path: root/53627-0.txt

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 53627 ***

                        THE
              BREAD AND BISCUIT BAKER’S
                        AND
              SUGAR-BOILER’S ASSISTANT


     Including a large variety of Modern Recipes

                        FOR

  _BREAD -- TEA CAKES -- HARD AND FANCY BISCUITS --
   BUNS -- GINGERBREADS -- SHORTBREADS -- PASTRY --
     CUSTARDS -- FRUIT CAKES -- SMALL GOODS FOR
      SMALL MASTERS -- CONFECTIONS IN SUGAR --
        LOZENGES -- ICE CREAMS -- PRESERVING
          FRUIT -- CHOCOLATE, ETC., ETC._


                 WITH REMARKS ON
             THE ART OF BREAD-MAKING
                        AND
       CHEMISTRY AS APPLIED TO BREAD-MAKING


                        BY
                   ROBERT WELLS

  PRACTICAL BAKER, CONFECTIONER, AND PASTRYCOOK, SCARBOROUGH


        Second Edition, with Additional Recipes.


[Illustration: Capio Lumen]


                    LONDON
            CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND SON
    7, STATIONERS’ HALL COURT, LUDGATE HILL
                     1890
           [_All rights reserved._]




PREFACE.


In submitting the following pages for public approval, the Author hopes
that the work may prove acceptable and useful to the Baking Trade as a
Book of Instruction for Learners, and for daily reference in the Shop
and Bakehouse; and having exercised great care in its compilation, he
believes that in all its details it will be found a trustworthy guide.

From his own experience in the Baker’s business, he is satisfied that
a book of this kind, embodying in a handy form the accumulated results
of the work of practical men, is really wanted; and as in the choice
of Recipes he has been guided by an intimate acquaintance with the
requirements of the trade, and as every recipe here given has been
tested by actual and successful use, he trusts that the labour which he
has bestowed upon the preparation of the work may be rewarded by its
wide acceptance by his brethren in the trade.

The work being divided into sections, as shown in the Contents, and
a full Index having been added, reference can readily be made, as
occasion may arise, either to a class of goods, or to a particular
recipe.

Any suggestions for the improvement of the work, which the experience
of others may lead them to propose, will, if communicated to the
Author, be gratefully esteemed and carefully dealt with in future
editions.

  SCARBOROUGH,
    _October, 1888_.


ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.

It is very gratifying to both Author and Publishers that this little
book has been so favourably received by the Baking Trade and the public
that a second edition is required within a few months of the first
issue of the work.

The opportunity has been taken to insert some additional recipes for
the whole-meal and other breads which of late have been so frequently
recommended as substitutes for the white bread in established use,
together with some remarks on the subject by Professors Jago and
Graham; and a few corrections in the text (the necessity for which
escaped notice when the work was first in the press) have also been
made.

  _August, 1889._




CONTENTS.


  BREAD AND BISCUIT BAKING, ETC.

                                                               PAGE
  I.--INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
         Slow Process in the Art of Bread-making                  1
         Need of Technical Training                               1
         Chemistry as applied to Bread-making                     2
         Process of Fermentation                                  4
         Liebig on the Process of Bread-making                    5
         Professors Jago and Graham on Brown Bread             7, 8


  II.--GENERAL REMARKS ON BAKING.
         Baking and its several Branches                         10
         Essentials of good Bread-making                         10
         German Yeast and Parisian Barm                          11
         Recipe for American Patent Yeast                        12
         Judging between good and bad Flour                      13
         Liebig on the Action of Alum in Bread                   13
         Professor Vaughan on Adulteration with Alum             13
         Importance of good Butter to the Pastrycook             13


  III.--BREAD, TEA CAKES, BUNS, ETC.
         1. To make Home-made Bread                              17
         2. Bread-making by the Old Method                       17
         3. Modern Way of making Bread                           18
         4. Scotch Style of making Bread                         19
         5. Home-made Whole Meal Bread                           20
         6. Whole Meal Bread for Master Bakers                   21
         7. Unfermented or Diet Bread                            21
         8. Rye Bread                                            22
         9. Coarse Bread                                         22
        10. Germ Flour Bread                                     23
        11. Tea Cakes                                            24
        12. Queen’s Bread                                        24
        13. Sally Luns, Yorkshire, or Tea Cakes                  24
        14. Muffins                                              25
        15.   Another Way                                        25
        16. Crumpets                                             26
        17. Oatmeal Cake                                         27
        18. Bath Buns                                            27
        19.   Another Way                                        27
        20. Hot Cross Buns                                       28
        21. Chelsea Buns                                         28
        22. Balmoral Cakes                                       29
        23. Balloon or Prussian Cakes                            29
        24. Saffron Buns                                         29
        25. Cinnamon Buns                                        30
        26. Jubilee Buns                                         30
        27. German Buns                                          30
        28. Common German Buns (for wholesale purposes)          30
        29. London Buns                                          30
        30. Penny Queen Cakes                                    31
        31. Patent Flour                                         31
        32. Penny Rice Cakes                                     31
        33. Cocoanut Cakes                                       31
        34. Albert Cakes                                         31


  IV.--GINGERBREAD, PARKINGS, SHORTBREAD, ETC.
        35. Queen’s Gingerbread                                  32
        36. German Gingerbread                                   32
        37. Spiced Gingerbread                                   32
        38. Scarborough Gingerbread (for wholesale purposes)     33
        39. Ginger Cakes                                         33
        40. Prepared Treacle                                     33
        41. Prepared Treacle for Thick Gingerbread               33
        42. Laughing or Fun Nuts                                 34
        43. Grantham or White Gingerbread                        34
        44. Spice Nuts                                           34
        45.   Another Way                                        34
        46.   Another Way                                        34
        47. Light Gingerbread                                    34
        48. Italian Jumbles, or Brandy Snaps                     35
        49. Halfpenny Gingerbread Squares                        35
        50. Hunting Nuts                                         36
        51. Parkings                                             36
        52.   Another Way                                        36
        53. Parking Cake                                         36
        54. Scotch Shortbread                                    36
        55. English Shortbread                                   37
        56. French Shortbread                                    37


  V.--HARD BISCUITS.
        57. Machine-made Biscuits                                38
        58. Ship Biscuits                                        38
        59. Captains’ Biscuits                                   39
        60. Thick Captains                                       39
        61. Abernethy Biscuits (Dr. Abernethy’s original recipe) 39
        62. Abernethys as made in London                         40
        63. Usual Way of making Abernethy Biscuits               40
        64. Wine Biscuits                                        40
        65. Soda Biscuits                                        40
        66. Boston Lemon Crackers                                41
        67. Pic-Nics                                             41
        68. Common Pic-Nics                                      41
        69. Luncheon Biscuits                                    41
        70. Digestive Biscuits                                   41
        71.   Another Way                                        42
        72. Small Arrowroot Biscuits                             42
        73. Coffee Biscuits                                      42
        74. Victoria Biscuits                                    42
        75. Shell Biscuits                                       43
        76. York Biscuits                                        43
        77. Machine Biscuits                                     43
        78. Bath Oliver Biscuits                                 43
        79. Edinburgh Biscuits                                   43
        80. Nursery Biscuits                                     44
        81. Soda Biscuits                                        44


  VI.--FANCY BISCUITS, ALMONDS, ETC.
        82. Digestive Biscuits                                   45
        83. Kent Biscuits                                        45
        84. Imperial or Lemon Biscuits                           45
        85. Venice Biscuits                                      46
        86. Shrewsbury Biscuits                                  46
        87.   Another Way                                        46
        88.   Another Way                                        46
        89. Peruvian Biscuits                                    47
        90. Currant Fruit Biscuits                               47
        91. Snowdrop Biscuits                                    47
        92. Rice Biscuits                                        47
        93. Genoa and Toulouse Biscuits, Exhibition Nuts, and
              Marseillaise Biscuits                              47
        94. Walnut Biscuits                                      48
        95. Queen’s Drops                                        48
        96. Cracknel Biscuits                                    48
        97. Premium Drops                                        49
        98. German Wafers                                        49
        99. Crimp, or Honeycomb Biscuits                         49
       100. Hermit Biscuits                                      50
       101. Italian Macaroons                                    50
       102. Common Macaroons                                     50
       103. French Macaroons                                     51
       104. Ratafias                                             51
       105. Princess Biscuits                                    51
       106. Rusks                                                51
       107. Rock Almonds (White)                                 52
       108. Rock Almonds (Pink)                                  52
       109. Rock Almonds (Brown)                                 52
       110. Almond Fruit Biscuits                                52
       111. Meringues                                            53
       112.   Another Way                                        53
       113. Common Drop Biscuits                                 54
       114. Savoy Biscuits                                       54
       115. French Savoy Biscuits                                54
       116. Judges’ Biscuits                                     54
       117. Lord Mayor’s Biscuits                                54
       118. Fruit Biscuits                                       54
       119. Palais-Royal Biscuits                                55
       120. Rice Biscuits                                        55
       121. Scarborough Water Cakes                              56
       122. Sponge Biscuits                                      56
       123. Almond Sponge Biscuits                               56
       124. Naples Biscuits                                      56


  VII.--PASTRY, CUSTARDS, ETC.
       125. Butter for Puff Paste                                57
       126. Puff Paste                                           57
       127.   Another Way                                        57
       128. Crisp Tart Paste                                     58
       129. Sweet Tart Paste                                     58
       130. Paste for a Baked Custard                            58
       131. Paste for small Raised Pies                          58
       132. To make a handsome Tartlet                           58
       133. Nelson Cake or Eccles Cake                           58
       134. To make a Custard                                    59
       135. Common Custard                                       59


