sponge and pound cakes require heat that will turn white paper light yellow in five minutes. Bread requires great heat at first; later, the heat is to be reduced. Cake should have rather a cool oven. The heat can be increased later.