  MUFFINS, BISCUIT, CAKE, AND PASTRY Wheat flour is the important material in this group, but muffins and biscuit may be varied by the use of corn meal, rye, and Graham flour, and cooked cereals may also be utilized. The ingredients are flour, salt, a liquid, sometimes a fat, eggs, and sugar. The flavorings are spices, essences, fruit juice, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate. The mixture must be smooth, but it is also necessary to make it porous or “light.” This is accomplished by means of leavening agents, “to leaven” meaning “to make light.” Leavening agents.—The batter, or dough, is leavened by introducing into it air or a gas that expands when heated in the oven, thus making the whole more porous and larger in bulk. Air.—This is introduced into the batter by beating, or by beating air into the white of egg and stirring the beaten white into the batter. Steam.—The water in the batter turns to steam in the oven, and as it expands it assists in the leavening of the mass. See Popovers. Carbon dioxide gas.—This is introduced in three ways.
Yeast fermentation is studied in the chapter on bread making (Chapter XII), and the mechanical method is a commercial process exclusively. Only the first method will be treated in this chapter. When an acid and any alkaline carbonate are dissolved together, The lactic acid of sour milk is probably the earliest used, being a domestic product. The lactic acid is neutralized by bicarbonate of sodium, the latter being also called “baking soda.” The resulting salt is harmless. Acid molasses with soda is another old-fashioned method. Here the acid is developed by the fermentation of the molasses. Cream of tartar (acid potassium tartrate), obtained from crystals deposited in wine vats, came into use later, neutralized by bicarbonate of soda, two parts of cream of tartar to one of soda. Baking powder.—The first baking powders were made of cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda, mixed with a starch, to prevent the slight chemical action which would cause the powder to lose strength; and these two substances are now used in the best baking powders. The resulting salt is the Rochelle salt of medicine. An acid phosphate is sometimes used with soda, and this gives a harmless neutral substance. Cheaper acids have sometimes been used, especially alum. It is best not to use an alum powder. Select a standard kind, avoiding those that offer prizes for a certain number of boxes purchased. Even if these latter do not contain alum, there is probably an excess of starch or flour. The advantage of baking powder is in the accuracy of the proportions of the two substances by weight. Even though the measuring of the cream of tartar and soda separately is accurate, the proportions may not be correct. There is no great advantage in homemade baking powder. It costs almost as much as the manufactured, and is not as perfect a product. The proportions of the main ingredients.—Attempts are made to define the degrees of stiffness of batters and doughs, but these distinctions are not very accurate. A “pour batter” is liquid enough to pour, and a “dough batter” soft enough to drop from a spoon; a “soft dough” is next in grade, and “dough” is the stiffest of all. To understand proportioning the ingredients, the nature of the ingredients when heated must be taken into account. Butter and other fats melt when heated, and behave like a liquid in the mixture. Therefore, when there is a very large amount of butter, no other wetting is necessary, as in pound cake. We may make a scale, with a thin popover mixture at one extreme, with no butter in it, and the stiff pound cake at the other, with butter the only liquid (except the flavoring). Between these two are the mixtures of medium stiffness, with both butter and liquid. This general rule may be given: As the quantity of butter is increased, the batter must increase in stiffness, and there must be either less liquid or more flour. A beaten egg looks like a liquid and behaves so during the mixing, but in the oven it stiffens. For this reason we can make a sponge cake with many eggs and no liquid in the mixing, and use no other leavening agent than the air beaten into the egg. One old-fashioned rule for sponge cake reads: Take the weight of the eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour, with the juice and rind of a lemon for ten eggs. Such a rule was adapted to the days when eggs were cheap. We should now use fewer eggs in sponge cake, and this means that water and baking powder must replace the eggs omitted. Methods of mixing.