Crumpets.—(No. 103.)
The same: instead of making the mixture into dough, add only sufficient flour to make a thick batter, and when it has stood a quarter of an hour it will be ready to bake.
Muffins and crumpets bake best on a stove with an iron plate fixed on the top; but they will also bake in a frying-pan, taking care the fire is not too fierce, and turning them when lightly browned.
Yorkshire Cakes.—(No. 104.)
Take a pint and a half of milk quite warm, and a quarter of a pint of thick small-beer yest; mix them well together in a pan with sufficient flour to make a thick batter; let it stand in a warm place covered over until it has risen as high as it will; rub six ounces of butter into some flour till it is quite fine; then break three eggs into your pan with the flour and butter; mix them well together; then add sufficient flour to make it into a dough, and let it stand a quarter of an hour; then work it up-again, and break it into pieces about the size of an egg, or larger, as you may fancy; roll them round and smooth with your hand, and put them on tins, and let them stand covered over with a light piece of flannel.
[376-*] The goodness of a cake or biscuit depends much on its being well baked; great attention should be paid to the different degrees of heat of the oven: be sure to have it of a good sound heat at first, when, after its being well cleaned out, may be baked such articles as require a hot oven, after which such as are directed to be baked in a well-heated or moderate oven; and, lastly, those in a slow soaking or cool one. With a little care the above degrees may soon be known.
In making butter cakes, such as Nos. [55], [57], or [61], too much attention cannot be paid to have the butter well creamed; for should it be made too warm, it would, cause the mixture to be the same, and when put to bake, the fruit, sweetmeats, &c. would, in that event, fall to the bottom.
Yest cakes should be well proved before put into the oven, as they will prove but little afterward.
In making biscuits and cakes where butter is not used, the different utensils should be kept free from all kinds of grease, or it is next to impossible to have good ones.
In buttering the insides of cake-moulds, the butter should be nicely clarified, and when nearly cold, laid on quite smooth, with a small brush kept for that purpose.