Mix the salt, soda, cream tartar or baking powder with the flour, sift; rub in the butter until fine like meal. Add the liquid gradually, mixing with a knife, and use just enough to make it of a light spongy consistency. Turn the dough out on a well floured board, pat lightly into a flat cake and roll gently till half inch thick. Bake either in a spider or pie plate in the oven; split, butter, and spread with the fruit.
Doughnuts.
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. melted butter.
- 1/2 tsp. salt.
- 1 tsp. cream tartar.
- Flour enough to make into a soft dough.
- 1/2 cup sugar.
- 1 cup milk.
- 1/2 tsp. soda.
- 1 ssp. cinnamon.
Mix all the dry ingredients, beat the egg until light, add to this the milk, sugar and melted butter. Pour into the flour, mixing carefully into a soft dough. Have the board well floured. Roll only a large spoonful at a time. Cut into the desired shape and drop into hot fat. The fat should be hot enough for the dough to rise to the top instantly.
BREAD.
As bread is one of the most important articles of the daily diet, it naturally follows that special attention should be given to a subject upon which the health of the family, to a great extent, depends. A knowledge of the chemical changes and their effect (see Chap. VII) must be understood before proficiency in bread-making can be attained. The first element to consider is the yeast, and the generating of carbonic acid gas, so as to have the bread light, tender, and porous.
Yeast is a plant or vegetable growth produced from grain which has commenced to bud or sprout, and which forms the substance called diastase. This substance has the power to convert starch into sugar. (See Chap. VII for effect of yeast upon flour.)
The temperature at which fermentation takes place, and when to check it, are important features of bread-making.