Chapter XI: 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.

(1) By using an acid with a carbonate.
(2) By yeast fermentation.
(3) By machinery.

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, a chemical action takes place, a gas is given off (carbon dioxide) and another substance is formed that is neutral, being neither acid nor alkaline, and known as a “salt.” In selecting the two substances we must bear in mind this neutral substance that remains in the batter and insure its harmlessness.

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 RECIPES

_A. 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, and hold a lighted match in the mouth of the tube. This is a simple test for carbon dioxide.

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._

Flour 1 pint
Milk 1 pint
Eggs 3
Salt 1/2 teaspoonful

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._

Flour 1 pint
Baking powder 3 teaspoonfuls
Salt 1/2 teaspoonful
Eggs 2 or 1
Milk 1-1/4 cup
Butter, _or_ butter substitute 1 tablespoonful
Sugar, if desired 1 tablespoonful

_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._

Flour 1 pint
Baking powder 3 teaspoonfuls
Salt 1/2 teaspoonful
Butter, _or_ butter substitute 1 or 2 tablespoonfuls
Milk 1 scant cup

_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._

Flour 2-1/2 cups
Salt 1/2 teaspoonful
Melted butter 2 tablespoonfuls
Sour milk 2 cups
Soda 1-1/4 teaspoonfuls
Egg 1

_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._

Flour 3 cups
Baking powder 4 teaspoonfuls
Salt 1 teaspoonful
Sugar 1/4 cup
Milk 2 cups
Egg 1
Melted butter 2 tablespoonfuls

_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._

Butter 1 cup
Sugar 1-1/2 cups
Eggs 2
Milk 3 tablespoonfuls
Flour about 3 cups
Baking powder 1 teaspoonful
Salt 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls

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.

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._

Butter 1/3 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Eggs 2
Milk 2/3 cup
Flour 1-3/4 cup
Baking powder 2-1/2 teaspoonfuls
Salt 1/4 teaspoonful

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.

=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._

Eggs 2
Sugar 1 cup
Hot water _or_ Milk 3/8 cup
Flour 1 cup
Baking powder 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls
Salt 1/4 teaspoonful
Lemon _or_ 1/4 teaspoonful
Vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoonful

_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._

Molasses 1 cup
Boiling water 1/2 cup
Flour 2-1/2 cups
Soda 1 teaspoonful
Ginger 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls
Salt 1/2 teaspoonful
Butter 4 tablespoonfuls

_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.

=11. Foundation recipes for pastry.=

1. Proportions.

(1) _Plain crust._

This crust is more digestible and more economical than the “short”
or rich crust and may be used for English deep apple pie, or meat
or chicken pies.

Flour 2 cups
Baking powder 2 teaspoonfuls
Salt 1/2 teaspoonful
Fat (butter or lard, or
half of each) 1/2 cup (measured solid)
Ice water 1/4 cup

(2) _Short crust._

Flour 2 cups
Salt 1/2 teaspoonful
Fat (equal parts butter
and lard) 2/3 cup
Ice water 1/2 cup

(3) _Rich flaky crust._

Same as (2) (more fat is to be added later)

2. Method of mixing for all.

Have all the ingredients and utensils icy cold. Mix the dry
ingredients and cut in the fat with two knives. Stir in the ice
water until the dough will just hold together. Toss upon a floured
board and roll to 1/4 inch or less in thickness. Roll this up. If
not ready to be used, this pie crust may be covered with moist
cheesecloth and put on the ice until wanted. This amount of crust
will make two medium-sized pies with two crusts each.

3. Method of shaping.

_For plain crust._——Cut off 1/2 of the roll of crust. Roll out to
about 1/8 inch thickness. Have a deep dish ready containing either
the apple or meat fillings (see recipes below) and with the edge
of dish buttered. Invert a small cup in the center of the dish to
hold up the crust if apples are used. Lay the rolled-out crust
over the top, having rolled it a little larger than the dish. Turn
under the edges of the crust and crimp them down on the dish. Make
several small cuts in the top of the crust to let the steam
escape. Bake in a moderate oven until the filling (if apples) is
cooked and the crust brown.

_For short crust._——Cut off 1/4 of the roll of crust and roll very
thin, keeping the shape round. Line a buttered pie plate with the
crust. Fill this with the desired filling, moisten the edge of
bottom crust with water, and cover with another round of crust
rolled as before. Crimp down the edges of the top crust and make
cuts in the top as before. Bake until the filling is cooked and
the crust is brown.

_For rich crust._——Roll the crust to 1/2 inch thickness. Have
ready 1/3 cup ice-cold fat. Cut off small bits of this and spread
it in dabs over the rolled-out crust. Roll this again and then
proceed as for the “short” crust (2).

=12. Apple pie filling.=

Use juicy, tart apples. Pare, cut in quarters, core, and slice
apples into pie dish, filling it heaping full. Add 1/4 cup water
and 1/2 cup sugar. Any flavor desired may be used, lemon rind, or
spices. A little butter gives an agreeable flavor.

=13. Lemon pie filling.=

_Ingredients._

1 heaping tablespoonful cornstarch {1 egg whole, or
mixed with {yolks of 2 eggs
A little cold water Juice and rind of 1 lemon
Large cup hot water A very little salt
Piece butter the size of walnut Whites of 2 eggs
1 cup sugar Powdered sugar, 1 tablespoonful

_Method._

Mix the starch with the cold water, add the boiling water and cook
until it thickens, and add the butter and sugar. Beat the egg (or
yolks) and add the other ingredients. Add the lemon last. When the
pie is done, if two yolks were used, beat the whites with a
tablespoonful of powdered sugar, place on the top, and brown in a
moderate oven.

=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?

EXERCISES

1. 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?