BATH BUNS

Mix the salt, sugar, and grated nutmeg with the flour. Scald the milk and melt the butter in it. Dissolve the yeast in a quarter cupful of lukewarm water. When the scalded milk has become lukewarm, add to it the dissolved yeast and the eggs, which have been well beaten, the yolks and whites separately; then add the flour. Use more flour than given in the receipt, if necessary, but keep the dough as soft as possible. Knead it on a board for twenty minutes. Let it rise over night in a warm place, well covered. In the morning turn it on to the molding-board, roll it and rub it lightly with butter, then fold it several times, cut it into pieces the size of a large egg, and mold it into balls. The folding is to make it peel off in layers when baked, but may be omitted if desired. Press into the side of each bun, after it is molded, a piece of citron and lump of sugar wet with lemon-juice. Place the buns in a baking-tin and let them rise to more than double their size. Brush the tops with egg diluted with water to give a brown crust. Bake in a moderate oven for half an hour. When baked, brush over the tops with sugar dissolved in milk, and return to the oven for a few minutes to glaze. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the tops as soon as they are removed from the oven.

COFFEE CAKE

Take two cupfuls of bread sponge, add one egg well beaten, a half cupful of sugar, a tablespoonful of butter, and a cupful of tepid water. Mix them well together, then add enough flour to make a thin dough. Let it rise until double in size. Turn it on a board, and roll it out an inch thick. Place it in a baking-tin, cutting it to fit the tin, and let it rise again until light. Just before placing it in the oven, spread over the top an egg beaten with a teaspoonful of sugar. Sprinkle over this some granulated sugar, and a few split blanched almonds. If preferred, the dough may be twisted and shaped into rings instead of being baked in sheets. This cake, which is a kind of bun, is, as well as bath buns, a good luncheon dish to serve in place of cake; or either of them, served with a cup of chocolate, makes a good light luncheon in itself.

BRIOCHE

Brioche is a kind of light bun mixture much used in France. It has many uses, and is much esteemed. It will not be found difficult or troublesome to make after the first trial. The paste once made can be used for plain brioche cakes, buns, rings, baba, savarins, fruit timbales (see page [406]), cabinet puddings, etc.

Dissolve the yeast-cake in a quarter of a cupful of lukewarm water. Stir it so it will be thoroughly mixed, then add enough flour to make a very soft ball of paste. Drop this ball into a pan of warm water (the water must not be hot, or it will kill the yeast plant). Cover, and set it in a warm place to rise, which will take about an hour. This is for leaven to raise the brioche. The ball of paste will sink to the bottom of the water at first, but will rise to the top later, and be full of bubbles.

Put the rest of the flour on a platter, and make a well in the center of it. Into this well put the butter, salt, sugar, and four eggs. Break the eggs in whole, and have the butter rather soft. Work them together with the hand, gradually incorporating the flour, and adding two more eggs, one at a time. Work and beat it with the hand until it loses its stickiness, which will take some time. When the leaven is sufficiently light, lift it out of the water with a skimmer, and place it with the dough. Work them together, add one more egg, the last of the seven, and beat it for a long time, using the hand. The longer it is beaten the better and the finer will be the grain. Put the paste in a bowl, cover, and let it rise to double its size, which will take four to five hours; then beat it down again, and place it on the ice for twelve or twenty-four hours. As beating and raising the paste require so much time, the work should be started the day before it is to be used.