—(1) For popovers, griddlecakes, muffins, and plain cake. Sift together the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs, without separating the yolk and white, and stir the eggs and milk together. Pour the liquid gradually into the flour, first stirring, then beating. Melt the butter or other shortening, and beat it into the batter. (2) Biscuits and shortcakes. Sift together the dry ingredients. Cut in or chop in the butter. Add the wetting slowly. (3) A richer, fine-grained butter cake. Sift together the dry ingredients. Cream the butter, and beat in the sugar. Beat the whites and yolks of the eggs separately. Beat the yolks into the creamed butter and sugar. Add the flour and milk alternately; that is, a quarter or third of the flour, then a portion of the milk, and so on. First stir, then beat vigorously. Fold in the beaten whites lightly and do not beat the mixture again. (4) Sponge cake. If baking powder is used, sift with the flour. Beat the whites and yolks of the eggs separately. Beat the sugar into the yolks, and add the liquid and flavoring. Add the flour and beaten whites in alternate portions, dividing both into quarters or thirds. Baking.—This is a science and an art that requires much practice. Do not be discouraged if you do not succeed at first. Concerning the utensils for baking, see Chapter II. The cups or pans are prepared by warming and greasing. Use a bit of soft paper or a brush for greasing the pan and ordinarily an inexpensive fat, reserving butter for delicate cake. Flour sprinkled on a pan is sufficient for biscuit and cookies. Line a pan for loaf cake with white paper, and grease the paper. See that the oven is ready before the mixing begins. We shall not be able to bake accurately until our ovens are equipped with thermometers. In the meantime we must use some simple oven test. The indicators on the doors of some ovens are a guide, although they are not really accurate according to the scale of the thermometer. A glass door is also a convenience. A loaf should be baked at a lower temperature than a biscuit or muffin. Why? For loaves, 380° F. Test by the hand, counting fifteen slowly, fifteen seconds. A piece of white paper will become a delicate brown in five minutes. For biscuits, muffins, and small cakes, 425° to 450° F.—Test by the hand, a count of ten. A piece of paper becomes a deeper golden brown in five minutes. Any mixture containing baking powder may stand some little time before it is put in the oven, provided it is kept cold. The action of the baking powder is not immediate, and is very slight at a low temperature. The stages of the baking are first, the rising; second, the crusting over; third, the baking of the interior; and last, a shrinkage of the whole. Many ovens bake unevenly, and pans must be shifted. This should be done with care and not before the third stage of the baking. It is often well to cool off the oven the latter part of the time. An oven that is too hot may be cooled by a pan of water. Paper may be laid over the top of the cake if the browning has been too rapid. These are all makeshifts, and indicate a poor oven, or poor management of the fire. Do not look into the oven for the first ten minutes of baking, and always close the oven door gently. When we are privileged to have electric ovens, with glass doors, and an accurate thermometer, baking will be an easy and accurate process. EXPERIMENTS AND RECIPESA. Experiments with baking powder. 1. Dissolve half a teaspoonful of baking powder in two tablespoonfuls of water and heat in a test tube, or saucepan, over a flame; notice the effervescence when the bubbling is at its height, 2. Dissolve 2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar in 1/2 cup water in a glass. Dissolve 1 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda in 1/2 cup water in a glass. Taste both of these. Test both with litmus paper, noting the change of color. There are several vegetable coloring matters that change color in this way, in the presence of an acid or an alkaline substance. Turn the two solutions together, and test with both blue and pink litmus paper, after the solution has stood for several minutes. What results? Taste this mixed solution to see if you can detect any difference. To prove that there is a substance still left, evaporate the water. 3. A pretty form of this experiment is to use, instead of litmus, the water in which red cabbage has previously been boiled and which therefore contains some of the coloring matter of the cabbage. The changes in color are very striking, and prove conclusively that neither the cream of tartar nor the soda remains such. B. Oven experiments. If one oven in the school kitchen can be equipped with a chemical thermometer inserted in the oven, the following experiments are helpful. 1. Let each pupil test the oven by feeling, when it has reached 380° F., 400° F., 425° F., 450° F., 475° F.-500° F. 2. Place pieces of white paper, one for each pupil, in the oven for five minutes at the various temperatures. These may be pasted in the notebook for future reference. 1. Popovers, puffovers, or mahogany cakes. Ingredients for 12.