  VIII.--FRUIT CAKES, BRIDE CAKES, ETC.
       136. Directions for mixing Cakes made with Butter         60
       137.   Another Way                                        60
       138. London Way of mixing Cakes                           60
       139.   Another Way of mixing Cakes                        61
       140. Citron Cake                                          61
       141. Common Fruit Cake                                    61
       142. Pound Cakes                                          61
       143. Seed Cakes                                           61
       144. Two and Three Pound Cakes                            62
       145. Another Seed Cake                                    62
       146. Four and Six Pound Cakes                             62
       147. Bride Cakes                                          62
       148. Icing Sugar for Bride Cakes, &c.                     63
       149. Almond Icing for Bride Cakes                         63
       150. Wedding Cake                                         63
       151. Rich Twelfth Cake                                    64
       152. Madeira Cakes                                        64
       153. Plum Cake (as made for the best shops in Edinburgh)  64
       154. Genoa Cake                                           64
       155. Rice Cake (Scotch Mixture)                           64
       156. Madeira Cake (Scotch Mixture)                        64
       157. Pond Cake or Dundee Cake                             65
       158. Silver Cake                                          65
       159. Gold Cake                                            65
       160. Plum Cake at 6d. per lb. (as sold by Grocers)        65
       161.   Another Way                                        65
       162.   Another Way                                        65
       163. Mystery, or Cheap Plum Cake at 3d. per lb.           66
       164. Plum Cake at 4d. per lb.                             66
       165. Lafayette Cakes                                      66
       166. American Genoa Cake                                  66
       167. Lemon Cake                                           67
       168. Bristol Cake                                         67
       169. Jubilee Cakes                                        67


  IX.--HANDY WHOLESALE RECIPES FOR SMALL MASTERS.
       170. Soda Cakes or Scones                                 68
       171. Currant or Milk Scones                               68
       172. Sugar or White Spice Biscuits                        68
       173. Halfpenny Scotch Cakes                               69
       174. Large Square Penny Albert Cake                       69
       175. Brandy Snaps                                         69
       176. Nonpareil Biscuits                                   69
       177. Common Halfpenny Queen Cake                          70
       178. Halfpenny Lunch Cake                                 70
       179. Polkas or Halfpenny Sponges                          70


  SUGAR-BOILING, ETC.


  X.--CONFECTIONS IN SUGAR-BOILING.
       180. Clarifying Sugar                                     73
       181. Testing Sugar                                        74
       182. To boil Sugar to the degree called “Pearled”         74
       183. To boil Sugar to the degree called “Blown”           74
       184. To boil Sugar to the degree called “Feathered”       74
       185. To boil Sugar to the “Ball” Degree                   74
       186. To boil Sugar to the degree called “Crackled”        75
       187. To boil Sugar to the degree called “Caramelled”      75
       188. To boil Sugar by the Thermometer                     75
       189. Barley Sugar                                         75
       190. Barley Sugar Drops                                   76
       191. Acid Drops                                           76
       192. Pine-apple Drops                                     76
       193. Poppy Drops                                          76
       194. Ginger Drops                                         77
       195. Cayenne Drops                                        77
       196. Ginger Candy                                         77
       197. Lemon Candy                                          77
       198. Peppermint Candy                                     77
       199. Rose Candy                                           77
       200. Burnt Almonds                                        78
       201. Cast Sugar Drops                                     78
       202. Rose Drops                                           79
       203. Orange-flower Drops                                  79
       204. Chocolate Drops                                      79
       205. Coffee Drops                                         79
       206. Barberry Drops                                       79
       207. Peppermint Drops                                     80
       208. Pine-apple Drops                                     80
       209. Vanilla Drops                                        80
       210. Ginger Drops                                         80
       211. Lemon Drops                                          80
       212. Orange Drops                                         81
       213. Pear Drops                                           81
       214. Lavender, Violet, Musk, and Millefleur Drops         81
       215. Pink Burnt Almonds                                   81
       216. Philadelphia Caramels                                81
       217. Boston Chips                                         82
       218. Engagement Favours                                   82
       219. Almond Hardbake                                      82
       220. To make Gum Paste                                    83
       221. To spin a Silver Web                                 83
       222. To spin a Gold Web                                   83
       223. A Spun Sugar Pyramid                                 84
       224. To spin a Gold Sugar Crocanth                        84
       225. To spin a Gold Cup                                   84
       226. A Spun Sugar Bee-hive                                85
       227. To Ornament a Bee-hive                               85


  XI.--COLOURING SUGAR.
       228.  To prepare Sugar for Colouring                      87
       229.  To colour Sugar                                     87
       230.  Blue Colouring                                      87
       231.  Carmine Colouring                                   88
       232.  Green Colouring                                     88
       233.    Another Way                                       88
       234.  Orange Colouring                                    88
       235.  Red Colouring                                       89
       236.  Yellow Colouring                                    89


  XII.--LOZENGES.
       237.  Peppermint Lozenges                                 90
       238.  Rose Lozenges                                       90
       239.  Ginger Lozenges                                     91
       240.  Transparent Mint Lozenges                           91
       241.  Cinnamon Lozenges                                   91
       242.  Clove Lozenges                                      91
       243.  Nutmeg Lozenges                                     91
       244.  Lavender Lozenges                                   91
       245.  Vanilla Lozenges                                    91
       246.  Brilliants                                          91


  XIII.--ICE CREAMS.
       247.  Vanilla Ice Cream                                   92
       248.  Bisque or Biscuit Glace                             93
       249.  Crushed Strawberry Ice Cream                        93
       250.  Hokey Pokey                                         93
       251.  Cocoanut Ice                                        94


  XIV.--PRESERVING FRUITS.
       252.  Large Strawberries                                  95
       253.  Strawberry Jam                                      96
       254. Raspberry Jelly                                      97
       255. Black Currant Jelly                                  97
       256. Red Currant Jam                                      97
       257. Apple Jelly                                          97
       258. Gooseberry Jam                                       98
       259. Orange Marmalade                                     98


  XV.--CHOCOLATE.
       260. General Directions for Making Chocolate              99
       261. Chocolate Harlequin Pistachios                      100
       262. Chocolate Drops with Nonpareils                     100
       263. Chocolate in Moulds                                 100




THE BREAD AND BISCUIT BAKER’S ASSISTANT.




I. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.


When we reflect upon the present conditions under which the
bread-making industry is carried on in most of the large cities and
towns of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and remember the importance
of that industry to mankind, we cannot but be impressed by the little
progress that has been made in the art of bread-making. Whilst other
industries have been marked by important improvements, we find bread
being made in much the same manner as it was five hundred years ago.
The mystery is how--by accident, it would seem--we get such well-made
bread as we do. There are very few even now who have the slightest
conception of what yeast really is, and fewer still who know how or why
it makes bread light. But it will surprise me if the trade does not
undergo, in the course of the next ten years, a complete and beneficial
change.

Master bakers and confectioners are everywhere complaining of the
incompetency of their workmen; and it cannot be denied that there
is some ground for the complaint. Proper training in the baking and
confectionery trade is of great importance. A trained servant gives
satisfaction to his employer, and receives a responsive good feeling in
return.

Let us see what is meant by “training.” In its broadest and best sense,
it is knowing _what_ to do, and _when_ and _how_ to do it.

Take the first condition--_What to do_. This may be considered on two
grounds, generally known as the _practical_ and the _theoretical_,
though the latter is sometimes confounded with the _scientific_, and
people are led to sneer at science. Much has been said lately in our
trade journals about introducing scientific chemistry to the journeyman
baker in connection with his daily work of making bread. But how many
journeyman bakers could we find that even understand the meaning of the
word chemistry, without expecting them to understand mysteries to which
years of study have been devoted by such men as Liebig, Graham, Dumas,
Darwin, Pasteur, and Thoms of Alyth?


CHEMISTRY AS APPLIED TO BREAD-MAKING.

It is not my intention to depreciate the great good that would be
derived from scientific chemistry if properly applied to bread-making.
But who is to study and apply it? Surely not a man who earns from 20s.
to 30s. per week, and works twelve, fourteen, and sixteen hours a day
in an overheated atmosphere. What hours of rest he has should be used
to recuperate his lost vitality. Not till scientific chemistry is
taught in our Board schools and made one of the elements of a scholar’s
ordinary education, can we hope to see it used successfully with bakers
in making bread.

Chemistry, I believe, is destined to play as important a part in
the annals of the baking trade as did the substitution of machinery
for hand labour. But at the present day how many bakers know that
the decomposition of sugar produces fermentation; that fermentation
destroys sugar and produces alcohol; that maltose assists fermentation;
that starch, however obtained, has always the same characteristics,
though there are different kinds from different sources; that dextrine
is soluble in water and insoluble in alcohol; that protoplasm, the
basis of all life, consists of protein, compounds, mineral salts,
nitrogen, &c.? And do not the meaning and use of terms familiar in
scientific chemistry--such as _diastase_, _cerealin_, _gluten_, and
others--only perplex the ordinary journeyman baker, and make him think
that the less he has to do with science, the more easily he will get
his life “rubbed through.” It is impossible for working bakers to
become acquainted with these things while in the bakehouse; and while
there are in many towns such valuable institutions as free libraries,
mechanics’ institutes, &c., they are not available to the ordinary
baker, as his hours are so exceptional. The baker’s hours of labour,
indeed, are shorter in many places than they used to be, and he is no
longer called “the white slave.” Still, the spirit of competition is so
strong that a baker has to work much harder proportionally than other
working men, and his mind is in no condition, in the little spare time
he has, to study the problems of science; and nobody can expect the
baker to know, as it were by intuition, the _whys_ and the _wherefores_
of chemistry. However, what he has learnt in the practice of his art,
and what the common custom of the trade has handed down to him, he
may use to more or less advantage, according as he has more or less
personal skill. In the case of fermentation, which may be described as
the very backbone of bread-making, a baker will find plenty to study
and to think about, from his first “setting the sponge” until his bread
is out of the oven, without perplexing himself over problems about
which he can understand little or nothing.

With time and money at his disposal, however, the study of chemistry
opens up a wide field to the studious baker, and would no doubt reward
him for his pains, and at the same time prove a great gain to his
trade; and I believe there are not a few earnest workers labouring at
the present time to afford that knowledge and help to the journeyman
baker which will eventually lead to an easier way of earning his daily
bread.


FERMENTATION.

