The Pantry: Ovens and Bakings. Continued from p. [208].
There are several different systems of baking bread in the market, mostly with steam ovens, which are generally acknowledged to be superior to the ordinary bakers’ bread. It, however, will be found, by the examination of a loaf made and baked by the aid of gas, that this system is a great improvement over the best hitherto introduced. Moreover, the method is so simple that success is brought within reach of all who use a well-constructed gas kitchener.
In the preparation of bread by the usually adopted methods, the dough is allowed to rise in a warm place, and after being cut into loaves, is at once placed in an oven and heated up to its highest point, viz., 500°-600° F. In the case of bread made by the new method, the dough, which is leavened as usual with brewers’ or German dried yeast, is allowed to stand in a warm place and rise in the ordinary way. But after it is cut into loaves, it is treated in a manner diametrically opposite to that described above, for it is at once put into a cold gas oven, and the gas jets are lighted only sufficiently to produce a gradually increasing heat, not greater than 80° F. at the end of one hour, during which the loaves are left in the oven to rise.
The scientific explanation of the operation which is going on during this period is this. The yeast plant which grows and ramifies all through the bread has full time to do its work and make it light and open, and the plant is not killed until it has fully done its work. A smaller quantity of yeast will do the work of a larger quantity usually required because the comparatively low and regular temperature of the gas stove is favourable to its proper development throughout the bread. When the loaves have well-risen, the heat of the oven is gradually increased by turning on the gas. The yeast plant dies after about 90° F. is reached. The cooking then goes on, the heat steadily increasing until it reaches in about ¾ hour a temperature of 480°-500° F. The bread is by this time thoroughly cooked and beautifully browned, with a nice equal thickness of crust. During all this process no steam accumulates in the oven, which is Sugg’s “Westminster” (see p. [1004]), as the luminous flames supply a sharp dry heat and the ventilation is thorough. After the loaves are done they are taken out of the tins, and after the gas is turned out they are restored to the oven for 10 minutes to dry. They are then ready for use, and can be eaten as soon as they are cold. They will be found to be easily digestible even by invalids or persons of weak digestion.
The process has been seen and approved of by Dr. Charles, lecturer at St. Thomas’s Hospital, who moreover stated at his lectures on Food and Digestion, recently delivered at Westminster Town Hall, that it was a process which would produce good and thoroughly digestible bread. It is only by the use of gas that such a process of gradually heating the oven can be carried out, but the simple method here described enables every housekeeper, by the aid of gas, to produce bread and pastry which will be light and thoroughly digestible. The cost of gas to bake eight 1¼ lb. loaves is under ¾d.
For some time past, the baking of bread by this process has been carried on in the window of Sugg’s show-room, Grand Hotel Buildings, Charing Cross. The dough is prepared by young girls at the Works in Regency Street, and then baked in a “Westminster” oven, fitted with a glass door, so that the bread is visible during the whole time of baking. The loaves weigh 1¼ lb. each when put into the oven, and only slightly less when taken out perfectly cooked.
The Kitchen: Ranges. Continued from p. [235].
Even in the best appointed kitchen the problem will often arise, how to obtain on the instant a small quantity of fresh boiling water. Many inventions have been devised to meet this constantly recurring want, such as quick-boiling kettles with ingeniously constructed bottoms, and powerful gas burners arranged to concentrate a large amount of flame upon the ingenious kettle-bottoms. But usually it is found in practice, that, no matter with what waste of gas, it is several minutes before even so small a quantity of water as is needed to make a cup of tea can be raised from cold to boiling. Hence it happens that tea and other things are frequently spoiled from being made either with water which has not boiled at all, or with water which boiled long before it was wanted. Many will therefore be glad to hear of a little instrument sold by Ewart and Son, of Euston Road, which they call the “Kitchen Geyser.” The water does not remain in the geyser, but merely flows through it and is boiled as it flows. At first lighting, a few seconds are lost in warming the copper of which the geyser is made. And so a single minute (not longer) has to be allowed before the stream of water actually reaches boiling point. It then flows at the rate of a pint per minute, so that it takes in all just two minutes to produce the first pint of boiling water. After this, however, the metal is kept hot by the minute flame which is left burning when the water is stopped. A second pint of boiling water can thus be had in a single minute whenever afterwards required, until the gas is finally turned off. The saving of time, fuel, and temper effected by this little instrument will be found to make it quite indispensable where it has once been tried.
