[NOTE.—Use this sifted flour for making Popovers.]
In preparing all quick bread mixtures, pastry flour (see Wheat Flour) should be used. It should be sifted before measuring. Usually any other powdered ingredient, such as baking powder, soda, or spices, is added to the flour and mixed thoroughly (by sifting) into the other materials. Baking powder and soda need not be sifted before measuring, but should be stirred.
OVEN THERMOMETERS AND TEMPERATURES.—The ovens of a number of ranges are equipped with thermometers. Although it is possible to secure more satisfactory results with a thermometer than without, oven thermometers do not always indicate the temperature of an oven accurately. If a thermometer is fastened on an oven door, for example, and the door does not heat as quickly or to as high a degree as the interior of the oven, the true temperature of the oven cannot be ascertained by this device. By making allowance for the difference, however, such a thermometer may prove very useful. It is much more accurately and conveniently read than a thermometer which is hung or rests inside the oven unless the oven is provided with a glass door.
[Illustration: Courtesy of the National Stove Co FIGURE 81—OVEN
HEAT REGULATOR]
A device known as an "Oven Heat Regulator" (see Figure 81) may be attached to gas ranges. These devices do not merely measure the heat of an oven, but control it and keep the oven temperature constant. A "temperature wheel" (shown at B) is set for a desired temperature and the oven burner lighted. By the expansion or contraction of a sensitive copper tube placed in the top of the oven (shown at A) the gas valve (shown at C) is opened or closed. When the valve is opened the amount of gas burning is increased or decreased so that the temperature of the oven is kept constant, i.e. at the temperature at which the wheel is set. Insulated ovens, i.e. ovens which are constructed so as to retain heat and allow little to escape, are found on some of the modern gas, electric, and kerosene stoves. Some of the insulated electric ovens are provided with clocks or dials which may be adjusted so that the current is cut off automatically at the expiration of a certain length of time, or when a certain temperature is reached (see Figure 14). Because of the insulated walls on such ovens, the food continues to cook on "stored heat."
A chemical thermometer inserted in an oven is a fairly satisfactory means of obtaining oven temperatures. If one has the use of an oven provided with a chemical thermometer in the school kitchen, tests may be obtained so that the temperature of the oven in the home kitchen may be estimated. The tests are as follows: Heat the oven; when it reaches a temperature of 250 degrees F., [Footnote 75: See footnote 86, regarding the use of the Fahrenheit scale.] place a piece of white paper in the oven. After 5 minutes, remove the paper, note the color. Continue to heat the oven; place paper in the oven at 350 degrees F., 400 degrees F., 425 degrees F., 450 degrees F., 475 degrees F., 500 degrees F., 525 degrees F., and 550 degrees F. Note the color of each piece of paper.
Baking temperatures have been classified as follows: [Footnote 76: From
Technical Education Bulletin, No. 22, "Some Attempts to Standardize Oven
Temperatures for Cookery Processes," by May B. Van Arsdale, Teachers
College, Columbia University.]
1. Slow oven (250 degrees to 350 degrees F.) for custards and meringues.
2. Moderate oven (350 degrees to 400 degrees F.) for bread, gingerbread, plain cake, [Footnote 77: The lower temperature should be used for loaf cakes and the higher temperature for layer cakes.] all molasses mixtures.
3. Hot oven (400 degrees to 450 degrees F.) for Parkerhouse rolls, and Popovers. In baking Popovers, the oven should be cooled to moderate heat after the first ten minutes.