The process of fermentation, which has for its object either the
manufacture of bread, or of an alcoholic product in a more or less
concentrated form, is very similar in action during its earlier stages.
It commences with the growth and multiplication of the fermenting germs
contained in the minute organisms floating in the air, the inorganic
constituents of the water, and the protoplasm (essence of life) of
the yeast; and all the changes brought about are accompanied by heat.
Fermentation is caused by the decomposition of the starch and gluten
of a solution of either potatoes, flour, or malted barley, which
decomposition is accompanied by an evolution of gas. There is also
a peculiar vibration given to the various bodies in contact, which
agitates the whole. This agitation is increased by the bursting of the
starch-cells and the formation therefrom of maltose, and also by the
changing of the maltose sugar into carbonic acid gas. Substances in a
state of decomposition are capable of bringing about a change in the
chemical composition of bodies with which they are in contact. Most
of the vegetable substances used in fermentation have a constituent
part--sugar, starch, or some other substance--which is easily converted
into a fermentable sugar by the action of yeast, or of diluted mineral
acids, or by a constituent of malted barley, called diastase. The sugar
produced by these means is resolved into carbonic acid gas and alcohol
by vinous fermentation. It will be seen, therefore, that fermentation
is started by the saccharine element in the ferment, which is termed
maltose; the process is then kept up by the gluten, which, becoming
decomposed, aids the sugar and starch in the work of providing food
for the yeast as soon as the latter is brought in contact with it. The
fermentation then takes place very rapidly, and carbonic acid gas is
generated and given off in proportion to the amount of the products
contained in the ferment, or sponge, and also to the strength and
freshness of the yeast: especially is this so with gluten, which is the
great agent of fermentation, when in a state of decomposition and when
in contact with yeast.


PROCESS OF BREAD-MAKING.

It will be useful to give here some remarks by the great scientist,
Liebig, on the best process of making bread:--

“Many chemists are of opinion that flour by the fermentation in
the dough loses somewhat of its nutritious constituents, from a
decomposition of the gluten; and it has been proposed to render the
dough porous without fermentation by means of substances which when
brought into contact yield carbonic acid. But on a closer investigation
of the process this view appears to have little foundation.

“When flour is made into dough with water, and allowed to stand at
a gentle warmth, a change takes place in the gluten of the dough,
similar to that which occurs after the steeping of barley in the
commencement of germination in the seeds in the preparation of malt;
and in consequence of this change the starch (the greater part of it in
malting; in dough only a small percentage) is converted into sugar, a
small portion of the gluten passes into the soluble state, in which it
acquires the properties of albumen, but by this change it loses nothing
whatever of its digestibility or of its nutritive value.

“We cannot bring flour and water together without the formation of
sugar from the starch, and it is this sugar and not the gluten of which
a part enters into fermentation, and is resolved into alcohol and
carbonic acid.

“We know that malt is not inferior in nutritive power to barley from
which it is derived, although the gluten contained in it has undergone
a much more profound alteration than that of flour in the dough, and
experience has taught us that in distilleries where spirits are made
from potatoes, the plastic constituents of the potatoes, and of the
malt which is added after having gone through the entire course of the
processes of the formation and the fermentation of the sugar, have lost
little or nothing of their nutritive value. It is certain, therefore,
that in the making of bread there is no loss of gluten.

“Only a small part of the starch of the flour is consumed in the
production of sugar, and the fermentative process is not only the
simplest and best but also the cheapest of all the methods which
have been recommended for rendering bread porous. Besides, chemical
preparations ought never, as a rule, to be recommended by chemists, for
culinary purposes, since they hardly ever are found pure in ordinary
commerce. For example, the commercial crude muriatic acid which it is
recommended to add to the dough along with bicarbonate of soda, is
always most impure, and often contains arsenic, so that the chemist
never uses it without a tedious process of purification for his
purposes, which are of far less importance than making bread light and
porous.

“To make bread cheaper it has been proposed to add to dough potato
starch or dextrine, rice, the pressed pulp of turnips, pressed raw
potatoes, or boiled potatoes; but all these additions only diminish
the nutritive value of bread. Potato starch, dextrine, or the pressed
pulp of turnips, and beet-root, when added to flour, yield a mixture
the nutritive value of which is equal to the entire potato, or lower
still, but no one can consider the change of grain or flour into a food
of equal value with potatoes or rice an improvement. The true problem
is to render the potatoes or rice similar or equal to wheat in their
effects, and not _vice versâ_. It is better under all circumstances to
boil the potatoes and eat them as such, than to add potatoes or potato
starch to flour before it is made into bread, which should be strictly
prohibited by police regulation on account of the cheating to which it
would inevitably give rise.”


BROWN BREAD.

With regard to the nutritive qualities of brown bread, Professor Jago
(who I think one of our highest authorities) says that whole meal, and
flour from which the bran and germ have not been removed, do not keep
well. These bodies contain oil and nitrogenous principles which readily
decompose, producing rancidity and mustiness in flavour. Not only do
these changes occur in the flour, but they also proceed apace in the
dough. The diastastic bodies of the bran and germ attack the starch,
and more or less convert it into dextrine and maltose; they further
attack the gluten, and that remarkably elastic body which confers on
wheaten flour, alone of all the cereals, the power of forming a light,
spongy, well-risen loaf. The gluten, under the action of the bran
and germ, loses its elasticity, and becomes fragile and incapable of
retaining the gas produced during fermentation; the result is heavy,
sodden, indigestible bread.

Evidence of this is found in the fact that while whole-meal loaves
are so excessively baked as to produce a crust two or three times
the ordinary thickness, the interior is still in a damp and sodden
condition. This is the effect of bran in whole-meal.

“Not only, then, on the ground of nutritive value may the use of a pure
white loaf be urged, but such bread is more healthily made, and will
be sweet and free from acidity when whole-meal and dark breads are
sour and unwholesome. It has also been pointed out that the nutritive
constituents of the bran are so locked within it that they escape
unaltered from the human body.”

Such, in brief, is Professor Jago’s opinion of whole-meal, and bread
made from it. My own opinion is that Darwin’s theory of the survival
of the fittest is very forcibly illustrated in the milling of cereals,
and the adoption of food most proper for the human system. We have had
brown bread and white bread before the public from time immemorial, and
what is the result? Why, for every sack of wheat-meal bread which is
baked we have a thousand sacks of fine or white bread. And what of our
hospitals and our army and navy, with medical men at the head of them,
watching the results of this food or that food, and its effects on the
human body? I admit that brown bread does suit some constitutions;
but to the majority of people it is nauseous, frequently causing
flatulency. I will just quote another good authority--Professor Charles
Graham.

In his lecture upon “The Chemistry of Bread-Making,” delivered before
the Society of Arts in December, 1879, he said: “As regards the
importance of the constituents of bran, I say that the analyst, and the
physician who makes use of the analyst as his supporter, in bringing
before us the importance of brown bread as compared with white, and
who assert that in rejecting the bran we are guilty of a serious waste
of flesh-forming and bone-forming material, should not take a mere
chemical analysis as all-sufficient to establish their point. A table
showing, from an analyst’s point of view, the comparative merits of
various substances for feeding purposes, shows hay to be of high value
as a food, and even oat straw--as, indeed, every farmer knows from
experience. Still more valuable for their heat-giving, and especially
for their flesh-forming, materials, are linseed-cake, rape-cake, and
decorticated cotton-cake. Now those who hold, from mere chemical
analysis, that bran is of such high value as a food material that its
omission from flour would meet with grave censure, should, from a
similar analytical standpoint, urge us to eat hay, oat-straw, linseed
and cotton cakes. Doubtless these substances are of high value as food
for cattle, because the herbivorous oxen can digest and utilise them
with ease; not so with man, who would starve in a field where a cow or
a sheep would fatten. As with hay or linseed cake, so with bran; I hold
that the best mode of digesting such food substances is first of all by
the aid of our hoofed friends, to convert them into milk or cream, or
bacon, beef, or mutton.”

Now these are the scientific opinions of two of our very highest
authorities. But of late I have been making brown bread out of a blend
of cereals made and milled by an enterprising firm of millers in the
North of England, and I must really say that it meets a long-felt want,
as it produces a brown loaf which is free from that nauseous taste of
which complaint is so often made with brown bread, and has a good nutty
flavour of its own.

       *       *       *       *       *

In conclusion, let me say that we have reason for great hope for the
future of the Bread and Confectionery trade. Many earnest minds are
devoting both time and money to the development of this important
industry, and their efforts cannot fail to result in bettering the
knowledge and lightening the labour of the practical baker.




II. GENERAL REMARKS ON BAKING.


Baking as a business or profession has never been confined to the
making of bread alone--that is to say, bread in everyday use. A baker
we take to mean a person who bakes and prepares any farinaceous
substance intended for human food. Therefore baking not only includes
loaf-bread baking, biscuit baking, fancy-bread baking, but also
pastry-making and confectionery. It is common for all these branches to
be practised by the same person, and it is therefore fitting that they
should all be treated of in a work of this kind. This we intend doing
under separate heads.


ESSENTIALS OF GOOD BREAD-MAKING.

Two of the most essential things in bread-baking, in order to produce
a full-flavoured, showy, and sweet loaf, are good yeast and good
flour. A good oven is also necessary. An oven which is either too hot
or too cold will spoil what would otherwise be a good batch of bread:
so great care should be used in order to have the oven of the proper
heat. Pan bread, or bread baked in tins, need a greater heat than batch
bread, as pan-bread dough is of a lighter nature than batch-bread
dough, and consequently requires more heat to keep it up. I do not
intend, however, going into the merits of different ovens, as I am not
competent to do so. There are so many different kinds, and each baker,
as a rule, seems to fancy what he has been most used to. For heating
purposes, cinders have taken the place of coals and wood, and (I think)
to the advantage of both master and journeyman. Cinders are cheaper
for the master and cleaner for the workman.


GERMAN YEAST AND PARISIAN BARM.

Yeasts, or barms, are of many varieties, but I purpose here to deal
with only two kinds--that commonly known as German yeast, which is
mostly used in England, and Parisian barm, the kind most in use in
Scotland.

A great point in working German yeast is to know when it is in proper
condition, as it is very liable to go bad in very warm weather, or if
kept in a very warm place. Care should be taken to keep it in a place
as near a temperature of 56° to 60° Fahr. as possible. Should there be
any suspicion that the yeast is not up to the mark, a simple and sure
test is to get a clean cup or tumbler, half fill it with warm water of
a temperature of 100°, put an ounce of loaf sugar in the water, and
when dissolved add one ounce of yeast. The yeast will, of course, sink
to the bottom, but if it is sound and in good condition it will rise to
the top in two minutes. Should it take much longer than that, the less
you have to do with it the better.

