Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-10-05
HINTS ABOUT BAKING.


The most difficult of the young
housewives duties is that of baking.
Food prepared in the best manner, may
he ruined by a fire which is either too
hot or too slow during any part OF the
process. ,
There are countless recipes for the
preparation of food but very little IN
xtruction as to the manner OF baking 1t.
Each one must learn by experience, and
there are more provoking failures IN
that direction than any other; and
some. although they learn the facts,
never learn the why's and whereforcs OF
success. q"
used to think that to bake anything
well. the oven must be as hot as 1t could
be without burning the article to be
baked. all the time ii was baking. This
isnot the. case, with anything except
crackers and cookies.
For biscuits, the oven should be
equally hot when they are put in but
should begin to cool little before they
are taken out; this makes them very
light. but one has to watch to keep
them from being scorched; eight min
utes are enough to bake them; if baked
with such fire as that required for
bread they are heavy. :.
For gems made of Graham flour and
water. or corn bread, the oven should
be very hot, but the fire should have
been built some time before they are
nut in, and begin to go down. by the
time they are light, for if the oven re-
mains as hot as was necessary to make
them rise they will burn before they are
thoroughly cooked through.
Bread requires much slower fire,
but it should be even and steady from
first to last.
Cake requires still slower fire than
bread, but it must not be too slow or
the cake will not be thoroughly cooked
through, and will fall when taken from
the oven. If the fire is too hot at first,
it will crust over before it is light, and
burst through the crust and rise rough
and homely. If the cake is large, some
nails or other bits of iron should be
placed under it, and paper spread
over it, else it will scorch before it is
cooked. through. Any kind of bread or
pastry mixed with water requires hot
ter fire than if mixed with milk.
Fruit pies require hotter fire than
bread, but steady from first to last; if
too hot at first the crust will cook be-
fore the fruit does; if too slow, toward
:, the Inst the crust will dry up before the
fruit is done; if too hot, toward the last
the fruit will stew out before the crust
is done. Pumpkin pies require a fire
as hot as can be without burning the
1 crust. sa a ,,5.,i.t a4 4yt711 +
Custards require slow fire, else they
will boil and whey out before they are
done. But buildings require a hot fire,
particularly Indian pudding, for they
are all the better for being wheyed
out. $50 Hi MAJ -. (
In baking meat pies always leave q
hole in the top crust, else poisonous
gas viii collect in it. Z. 7 1sl. u,
For baking meats the fire should
never be hot enough to burn the grease
pork or chickens require hotter fire
than beef. :
We talk about hot, quick, and slow
ovens, but it takes very long expert.
ence to enable one to tell by feeling OF
any other practical manner, Just how
hot an oven is, until we see its effect
on the articles cooked, and then. it il
too late. and it is impossible to com
municate to any one else the precise
temperature which is represented by
our ideas of hot, quick, etc. gioJ +
It is matter of guess work after all.
In fact our whole system of cooking il
more or less a patched up system Of
guees-work. = We have rules and re.
cipes for rich cakes and puddings,. but
bread ofall varieties, pies, butter, etc.
are made by guess. And even in those
recipes which we have, the ingredients
are, measured in all manner Of vessels,
and no two persons understand alike
the terms which designate the quaint
-.ties..er,...-.-e- s-,s-r s,rr,--..r r. !
One Of our friends has stove with
glass oven doors. Why could not thers
mcmeters also beAttaehed to themP
hope to see the time when cooking
shah become science; when we shall
not only measure the heat of our ovens
with thermometers, and know the pre-
else temperature Of which they should
be for each variety baking therein. but
shall also know the temperatare at
which our yeast and bread-sponge and
cream should be kept; when we shall
prepare all articles Of food by. correct
recipes, and measure all ingredients in
exact and standard measures. which
ehail he alike all over the country. so
mat mistakes can only occur when we
faal TO follow the rules.-Mr. r. r.
Hastings n Prairie Farmer. 7
e@ ---------->-~>---- x =
DHT ron D1A1ADGA Roast some rice
q you would coffee; then grind it in D
conss mill; then dissolve two ounces of
gnm Arahic "a one, pint of hot water:
wnen dissolved put it in ) 3eacup of
No.. and LET it bril- twenty minutes. or
unM y p the consistency Of mush. II
700 thick, IS yon use it, thin it with hot
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