St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-11-14


right consistency, you know. Then. as
to the temperature of the oven. can
tell that by running my hand in. So
about the time of rising. That varies
with the temperature of the room. and
there can be no rule about it. We use
our judgment, and SO does any woman,
if she has any. There is no such thing
as baking by an exact rule any more
than there is about bringing up
family
is there any secret about your
Eureka and Vienna bread that you
can't give out?"
None at all. The Vienna bread is
mixed with sweet milk instead of water.
and that is all the difference. The
Eureka bread has apourd of lard and
pound and quarter of sugar to- every
$50 pounds of flour, and that, and the
facilities we have for high. even tenn
perature in baking. make all the diff
ference there is. We use a pound of
compressed yeast to $50 of -four in
setting the sponge. A great deal. of
course. depends on the yeast. If that
is not first class you may as well throw
up the sponge at once.
I'm making rolls, they are placed in
steam-box and made to rise twice as
fast The rolls are not weighed, but
guessed at. A man makes one in each
hand, and you may see him pick
piece off one, and add it to the other,
to get them about the same size. Our
brown bread we bake in pals for two
and one-half hours. It has corn.
graham, and rye flour in it. Rye bread
we raise with little salt-no yeast.
The Vienna and rye loaves are raised
in cloths, without pans. and are baked
right on the bottom of the oven.
A visit to the cake, pie, and turnover
department was not less interesting.
These viands are all made by hand
except that the eggs are beaten by
machine. Out Of one dough mixture as
q foundation half dozen different sorts
of cake may be made by the addition of
some slight ingredient. But the science
comes in knowing ''what kind of an
oven." as women say. to use for each
variety. The decorative material is
ordinary frosting. made out of pulvsr-
lied white sugar and eggs, with enough
acid. lemon. or cream of tartar to cut
the grain off the sugar. The frosting is
put into cloth or rubber bag and
squeezed out through a tube. just
as the paints with which plaques
and landscapes are evolved. There is an
endless variety of tubes through which
stars and garters and different styles of
posies and foliage are squeezed. The
finer work, however, such as the tracing
of vines, birds, and other elaborate
patterns, is done with minute tracing
tube, and gives room for real freehand
drawing rather than mechanical execu-
ton. The more elaborate solid pieces,
such as wedding bells, horseshoes, COO
ing doves. and palpitating hearts, which
surmount the most pretentious table
architecture are made of gum paste.
and are not edible, so the foreman of
the cake department said. They are
imported from Italy along with organ
grinding and macaroni.
what is the work Of an apprentice
at the bakers art?"
''Well. he begins by sweeping up the
floor. washing dishes. and doing odd
jobs of any sort. Then he dusts the
turnovers with powdered sugar. or beats
the eggs. or paints over the loaves be-
fore they 60 into the oven-anything
for which he is needed. If he is apt
and industrious he ought to know his
business pretty well in three or four
years; but it is tradein which there is
always something new to be learned,
and there is wonderful facility to be
gained in practice"
The cracker factory. which is an inn
mense business in itself, was yet to be
inspected. While the bread, cakes and
pies 60 to feed hungry Minneapolitans
only. the crackers are largely shipped
to supply outside demands
The process of cracker making was
found to be more mechanical and less
freehand than bread. pie or cake max
ing. Winter wheat is used exclusively.
Crackers made from spring sown wheat
are tough and springy. The cracker
sponge is set over night in an immense
trough. and is worked the next morn
ing through q patent screw mixer.
The dough comes out in round columns
about foot through, and is dumped
back two or three times until it is we'll
kneaded. Then it is sent down through
. chute in the floor to the platform,
from which it is fed in sections to three
rollers. one after another. The piece
is passed under each one several times,
and the rollers are 10 graded that the
dough gradually thins and lengthens
out as It proceeds. It finally passes
into what is called the FORM" which
the width of the strip of
dough. This strip is then started upon
q canvas revolving belt, over which is .
large revolving bush, which constantly
dusts flour upon it. Two or three feet
further on the dough comes under the
stamp, operated also by machinery. and
the crackers are given any one of the
dozens of shapes known to the trade
and families. II It is the usual square
soda cracker. there will be five in a row.
and the strip. of course. is endless as
long as the dough holds out. As they
emerge from under the stamp boy
stands ready with . sort of very thin
wooden shovel, without raised edges,
and with handle several feet long,
and with this instrument called .
peel" he takes OF . section about
three feet long. which he dexterously
dirts with a twist of the wrist into the
oven. or rather upon one of the inn
mense revolving iron shelves which are
contained in the oven. These shelves
are about three feet wide and fif-
fcon foot lorU and ono rnvOlutiOn