Parisian barm makes a nice showy loaf, but for flavour I prefer German
yeast. To make Parisian barm 1 gallon of water is put into a pan at,
say, 140° Fahr.; weigh 2 lbs. of crushed malt, put it into the water
at the above temperature, cover it up for about three hours; one hour
before you are going to make your barm, that is two hours since you
put your malt to steep, put 3 gallons of water into a large pan, put
it on the fire; when it boils, add 2 oz. of good fresh hops, well boil
for twenty minutes; after which well strain the malt through a hair
sieve. Put it into the barm tub and add as much flour as can be nicely
stirred in with the barm-stick. Then put the boiling hop-water through
a sieve on top of the malt water and flour and well stir it. It should
be properly scalded. Some put the hops in a small linen bag made for
the purpose and put it in the boiling water, squeezing it against the
side of the pot before taking it out. Supposing it to be five o’clock
in the afternoon, it may be put by with a couple of sacks over it till
five o’clock next morning. Then “set the barm away” (as they say in
Scotland), by adding to the above liquid half a gallon of the barm
previously made.

After the old barm is added to the new, in a few hours a scum gathers
on the top. This scum will either start at the side of the tub and work
gradually to the other side, or I have seen it start in the middle and
work itself slowly to the sides of the tub. When ready it should have a
nice clear bell top. It takes from ten to twelve hours to work before
it is ready.

By following this method one may always have good barm. Cleanliness
is very essential for barm, and care should be taken that neither
grease nor churned milk shall get near it. We need scarcely say that
experience is required in this as in other things.


AMERICAN PATENT YEAST.

I may add the following recipe for American patent yeast:--Take half
a pound of hops and two pailfuls of water; mix and boil them till
the liquid is reduced one half; strain the decoction into a tub, and
when luke-warm add half a peck of malt. In the meantime, put the
strained-off hops again into two pailfuls of water, and boil as before
till they are reduced one half; strain the liquid while hot into a tub.
(The heat will not injuriously affect malt previously mixed with tepid
water.) When the liquid has cooled down to about blood heat, strain off
the malt and add to the liquor two quarts of patent yeast set apart
from the previous making by the above process. Five gallons of good
yeast may thus be made which will be ready for use the day after it is
made. It takes about eight hours’ time to manufacture, but gives very
little trouble to the baker.


GOOD OR BAD FLOUR.

Experience is also necessary to judge of flour; but any one in the
habit of using flour may form a pretty accurate idea whether it is good
or bad. If fine and white, it may be considered good so far as colour
is concerned; but if it be brown, it shows that it was either made from
inferior wheat, or has been coarsely dressed--that is, that it contains
particles of bran. However, brown flour may be of a good sound quality,
and fine white flour may not.

To judge of flour, take a portion in your hand and press it firmly
between the thumb and forefinger, at the same time rubbing it gently
for the purpose of making a level surface upon the flour; or take a
watch with a smooth back and press it firmly on the flour. By this
means its colour may be ascertained by observing the pressed or smooth
surface. If the flour feels loose and lively in the hand, it is of good
quality; if it feels dead or damp, or, in other words, clammy, it is
decidedly bad. Flour ought to be a week or two old before being used.


ALUM IN BREAD.

A common custom to improve flour was to add a small quantity of alum to
a sack of flour--a custom which, it may be hoped, is entirely a thing
of the past. According to Liebig, the action of alum in the process of
bread-making is to form certain insoluble combinations which render
digestion difficult, and detract largely from the value of bread as
food. Professor Vaughan, of the University of Michigan, says: “The use
of alum is an adulteration which is injurious to health. It unites with
the phosphates in the bread, rendering them insoluble, and preventing
their digestion and absorption. In this way, alum, when present,
diminishes the nutritive value of bread. While some gain may perhaps
temporarily accrue to the manufacturer through the covert perpetration
of this fraud, still no good to any one can result therefrom.”


BUTTER FOR PASTRY AND CAKES.

Butter, which so largely enters into the pastrycook’s business, is
another important point for consideration. It should be perfectly
sweet, and before it is used made smooth on a marble slab. Salt butter
made from cows fed on poor pasture is the best for puff paste, and is
the most proper for ornamental work; it should be washed in water two
or three times before being used. On the other hand, for every kind of
cake the butter cannot be too rich.

       *       *       *       *       *

In the course of this work I likewise intend to touch on the icing of
bride and other cakes.




RECIPES.




III. BREAD, TEA CAKES, BUNS, ETC.


1.--To make Home-made Bread.

Put 1 stone of fine flour into your mixing pan; make a hole in the
middle of the flour, and press the sides of the hole to prevent the
liquid running through; dissolve 2½ ozs. of yeast in 1 gill of water,
and put it in the hole made in the flour; mix a little flour in the
liquid to make a thin batter, cover your pan over and let it rise to a
nice cauliflower top; when ready, dissolve 2½ ozs. of salt in 1 gill of
water, put this into your pan, and then take sufficient water (or water
and milk) to make all into a nice dough; let it rise a little in the
pan, then weigh off into your tins, and prove and bake. The heat of the
water should be between 80° and 90° Fahr.


2.--Bread-making by the Old Method.

To make a sack of flour into bread the baker takes the flour and
empties it into the kneading trough; it is then carefully passed
through a wire sieve, which makes it lie lighter and reduces any lumps
that may have formed in it. Next he dissolves 2 oz. of alum (called in
the trade “stuff” or “rocky”) in a little water placed over the fire.
This is poured into the seasoning tub with a pailful of warm water, but
not too hot. When this mixture has cooled to a temperature of about
84 degrees, from 3 to 4 pints of yeast are put into it, and the whole
having been strained through the seasoning sieve, it is emptied into
a hole made in the mass of flour and mixed up with a portion of it
to the consistency of thick batter. Dry flour is then sprinkled over
the top. This is called the quarter-sponge, and the operation is known
as “setting.” The sponge must then be covered up with sacks, if the
weather be cold, to keep it warm. It is then left for three or four
hours, when it gradually swells and breaks through the dry flour laid
upon its surface. Another pail of water impregnated with alum and salt
is now added, and well stirred in, and the mass sprinkled with flour
and covered up as before. This is called setting the half-sponge. The
whole is then well kneaded with about two more pailfuls of water for
about an hour. It is then cut into pieces with a knife, and to prevent
spreading it is pinned, or kept at one end of the trough by means of a
sprint-board, in which state it is left to “prove,” as the bakers call
it, for about four hours. When this process is over the dough is again
well kneaded for about half an hour. It is then removed from the trough
to the table and weighed into the quantities suitable for each loaf.
The operation of moulding, chaffing, and rolling up can be learnt only
by practice.


3.--Modern Way of making Bread.

The modern way of making bread is as follows: Put 1 sack, or 20 stone,
of flour into the trough, and, to take it all up, sponge 12 gallons of
water of the required temperature, and from 10 to 16 ozs. of yeast,
according to the strength. Then dissolve 2 lbs. of salt in the water
and mix all together. In the morning, or when taken up again, add 6
gallons of water and 1½ lb. of salt. If a quick or “flying” sponge is
required to be ready in an hour and a half, empty the sack of flour
into the trough. Make a sprint, add 12 gallons of water of the required
heat and 2 lbs. of yeast, and as much flour as you can stir in with the
hand. Let it rise for one hour and a half; add 6 gallons more water (at
the temperature the sponge is set, which should be about 100 degrees
Fahr.), and 3½ lbs. of salt. Make all into a nice-sized dough; let it
stand three-quarters of an hour, then scale off.


4.--Scotch Style of making Bread.

The bread-making industry has made great strides in Scotland. In
Glasgow alone there are two firms which each bake over two thousand
bags of flour a week--namely, J. and B. Stevenson and Bilsland
Brothers--while five other firms each bake from five hundred to one
thousand bags a week. In respect to the output, Scotland is a long way
in advance of either England or Ireland. I can well remember the time
when oatmeal cakes and scones were the staple food in Scotland; but
such food is now notable by its absence. This brings to mind a story
I once heard of an Englishman and a Scotchman who were arguing on the
merits of their respective countries. The Englishman said, “Man Sandy,
you are all fed on oatmeal! Why, in England we only feed our horses on
oats.” Sandy’s reply was, “I don’t na but what you say, man, is a’ very
true, but where wull ye get sic horses and where wull ye get sic men?”

As I have said before, Parisian barm is the kind most used in Scotland;
in fact, nearly all the Scotch advertisements require “men used to
Parisian barm.” However, I have noticed lately that German yeast is
steadily making its way in the North. The Scotch used generally to make
their bread with what they called potato ferment. Now it is mostly
quarter or full sponges. To make 1 sack of flour into bread with a
quarter sponge take 1 gallon of water of the required temperature, add
½ a gallon of Parisian barm, and sufficient flour to make it into a
good stiff dough. This is generally set between one and two o’clock,
and is ready to take about half-past four. It should be dropped when
ready an inch in the quarter boat or barrel. Empty it into the trough,
add 10 gallons of water, dissolve 2 lbs. of salt, and mix all into a
well-beaten sponge. Add 6 gallons of water of the required temperature
and 1¼ lb. of salt in the morning, or when you take the sponge, and
make all into a nice dough. The softer you can work the sponge the
clearer and showier will be the loaf.

To make 1 sack of flour with a full sponge, take 1 to 1½ gallons of
barm, about 10 gallons of water of the proper temperature with 2 lbs.
of salt dissolved in it; make all into a nice-sized sponge. When ready
add 6 gallons of water of proper temperature, and 1¼ lb. of salt, and
make it into dough.

Care should always be taken to keep the barm clear of grease and
churned milk, especially if the milk is sour.

There are a great many substitutes for wheat-flour bread, some of which
I will enumerate; but I do not think it needful to give the recipes
for them, as the recipes and formulæ I have given are evidently those
most popular in the English, Scotch, and Irish bakehouses. Among the
many substitutes for wheat bread are the following: bread corn, rice
bread, potato bread; bread made of roots, ragwort bread, turnip bread,
apple bread, meslin bread, salep bread, Debreczen bread, oat and barley
bread. The Norwegians, we are informed, make bread of barley and
oatmeal baked between two stones; this bread is said to improve by age,
and may be kept for as long as thirty or forty years. At their great
festivals the Norwegians use the oldest bread, and it is not unusual at
the baptism of infants to have bread made at the time of the baptism of
their grandfathers.