Some rules give two eggs only. For baking, heavy earthen cups, hot and greased. Method of mixing is No. 1. Special points.—The liquid must be poured very slowly into the flour to prevent lumping. A large Dover egg beater is convenient for beating out lumps, if any occur. The leavening of the popover is effected by steam, and it is not necessary therefore to spend time and strength in the long beating sometimes recommended. This has been conclusively proved by experiment. Neither is it necessary to put the batter into the oven immediately, as sometimes directed. It may stand all day or even over night. Pour the batter in the hot cups, having each cup two thirds full. The baking of the popovers is unique, in that they should be put into an intensely hot oven for the first stage of the baking—as hot as 475° F., or even more—then the oven must be cooled. This first stage crusts the top; then the expansive force of the steam pushes up the top; and the muffin “pops” or “puffs” over. The more moderate heat cooks the sides and the bottom, and makes an agreeable crust. The perfect puffover is hollow. Three quarters of an hour is the average time of baking. If at the end of that time the oven door is set ajar, and the popovers allowed to remain longer, they are improved, coming from the oven stiff and crisp with a rich brown color, rather than soft and underdone. In an old family cookbook, one recipe, sixty years old, calls popovers “Mahogany Cakes.” They may be eaten as a muffin, or served with a pudding sauce as a dessert. 2. Plain muffins. Ingredients for 12.
For baking, greased muffin pan. Bake about half an hour. Method of mixing is No. 1. This recipe may be varied in many ways. (a) Use 1/2 cup cooked cereal in place of an equal quantity of flour. Will you change the amount of wetting? (b) One cup fine white corn meal, or 1/2 cup yellow meal in place of equal quantities of flour. Corn meal absorbs more water than white flour. What change in the wetting? The oven should be the temperature for bread, and the baking at least 3/4 of an hour. (c) One cup Graham or rye meal in place of an equal quantity of flour. 3. Baking-powder biscuit. Ingredients.
For shaping, molding board, rolling pin, and biscuit cutter. For baking, an iron sheet or pan sprinkled with flour. Oven about 425° F., a ten-second test, or golden brown paper. Bake twenty minutes to half an hour. Method of mixing is No. 2. To shape. Dust the board with flour, turn out the dough, dredge with flour, pat into a firm mass, and then pat or lightly roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out with a cutter dipped in flour. (A small glass or the top of a round tin can may be used.) Variations.—Add 1 egg. This makes a delicious biscuit. Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar, and spice. Dried currants washed, and dredged with flour, may be laid on the top. Increase the butter to two or three tablespoonfuls, and decrease the wetting and the mixture becomes shortcake. This is the mixture to use for the true strawberry shortcake. Many other fruits may be used, both uncooked and cooked. 4. Sour milk griddlecakes. Ingredients.
Method.—Mix dry ingredients. Add sour milk, egg well beaten, and melted butter in order given. Beat thoroughly. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased griddle and let cook until the edges are cooked and the cake full of bubbles. Turn with a cake turner or spatula knife and cook on the other side. Serve with butter and sirup or scraped maple sugar. 5. Sweet milk griddlecakes. Ingredients.
Method.—Mix dry ingredients. Beat egg and mix with it the milk. Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir altogether until smooth. Add the melted butter and cook the cakes the same as with sour milk griddlecakes. 6. Cookies.—Cookies may be plain, or rich in butter; crisp and thin, or soft and thick. They may be sweetened with sugar, or molasses, and spiced in various ways. It would be an interesting exercise to tabulate all the possible forms of cookies. Ingredients.
The flavoring may be two teaspoonfuls of vanilla, or lemon essence, one or two tablespoonfuls of ground spice, or caraway seeds. For baking, a floured iron sheet or flat pan. Temperature 425° F., or even more. The baking requires from 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cooky. Fig. 49.—Materials and utensils for fancy cookies. Courtesy of Miss Anna M. Barrows. The method of mixing is No. 3. Notice that this is a stiff dough. The amount of flour depends somewhat upon the expertness of the cooky maker. The flour used in rolling out must be accounted for, as the expert can manage a softer dough than the novice. Mix the baking powder and salt with one cup of the flour. Shaping the cookies.—Figure 49 shows you the apparatus. The dough is turned out upon the floured board, gently rolled out to a quarter of an inch, cut and placed in a floured pan; or cut off a small piece, roll in the flour, until it forms a ball, set the ball in the pan, and pat it down to a round. This may seem to take longer, but it is easier, and there is no board to clean afterward. A plainer cooky is made with 1/2 cup butter, and 1/2 cup water or milk, with somewhat more flour. 7. Butter cake.—A foundation recipe. Learn to make one cake well, and vary it by changing the forms and flavors. Ingredients.