5.--Home-made Whole Meal Bread.

Take 1 stone of wheat meal (granulated is best); put your flour in
the basin or mixing bowl, and make a hole in the centre of the meal:
dissolve 2 ozs. of yeast in a gill and a half of water, about 90°
Fahr.; pour the yeast and water into the hole, and mix in as much of
the meal as will make a soft batter; cover it up, and when it is ready
(which you will know by its having a nice cauliflower top), add 2½ ozs.
of salt, and sufficient water, at a temperature of say 80° Fahr., and
mix all lightly into a nice mellow dough; put it past, with a cover
over it, till you see it commence to rise; then divide it into the
sizes required and place in tins to prove; bake in a moderate oven.

Wheat meals, and brown or second flours, do not require so much
working, either in the sponge or with the hands, in making it into
dough, as do the flours of a finer quality.


6.--Whole Meal Bread.

(_For Master Bakers, as generally used in the Trade._)

When setting your ordinary sponges at night for fine bread, dissolve
2½ ozs. of yeast and 2½ ozs. of salt in 1½ gallons of water, about 4°
to 6° Fahr., under whatever heat at which you may be setting your fine
sponges (according to the nature of the meal you are using); take as
much whole meal flour as will make this quantity of water into a weak
sponge, and in the morning, when it is ready, give it half a gallon of
water off same heat as your fine sponges, with 5 ozs. of salt, and make
all lightly into a dough so that there is no “scrape” about it, and
work off in the same way as your ordinary bread.


7.--Unfermented, or Diet Bread.

Take 8 lbs. of granulated wheat meal (or meal made with a mixture
of barley meal and wheat meal properly blended), 4 ozs. of cream of
tartar, and 2 ozs. of carbonate of soda; mix the tartar and soda
amongst the flour and sift all through a sieve; make a bay, and add 2
ozs. of crushed salt and 4 ozs. of castor sugar, putting the above in
the bay and pouring in a little churned milk to dissolve the salt and
sugar; then add as much churned milk as will take the 8 lbs. of meal
in, and make into a nice-sized dough; weigh off, and bake in oval tins.
They should be put immediately into the oven.

I consider this the very best mode of making wheat meals into bread;
bread thus made eats well, and keeps moist longer than fermented meals.


8.--Rye Bread.

Rye bread used to be in greater favour with the public than it now
is, but I consider that is owing to the sodden, heavy way in which
it is generally made; for if rye flour is properly blended with fine
flour, instead of the barley meal generally used, it produces a very
nice-flavoured loaf.

Set a sponge at night with fine flour--say, 1 gallon of water, 1½
ozs. of yeast, and 1½ ozs. of salt; let your sponge be about the same
consistency as for muffin batter; in the morning add 1 quart of water
and 3 ozs. of salt, and make your dough up with rye meal; let your
sponge be set of the same heat as for wheat meal bread.

I have adopted this plan, and find it gives general satisfaction. In
baking wheat meals, or other meals of the same nature, your oven should
be 30° or 40° by the pyrometer under the heat used for fine bread.


9.--Coarse Bread.

Coarse flour (or “overheads,” as it is generally called in the south
of Scotland) is the cheapest grade of flour made, and if properly
manufactured it will vie with any class of flour in the market for a
fine, sweet, nutty flavour; but of course it is dark in colour, and
I have seen flour of this grade very strong and carry an exceedingly
large quantity of water.

In a test I had some time ago, I produced 110 4-lb. loaves, weighed
in dough at 4 lbs. 6 ozs., out of 20 stone of this flour; but I may
say that the flour was stone-dressed, and milled in the old style.
This same class of flour was in general use in Scotland twenty years
ago, and was generally made into coarse or second bread, and coarse
“twopennies.” Many a poor family--ay, and rich families too--have
thriven and had their hearts made glad on the produce of this grade of
flour.


TO MAKE COARSE BREAD.--Take, say 1 gallon of water, at the same
temperature as for wheat meal bread; dissolve 1¼ ozs. of yeast, and
the same quantity of salt, in the water; make into an ordinary-sized
sponge, and when ready in the morning add half a gallon of water and
about 4 ozs. of salt; then make all into a dough, and work off as other
doughs.

This flour can be sponged the same way as fine flour for a quick or
flying sponge, only care should be used in not setting the sponge too
warm, as I find that it ferments and works more quickly than the finer
grades of flour.


10.--Germ Flour Bread.

Germ flour is amongst one of the newest kinds of flour placed before
the public as a speciality. It is in appearance something like
granulated wheat meal, and the vendors of it claim to have found a new
process of removing the germ from the flour, and subjecting it to a
certain process before it is again mixed with the flour. I am having
germ bread made almost daily. Our mode of making it is as follows:--

Dissolve 1½ ozs. of yeast in half a gallon of water, say 90° Fahr.,
and mix with this about 7 lbs. of germ flour; it should be ready in
about an hour and a half; weigh off and prove; use no salt, as we think
there is a certain amount of salt (or some substitute for salt) ground
amongst the flour. For this class of bread it makes a very nice-eating
loaf.


11.--Tea-Cakes.

To be able to make a good tea-cake is considered a great point in the
baking trade. The following not only makes good tea-cakes, but also
capital Scotch cookies.

Take ½ a gallon of water at, say, 94° Fahr.; add 1 lb. of moist sugar,
5 ozs. of German yeast; dissolve all together, add, say, 1½ lb. of
flour and mix. When well risen, add 1 lb. of lard and butter, 2 ozs. of
salt, a few currants to taste; mix all together into tea-cake dough.
Let it remain in a warm place for about half an hour, then weigh off at
8 or 9 ozs. for 2d.; prove, and bake.


12.--Queen’s Bread.

This can be made with the same dough, but omitting the currants, and
making the dough tighter than for tea-cakes; add 1 egg to each pound of
dough. Weigh at 3 ounces for a penny, and make into different shapes,
such as half-moons, cart-wheels, twists, &c.


13.--Sally Luns, Yorkshire, or Tea Cakes.

Take 1 quart of milk, ¼ lb. of moist sugar, and 2 ozs. of German yeast.
Ferment this with a little flour, and when ready, add ½ lb. of butter
(some add also 4 eggs to this quantity) and make into dough as for
tea-cakes; butter some rings or hoops, and place them on buttered tins,
weigh or divide into 5 or 6 ozs. for twopence; mould them round, put
them in the hoops, and, when half proved, make a hole in each with a
piece of stick. Do not overprove them, or they will eat poor and dry.
When baked, which will be in about ten or fifteen minutes, wash over
the top with egg and milk.


14.--Muffins.

Sift through the sieve 4 lbs. of good Hungarian flour; take as much
water and milk as will make the above into a nice-sized batter, having
previously dissolved 2 ozs. of yeast, 1 oz. of sugar, and ¾ oz. of
salt in the liquid; then beat this well with your hand for at least
ten minutes; after it has half risen in your pan beat again for other
ten minutes; then let it stand till ready, which you will know by the
batter starting to drop. Have one of your roll-boards well dusted with
sifted flour, and with your hand lay out the muffins in rows. The
above mixture should produce 24 muffins. Then, with another roll-board
slightly dusted with rice flour, take the muffins and with your fingers
draw the outsides into the centre, forming a round cake; draw them into
your hand and brush off any flour that may be adhering to them; place
them on the board dusted with rice, and so on till all are finished;
then put them in the prover to prove, which does not take long. The
heat of the liquid for muffins (or crumpets) should range from 90° to
100° Fahr., according to the temperature of the bakehouse.

One great point to guard against in fermenting cakes or bread, is to
see that your sponge or dough does not get chilled. By the time your
muffins are ready, have the stove or hot plate properly heated, then
row them gently on to the hot plate so as not to knock the proof out of
them; when they are a nice brown turn them gently on the other side and
bake a nice delicate brown.


15. _Another way._--Some persons now make muffins after the same
formula as for tea cakes, namely, moulding one in each hand and pinning
out the size required, then proving and baking. I have tried that
way more than once, but I cannot get the muffins to appear anything
like what my experience teaches me a muffin should be. Practice and
judgment are required to make one proficient in muffin-making.

There has recently been introduced to the trade a hot plate heated with
gas, which will go a long way in helping the muffin-maker. It is both
cleaner, handier, and you can bake with it to a more certain degree of
heat.


16.--Crumpets.

Crumpets are generally made by muffin-makers, the most modern formula
being the following:--Take 4 lbs. of good English flour, 2 ozs. of good
yeast, and 2 ozs. of salt. The flour and salt may be sifted together.
Take 1 quart of milk, and 1½ quarts of water, at about 100° Fahr.;
dissolve your yeast in the water, then mix in your flour and salt; make
all into a thin liquid paste, giving it a thoroughly good mixing; let
it stand for one hour, when you may again give it a thoroughly good
beat; let it stand for another hour, when it will be ready to bake off.
In the meantime thoroughly clean your stove or hot plate before it gets
hot, and give it a rub over with a greasy cloth; then have your rings
of the size required (they should be half an inch in depth); slightly
grease them, and see that they are greased for each round of the hot
plate; have a cup in one hand and a saucer in the other to prevent
the batter dropping; pour half a cup of the batter into the rings and
spread them with a palette knife to a level surface, putting what comes
off (if any) back into your pan. Then, when the bottom part is of a
nice golden colour, turn them over with your palette knife, turning the
ring at the same time, and bake off a nice colour. Remove them from
the stove or hot plate, and lay them on clean boards for a couple of
minutes, when with a gentle tap your rings will come clear; and so on
till finished. Nothing but careful practice, and particular attention
to the whys and wherefores of both hot plates and batter, will make a
good muffin or crumpet-maker.


17.--Oatmeal Cake.

Take 7 lbs. of medium oatmeal, 1½ oz. salt, 1½ oz. carbonate of soda,
1½ oz. cream of tartar, 1½ lb. of flour, 1½ lb. of lard. Rub the
lard in the oatmeal and flour, having previously mixed all the other
ingredients in the oatmeal; make a bay, add sufficient cold water to
make all into a good working dough, weigh off at 8 ozs., mould up, pin
out the size you think most suitable, cut into four, and place on clean
dry tins. Bake in a sharp oven.


18.--Bath Buns.

1 lb. of flour, 8 ozs. of butter, 8 ozs. of sugar, 4 eggs, a little
warm milk, 1 oz. of Parisian yeast, some citron peel cut small, and
half a nutmeg grated. This will make fourteen twopenny buns.

Rub the butter in with the flour, make a bay and break in the eggs,
add the yeast with sufficient milk to make the whole into a dough of
moderate consistency, and put in a warm place to prove. When it has
risen enough mix in the peel, a little essence of lemon, and the sugar,
which should be in small pieces about the size of peas. Divide into
pieces for buns, prove and bake in gentle heat. They may be washed with
egg and dusted with sugar before proving.


19. _Another Way._--4 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of butter, 6 ozs. of sugar,
4 ozs. of yeast, 4 eggs, and sufficient milk to make all into a dough;
add essence of lemon.

Warm the milk, add the sugar and yeast with sufficient flour to make
a ferment; when ready, add butter, eggs, and remainder of flour, with
currants or peel to taste. Weigh or divide into 3 ozs. each, mould
them up round egg on top rolled in castor sugar; slightly prove, bake
in moderate oven.


20.--Hot Cross Buns.

Take 1 quart of milk or water, 3 ozs. of yeast, 12 ozs. of moist sugar,
12 ozs. of butter, 1 oz. of salt, with sufficient flour to make a nice
mellow dough.

Proceed the same as for tea-cakes (p. 24), adding spice, currants, and
peel to taste; weigh 4 ozs. for a penny, make a cross in the middle of
the bun, wash over with egg, and prove. Spice, however, is very seldom
used, as it tends to darken the buns, and thus giving them a poor
appearance. An ingenious apparatus has been invented called a Patent
Bun Divider, which greatly facilitates the making of these buns, and
cannot fail to be of great service where large quantities of buns or
cakes are required to be divided. All that is needed is to weigh 8 lbs.
of dough, place it in the pan, and at one stroke of a lever thirty buns
or cakes are divided ready to mould.


21.--Chelsea Buns.

Take plain bun dough (or if for common buns, bread dough), roll it out
in a sheet, break some firm butter in small pieces and place over it,
roll it out as you would paste; after you have given it two or three
turns, moisten the surface of the dough, and strew over it some moist
sugar; roll up the sheet into a roll, and cut it in slices; or cut the
dough in strips of the required size and turn them round; place on
buttered tins having edges, half-an-inch from each. Prove them well,
and bake in a moderate oven. They may be dusted with loaf sugar either
before or after they are baked. The quantity of ingredients used must
be regulated by the required richness of the buns. ½ lb. of butter,
½ lb. of sugar, with 4 lb. of dough, will make a good bun. When bun
dough is used, half the quantity of sugar will be sufficient; some omit
it altogether.


22.--Balmoral Cakes.

3½ lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 5 eggs, nearly 1
quart of milk, a few caraway seeds, with 1½ oz. of carbonate of soda
and tartaric acid, mixed in proportion of 1 oz. of soda to ¾ oz. of
acid.

Mix the soda and acid well with the flour, then rub in the butter and
sugar; make a bay with the flour, add the seeds, beat up the eggs with
the milk, and make all into a dough. Put into buttered pans according
to the size; dust with castor sugar, and bake in a moderate oven.


23.--Balloon or Prussian Cakes.

Take currant bun dough and make it into a round flat cake of any
required size, and place it on a buttered tin. When it is about half
proved, divide it with a long, flat piece of wood having a thin
graduated edge, into eight equal parts, and place it again to prove.
When it is proved enough, brush over the top lightly with the white of
an egg well whisked, dust it with fine powdered sugar and sprinkle it
with water, just sufficient to moisten the sugar. Bake it in a rather
cool oven to prevent the icing getting too much coloured.


24.--Saffron Buns.

Take the same mixture as for tea cakes, add 1 oz. of caraway seeds, and
colour it with saffron. Mould them round, and put them on the tins so
as not to touch. When they are near proof, wash the tops with egg and
milk, and dust them with castor sugar. Put them in the oven to finish
proving, and bake them in a moderately hot oven.


25.--Cinnamon Buns.

Made same way as saffron buns, but leaving out the caraway seeds and
saffron, and using instead sufficient ground cinnamon to flavour them.


26.--Jubilee Buns.

2 lbs. of flour, ¾ lb. of butter, ¾ lb. of sugar, 4 eggs, ½ oz. of voil.

Rub the butter in with the flour, make a bay and add the sugar, pound
the salt in a little milk and pour it in, break the eggs, and mix all
together into a dough. Make six buns out of 1 lb. of dough, mould them
round, wash the top with eggs, put some currants on the top, and dust
with sugar.


27.--German Buns.

4 lbs. of flour, 2 ozs. of tartar, 1 oz. of carbonate of soda, 12 ozs.
of butter, 1½ lbs. of sugar, 4 eggs, 10 drops of essence of lemon, with
milk.

Mix tartar and carbonate of soda with the flour, make a sprint or bay,
put butter and sugar in bay, cream; add eggs, then milk, make all into
a dough, and size them off on buttered tins one inch apart. Wash over
with egg, and put a little sugar on top, and bake in a moderate oven.


28.--Common German Buns (for wholesale purposes).

4 lbs. of flour, 2 ozs. of tartar, 1 oz. of carbonate of soda, ½ lb. of
lard, 1½ lb. of moist sugar, a little turmeric and churned milk; then
proceed as for best German buns. Bake in a sharp oven.


29.--London Buns.

Take 1 pint of milk warmed in a basin, add 2 ozs. of yeast, 8 ozs. of
moist sugar, and make a dough with sufficient flour. When the sponge
is ready add 12 ozs. of butter, a pinch of salt, and have ready 4 ozs.
of chopped peel. Mix all in the dough with 2 eggs and lemon, and prove.
When about half proved wash over with yolk of egg. Put sugar on top
when full proved.


30.--Penny Queen Cakes.

1½ lb. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 15 eggs, 2 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of
patent flour. Cream butter and sugar in a basin, add eggs, then flour,
and as much milk as will make a nice batter. Bake in fluted pans.


31.--Patent Flour.

Take 4 ozs. of tartar, and 2 ozs. of carbonate of soda, and 8 lbs. of
flour, and sift through a sieve three times.


32.--Penny Rice Cakes.

4 lbs. of flour, 2½ lbs. of castor sugar, 1½ lb. of butter, 10 eggs, 1
oz. of tartar, ¾ oz. of carbonate of soda, ½ lb. of ground rice, milk
to dough. Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs; when well creamed,
add flour, rice, and milk. Bake in small round hoops papered round the
side.


33.--Cocoanut Cakes.

These are made in the same way, with the same mixture, but leaving out
the rice and adding the same quantity of cocoanut. Dust cocoanut on the
top of each.


34.--Albert Cakes.

Cream 12 oz. of butter with 1 lb. of sugar, add 13 eggs; mix ½ oz. of
carbonate of soda and ¼ oz. of acid with 2 lbs. of flour; weigh 8 ozs.
of currants. Mix all together with milk, and bake in a small edged pan.
Cut into squares when cold.




IV. GINGERBREAD, PARKINGS, SHORTBREAD, ETC.


35.--Queen’s Gingerbread.

Take 2 lbs. of honey, 1¾ lb. of best moist sugar, and 3 lbs. of flour,
½ lb. of sweet almonds blanched, and ½ lb. of preserved orange peel cut
into thin fillets, the yellow rinds of two lemons grated off, 1 oz. of
cinnamon, ½ oz. of cloves, mace, and cardamoms mixed and powdered.

Put the honey in a pan over the fire with a wineglassful of water, and
make it quite hot; mix the other ingredients and the flour together,
make a bay, pour in the honey, and mix all well together. Let it stand
till next day, make it into cakes, and bake it. Rub a little clarified
sugar until it will blow in bubbles through a skimmer, and with a
paste-brush rub over the gingerbread when baked.


36.--German Gingerbread.

Same as Queen’s Gingerbread, but dust tins with flour instead of grease.


37.--Spiced Gingerbread.

Take 3 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of moist sugar, 4 ozs. of
candied lemon or orange peel cut small, 1 oz. of powdered ginger, 2
ozs. of powdered allspice, ½ oz. of powdered cinnamon, 1 oz. of caraway
seeds, and 3 lbs. of treacle.

Rub the butter into the flour, then add the other ingredients, and mix
in the dough with the treacle. Make it into nuts or cakes, and bake in
a cool oven.


38.--Scarborough Gingerbread (for wholesale purposes).

Take 180 lb. of treacle, 4 lbs. of lard, 4 lbs. 10 ozs. of carbonate
of soda, 2 lbs. 11 ozs. of caraway seeds, 2 lbs. 11 ozs. of ginger,
and ½ a gallon of water to dissolve the soda. Mix all together with a
sufficient quantity of flour.

This should turn out about 390 lbs. of very good gingerbread. Wash with
glue and water which has been boiled.

The taste for gingerbread is very widespread, large quantities of the
best quality being exported to India. Holland is regarded as carrying
off the palm for making good gingerbread. Shakespeare makes mention of
it in _Love’s Labour’s Lost_, where he says, “An I had but one penny in
the world thou should’st have it to buy gingerbread.”


39.--Ginger Cakes.

2¼ lbs. of flour, ½ lb. of butter, 1 lb. moist sugar, 2 ozs. of ginger.
Rub the butter in with the flour and make the whole into a paste with
prepared treacle. Make them into round flat cakes, wash the top with
milk, lay a slice of peel on each, and bake in a cool oven.


40.--Prepared Treacle.

Take 4 lbs. of treacle, 1 oz. of alum, 2 ozs. of pearlash, and mix.


41.--Prepared Treacle for Thick Gingerbread.

Take 7 lbs. of treacle, 3 ozs. of potash, 1 oz. volatile salt, and
2 ozs. of alum. The colour of the gingerbread when baked will be
according to the quality of the treacle used. Golden syrup makes the
lightest coloured and best.