The flavoring may be 1 teaspoonful of vanilla or lemon essence, or 1/2 teaspoonful of almond, or two teaspoonfuls of spices. Raisins, 1/2 cup, citron 1/4 lb., nuts, 1/2 cup. The rind of 1/2 orange is delicious with the vanilla flavor. With the vanilla use 4 tablespoonfuls of cocoa, for a chocolate flavor. To make a plainer cake, omit one egg, use 1/4 cup butter, and 3/4 cup of milk. If you use 1/2 cup butter, making a richer cake, what other changes should be made? Bake in deep or shallow pan, jelly cake tins, or small tin cups. The mixing is Method 3. As layer cake, it may be used with a variety of fillings and icings,—jelly, cream filling, soft icing with nuts, raisins, or dates. A chocolate filling.—One half cup milk, 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup of sugar, yolk of one egg, 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract. Break up the chocolate, melt it in a bowl over hot water or in a double boiler, with the sugar and the milk. When the mixture is smooth add the beaten yolk, cook for one or two minutes, add the vanilla, and remove from the fire. Fig. 50.—A loaf of sponge cake. Courtesy of Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College. 8. Sponge cake.—The old-time sponge cake is given on page 173. Sponge cakes should be baked in a very moderate oven, below 380° F., the bread temperature. (See Fig. 50.) 9. Hot water sponge cake. Ingredients.
Method.—Separate eggs and beat yolks and whites thoroughly. Mix and sift the dry ingredients. Add the sugar gradually to beaten yolks alternately with water until well blended. Next add the flavoring and then fold in the stiffly beaten whites together with the dry ingredients until blended. Bake in a buttered shallow pan in a moderate oven for twenty-five minutes or until cake shrinks from the side of the pan. 10. Plain gingerbread. Ingredients.
Method.—Melt butter in boiling water. Mix dry ingredients. Add the molasses to the water and butter and stir this mixture into the dry ingredients, beating vigorously. Pour into a buttered shallow pan and bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven. If the molasses is taken from a freshly opened can, no acid will be present and the soda should be omitted and 3 teaspoonfuls of baking powder used instead. Laboratory management.—Effective work in batters cannot be accomplished with less than 1/2 cup liquid, though a smaller portion is sometimes used. It is well to have some group work, so that the pupils may learn to beat larger quantities. If there is a school lunch room, large quantities may be utilized there. Pastry.—Pastry is a stiff dough with a large proportion of shortening, and is flaky when baked rather than porous. Pastry and pies should not be used as a staple food, but when well made and properly masticated, pies may be eaten occasionally by people in good health. The crust should be flaky, and thoroughly baked. 14. Meat or chicken pie. Use left-over, cooked meat. Cut the meat into dice or small bits and fill the dish. Sprinkle with salt and moisten with gravy, if possible. If not, add 1 cup hot water and dredge lightly with flour. Have top crust only. How would the time for cooking this pie compare with that for deep apple pie? EXERCISES1. What are the chief ingredients of batter mixtures and doughs? 2. Explain leavening by air. 3. Why is steam a leavening agent? 4. How is gas formed for leavening purposes? 5. How does the presence of butter or other fat affect the stiffness of a mixture? 6. What are the important points to remember in mixing ingredients? 7. Why are baking-powder biscuits mixed differently from popovers? 8. What are the most practical oven tests? 9. Why is a loaf cake baked longer than cookies? 10. How many muffins, average size, can be made from a pint of flour? 11. Compare the cost of homemade cake with bakers’ cake. 12. What are the advantages of the homemade over the bakers’, or the bakers’ over the homemade? |
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