42.--Laughing or Fun Nuts.

1 lb. of gingerbread dough, 3 ozs. of butter, 3 ozs. of sugar, 1 oz. of
cayenne pepper. Mix all together, pin out in a sheet, one-eighth of an
inch thick. Cut them out the size of a penny. They are very hot.


43.--Grantham or White Gingerbread.

4 lbs. of flour, 2½ lbs. of loaf sugar, 4 ozs. of butter, 1 oz. of
volatile salt, 1 pint of milk, ½ oz. of ginger, ¼ oz. of ground
cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace, ½ oz. caraway seeds.


44.--Spice Nuts.

3 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of moist sugar, 4 ozs. of
candied peel cut small, 1 oz. ginger, 2 ozs. allspice, ¼ oz. of
cinnamon, 1 oz. caraway seeds, 3 lbs. prepared treacle. Mix same as
other doughs.

45. _Another Way._--Take 3 lbs. of flour, 2 lbs. of sugar, 2 lbs.
of treacle, 2 ozs. of ginger, ¼ oz. of carbonate of soda, 2 drs. of
tartaric acid. Mix the day before baking.

46. _Another Way._--7 lbs. of flour, 5 lbs. of syrup, 2¾ lbs. of moist
sugar, 1 lb. of lard, 4 ozs. ginger, ½ oz. of tartaric acid, ½ oz. of
carbonate of soda, ½ oz. of cinnamon, ½ oz. of mace. Mix and work same
as other doughs. This is a capital mixture.


47.--Light Gingerbread.

Dr. Colquhoun gives a recipe for preparing a light gingerbread as
follows: Take 1 lb. of flour, ¼ oz. of carbonate of magnesia, and 1/8
oz. of tartaric acid. Mix the flour and magnesia thoroughly, then
dissolve and add the acid; take the usual quantity of butter, treacle,
and spice; melt the butter and pour it with the treacle and acid into
the flour and magnesia. The whole must then be made into a dough by
kneading, and set aside for a period varying from half an hour to
an hour; it will then be ready for the oven, and should not on any
account be kept longer than two or three hours before being baked.
When taken from the oven it will prove a light, pleasant, and spongy
bread, having no injurious ingredients in it. That made with potash,
says Dr. Colquhoun, gives the bread a disagreeable alkaline flavour,
unless disguised with some aromatic ingredient, and is likely to prove
injurious to delicate persons.


48.--Italian Jumbles, or Brandy Snaps.

6 lbs. of flour, 7 lbs. of good rich sugar, 1¼ lb. of butter or lard,
2 ozs. of ginger or mixed spice, 6 lbs. of raw syrup. Make the whole
into a moderately stiff paste or dough, roll out into sheets fully an
eighth of an inch thick, cut them with a plain round cutter of 3 inches
diameter, put them on tins well greased, and bake in a moderate oven.
When baked cut them from the tin and lay them on the peel-shaft till
they are hard. If they should get too cold to turn, put them in the
oven to warm. Brandy snaps are the same as above, without being turned.

NOTE.--For cakes, spice nuts, or biscuits of a small size, that require
washing on top, use a piece of linen the size of the tin, dip it in
water, squeeze it, and spread it on top of the snaps or biscuits and
gently press your hand over it. This will prevent them from running
together on the tins.


49.--Halfpenny Gingerbread Squares.

8 lbs. of flour, 4 lbs. of treacle, 3 ozs. of pearlash, 3 ozs. of
alum, and 1 oz. of carbonate of soda. Make a bay, put in the treacle,
add the soda, dissolve the pearlash in 1 gill of cold water and pour
it on the treacle; put another gill of water in a small pan, add the
alum, and let it boil till it is dissolved; then pour it on the other
ingredients. Mix all together, put into two tins about 24 inches by 18
inches with an edge 1 inch high. Cut out of each tin 2s. 3½d. worth.
This mixture is for wholesale purposes, and pays well.

NOTE.--Nearly all mixtures made in this way are best made the day
before.


50.--Hunting Nuts.

7 lbs. of flour, 3½ lbs. of treacle, 1 lb. of sugar, 1 lb. of butter,
3 ozs. of pearlash, 3 ozs. of alum, half a teaspoonful of essence of
lemon, 1 lb. of lemon peel cut small. Mix as above; roll out the dough
in strips, and with the fingers break off pieces the size of a small
marble, lay on the tins in rows and bake in a moderate oven on tins
slightly buttered.


51.--Parkings.

3½ lbs. of oatmeal, 1 lb. of flour, 1 lb. of butter, 8 ozs. of moist
sugar, ½ oz. of baking powder, with sufficient syrup to make all into
a moderately stiff dough; weigh off at 4 ozs. for a penny, mould up
round, and place on tins 2½ inches apart. Bake in a cool oven.

52. _Another Way._--6 lbs. of snap dough, 12 ozs. of moist sugar, 10
ozs. of butter, 1¾ lb. of oatmeal, 1½ oz. of carbonate of soda, 1 oz.
of caraway seeds, 1 oz. of seasoning. Proceed as above.


53.--Parking Cake.

3 lbs. of oatmeal, 1 lb. of flour, 4 lbs. of treacle, 1 lb. of good
butter, 2 teaspoonfuls of carbonate of soda, 1 gill of beer. Mixed up
as above. Baked in an edged pan 3 inches high, in a cool oven.


54.--Scotch Shortbread.

Take 1 lb. of butter, 2 lbs. of flour, 8 ozs. of powdered sugar. Mix
the sugar in the butter, then take in all the flour and thoroughly mix
and rub all together till of a nice mellow colour and easy to work;
weigh off the size required, and shape into square or round pieces;
dock them on the top, notch them round the sides, put on clean dry
tins, and bake in a moderate oven.


55.--English Shortbread.

1 lb. of flour, ½ lb. of sugar, ½ lb. butter, 2 eggs. Mix as for Scotch
Shortbread, ornament the tops with designs of neatly-cut lemon peel and
caraway comfits.


56.--French Shortbread.

2 lbs. of flour, ¾ lb. of butter, ¾ lb. of sugar, 4 eggs, ½ oz. of
ammonia. Rub the butter in the flour, make a bay, put in the eggs,
sugar, and ammonia; beat them well with your hand, then draw in the
flour and butter; make all into a dough, weigh at 12 ozs., chaff them
up round, pin out a good breadth, mark them off into eight, place a
piece of peel on each, and bake in good oven. Cut the marked pieces
with a sharp knife after they are baked.




V. HARD BISCUITS.


57.--Machine-made Biscuits.

In making the dough for hard biscuits it should be kept in a loose
crumbly state until the whole is of an equal consistency, then work,
rub, or press it together with your hands until the whole is collected
or formed into a mass. If the old-fashioned biscuit brake is replaced
by a biscuit machine so much the better for the baker and the goods he
turns out. If so, then all that is necessary will be to properly adjust
the rollers whether for braking (that is making the dough) or rolling
out for the cutter. If an amateur tries to make biscuits he will always
experience some difficulty in moulding them if they are hand-made. When
this is so it would be better to cut them out with a cutter.


58.--Ship Biscuits.

These were evidently the first biscuits, from which have sprung all
the varieties of hard biscuits which we at present possess. They are
of the same character as those which were first made by man in his
progress towards civilisation, and were baked or roasted on hot embers.
Before this, men knew of no other use for their meal than to make it
into a kind of porridge. Biscuits prepared in a simple fashion were for
centuries the food of the Roman soldiers. The name is derived from the
Latin _bis_, twice, and the French _cuit_ = _coctus_, meaning twice
baked or cooked.

Ship biscuits are composed of flour and water only; but some think a
small proportion of yeast makes a great improvement in them. The method
adopted is to make a small weak sponge as for bread previous to making
the dough; the necessary quantity of water is then added. The flour
used for the commoner sort of these biscuits is known as middlings or
fine sharps; and those made from the finer or best are called captains
or cabin biscuits. A sack of flour loses, by drying and baking, 28 lbs.


59.--Captains’ Biscuits.

7 lbs. of fine flour, 6 ozs. of butter, 1 quart of water or milk. Rub
the butter in with the flour until it is crumbled into very small
pieces, make a bay in the centre of the flour, pour in the water or
milk, make it into a dough, and break it when made into dough, chaff or
mould up the required size, 4 or 5 ozs. each, pin out with a rolling
pin about 5 inches in diameter, dock them and lay them with their faces
together. When they are ready bake them in a moderately quick oven, of
a nice brown colour. These are seldom made with hand, as the machinery
in use outstrips hand-made biscuits of this class in speed and gives a
better appearance and quality.


60.--Thick Captains.

7½ lbs. of flour, ½ lb. of butter, 1 quart of water or milk. Mix as
directed. When ready weigh out at 2 ozs. each, mould or chaff, roll
out, dock quite through and bake in a hot oven. All biscuits of this
class require thorough drying in the drying room.


61.--Abernethy Biscuits.

(_Dr. Abernethy’s Original Recipe._)

1 quart of milk, 6 eggs, 8 ozs. of sugar, ½ oz. of caraway seeds,
with flour sufficient to make the whole of the required consistency.
They are generally weighed off at 2 ozs. each, moulded up, pinned and
docked, and baked in a moderate oven.

NOTE.--The heat of an oven is not required so strong for biscuits
containing sugar, as it causes them to take more colour in less time.


62.--Abernethys as made in London.

7 lbs. of flour, 8 ozs. of sugar, 8 ozs. of butter, 4 eggs, 1½ pint of
milk, 2 tablespoonfuls of orange-flower water, ½ oz. of caraway seeds.


63.--Usual Way of making Abernethy Biscuits.

Take 8 lbs. of flour, 1½ lb. of butter and lard, 12 ozs. of sugar, ½
oz. of caraway seeds; some use about ½ oz. of powdered volatile salts.
Proceed to make into dough as before. Well break the dough and finish
with either hand or machine.


64.--Wine Biscuits.

Take 8 lbs. of flour, rub in 2 lbs. of good butter. Make a bay, add
about 1 quart of water, take in your flour and butter and well shake
up, and note the more your mixture is shaken up and worked the better
biscuits you will have. Also note in shaking up these biscuits, when
they are mixed let your two thumbs meet, giving the mixture a shake up
in the air till you have all the dry flour worked in and the mixture is
nice and moist. Bake in a smart oven on wires.


65.--Soda Biscuits.

14 lbs. of flour, 1¼ lb. of butter, ½ oz. of carbonate of soda, 3
drachms of muriatic acid, 2 quarts of water. Mix as the last, adding
the acid mixed with half-a-pint of the water after the dough is shaken
up, then finish with the machine.


66.--Boston Lemon Crackers.

26 lbs. of flour, 2¼ lbs. of butter, 5 lbs. of sugar, 2 ozs. of
ammonia, ½ oz. of essence of lemon, 3 quarts of water. This should be
made into small round biscuits rather larger than pic-nics. Bake them
in a sound oven.


67.--Pic-Nics.

30 lbs. of flour, 4 lbs. of butter, 4 lbs. of castor sugar, 3 ozs. of
carbonate of soda, 2 ozs. of muriatic acid, 4 quarts of milk.


68.--Common Pic-Nics.

28 lbs. of flour, 2 lbs. of lard, 2 lbs. of sugar, 2 ozs. of carbonate
of soda, 2 ozs. of hydrochloric acid. Mix as above and finish the dough
in the usual way. Bake in a moderately brisk oven.


69.--Luncheon Biscuits.

56 lbs. of flour, 3½ lbs. of lard, 3½ lbs. of butter, 1¼ lb. of castor
sugar, 4 quarts of milk, 4 quarts of water, 2 ozs. of carbonate of
soda, 1½ oz. of hydrochloric acid. Mix as before described. Let the
dough be of a good stiffness and broken very clear. The cutters may be
either round or oval. They require about 20 minutes’ baking. As soon as
they are drawing put them in the stove for about two hours.


70.--Digestive Biscuits.

Take equal parts of fine flour and wheat-meal flour and mix them
together to 5 quarts of milk and water. Use 2½ lbs. of butter and 2
ozs. of German yeast. Rub the butter in the flour, make a bay, pour in
your liquor and yeast. Mix the whole into a dough, break it a little,
and put it in a warm place to prove. After it is light enough, break it
quite smooth and clear, roll it out in a sheet one-eighth of an inch in
thickness and cut out your biscuits. As soon as the biscuits are cut
out bake in a hot oven.

71. _Another way._--5 lbs. of granulated wheat meal, 1 lb. of butter, ¼
lb. of sugar, ¼ lb. of ground arrowroot, 4 eggs, 1 quart of milk, ¼ oz.
of carbonate of soda. These are mixed up in the usual way, pinned out
and cut with a small round cutter, docked and baked in a moderate oven.


72.--Small Arrowroot Biscuits.

5½ lbs. of flour, 8 ozs. of butter, 6 ozs. of sugar, 6 ozs. of
arrowroot, 3 eggs, 1 pint of liquor. Prepare as the last. Make 16
biscuits from 1 lb. of dough. Mould and pin into round cakes 3 inches
in diameter, dock them with an arrowroot docker, and bake them in a
sound oven.


73.--Coffee Biscuits.

4 lbs. of flour, 4 ozs. of butter, 4 ozs. of castor sugar, 5 large
eggs, with enough water to fill a pint. Make a bay; after the butter is
rubbed in with the flour, add the sugar and beat up the eggs and water
together; pour into your bay, make the whole into a dough, break it
clear and make it quite thin. When you finish it roll it out the tenth
of an inch in thickness, cut with your coffee biscuit cutter and bake
them in a brisk oven. If the oven should not be hot enough to raise
them round the edges twist up a handful of shavings rather hard and
place them round the edges of the biscuits when baking.


74.--Victoria Biscuits.

3½ lbs. of flour, 2 ozs. butter, 2 ozs. of sugar, 1 pint of eggs. Make
a bay, rub the butter in the flour before you make a bay, add the
sugar, pour in the eggs, beat them well up with your hands, make the
whole into a dough, break well that it may be clear, roll into thin
sheets, cut with an oval cutter the same as used for Brightons, put
them on clean tins, and bake in a hot oven the same as Coffee Biscuits.


75.--Shell Biscuits.

5 lbs. of flour, 12 ozs. of castor sugar, 12 ozs. of butter, 1 pint of
milk. Make all into a good dough, roll into sheets half-an-inch thick,
cut with an oval-pointed cutter in shape thus [Illustration], place
them on a crimp board and with a knife or scraper curl them up, put on
clean dry tins. Bake in moderate heat.


76.--York Biscuits.

5¼ lbs. of flour, 12 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 1 pint of milk.
Mix as before into a dough, roll out the dough ¼ of an inch thick, cut
them into long strips, and cut them diamond shape or square, dock them
either on the table or crimping-board as your fancy dictates. Bake them
in a rather warm oven.


77.--Machine Biscuits.

10 lbs. of flour, 2¼ lbs. of butter, 10 ozs. of castor sugar, 1 quart
of water. Mix up the same as the others, roll out a sheet ½ inch in
thickness, cut them out in various forms, dock them, and bake on clean
dry tins in a moderate oven.


78.--Bath Oliver Biscuits.

1 quart of milk, 1 lb. of butter, 2 ozs. of German yeast, 6½ lbs. of
flour. Make the milk warm, add the sugar, yeast and a handful of flour
to form a ferment, let it ferment for an hour and a half. Rub the
butter into the remaining flour and make all into a nice smooth dough;
let it stand about two hours, then roll it out thin; cut the biscuits
out with a cutter about three inches in diameter, dock them well, place
on clean tins sprinkled with water, wash over with milk when you have
them all off, put them in a steam press or drawers for half an hour,
and bake in a cool oven.


79.--Edinburgh Biscuits.

4 lbs. of flour, 12 ozs. of butter, 6 ozs of sugar, 1 pint of milk.
Mix up in the usual way, break smooth, and make 12 biscuits out of a
pound of dough; roll thin, dock them, and bake in a brisk oven. Sold at
a halfpenny each.


80.--Nursery Biscuits.

Take 1 quart of milk, 5 ozs. sugar, 3 ozs. yeast, ¼ lb. of flour. Mix
all together into a ferment and let it drop, add ¼ lb. arrowroot, 5
ozs. butter, and as much flour as will make a good dough. Put it away
till you think it is ripe enough to work off, which you will know by
its appearing light and spongy. When it has reached this stage take 4
lbs. of the dough and roll it out ½ inch thick, cut out with a plain
round cutter an inch and a half in diameter, put them on tins a quarter
of an inch apart, prove them in steam press, and when ready bake in a
sound oven. Put them in a drying stove or some warm place to thoroughly
dry them, to make them light and easily digestible.


81.--Soda Biscuits.

12½ lbs. of flour, 1 oz. of salt, 6 ozs. of lard, 1 oz. of acid, 1½
oz. of soda, 2 quarts of water. Mix as for Machine Biscuits, break the
dough smooth and clear, let it lay for about half an hour, then roll
out in large sheets nearly the thickness of three penny pieces, cut
out with an oval spring cutter five inches in length and three inches
in breadth. The dough must be well made and of a good stiffness. When
cut out lay them on top of each other in sixes on carrying boards. Have
the oven of a good sound heat and well cleaned out, have a running peel
that will hold six biscuits, and run them on the sole of the oven.




VI. FANCY BISCUITS, ALMONDS, ETC.


82.--Digestive Biscuits.

5 lbs. of wheat meal, 1 lb. of butter, 4 ozs. of sugar, 4 eggs, ¼ oz.
of carbonate of soda in 1 quart of water. Rub the butter in the wheat
meal, make a bay, add the sugar, eggs, and soda; mix well together, add
the water, and take in the wheat meal. After making it into dough, take
about 2 lbs., roll it out into a sheet the thickness of a penny; take
it on the pin again, and roll it on to a piece of cloth spread on the
table; cut them out with a small oval cutter, put on tins well cleaned
but not greased, and bake in a cool oven.


83.--Kent Biscuits.

4 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of butter, 1½ lb. of sugar, 10 eggs, and 3 drs.
of volatile salt. Rub butter in with flour; or make a bay, put in the
butter, partly cream it, add eggs and sugar, and voil after well mixing
all together; take in the flour and make it into a dough. Roll out a
sheet the thickness of two penny pieces, cut out with a small fluted
cutter, lay them in rows, take a brush and egg-wash top, lay them on
lump sugar previously broken into pieces the size of split peas, and
bake on tins slightly buttered, in a moderate oven.


84.--Imperial or Lemon Biscuits.

Take 1¼ lb. of flour, 1¼ lb. of sugar, 4 eggs, 4 ozs. of butter, and a
pinch of volatile salt. Rub butter in the flour, then take the sugar
and mix it with the flour and butter; make a bay, put in your eggs and
voil, and mix all lightly but well together. Take a piece, roll it out
same as for hunting nuts, in strips, place on slightly buttered tins 1
inch apart, and bake on double tins, unless the oven is very cold.

NOTE.--In making fancy biscuits the tins must be as clean as it is
possible to get them. I have seen a whole batch of biscuits spoiled
through “only a little bit of dirt,” as the boy said when taken to task
for his carelessness.


85.--Venice Biscuits.

5 lbs. of flour, 1½ lb. of butter, 2½ lbs. of sugar, 11 eggs, 1 lb. of
mixed peel and 1 oz. of volatile salt. Proceed to make the dough in the
same way as for Imperial or Lemon Biscuits, roll out in a sheet, and
cut out with a small oval fluted cutter; egg them on the top, and throw
them on large crystallised sugar. Bake on slightly buttered tins in a
moderate oven.


86.--Shrewsbury Biscuits.

2 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of sugar, 1 lb. of butter, 4 eggs, pinch of
powdered cinnamon, and a little milk.

87. _Another Way._--14 ozs. of flour, 10 ozs. of sugar, 10 ozs. of
butter, 2 small eggs, half a nutmeg grated, a little cinnamon and mace,
and a pinch of voil.

88. _Another Way._--1½ lb. of flour, ½ lb. of butter, ½ lb. of sugar,
1 egg, with sufficient milk to make dough. Some add about ¼ oz. of
volatile salt. Rub the butter in with the flour, make a bay, add the
sugar, eggs, milk, and spice; make the whole into a dough, roll it out
on an even board to the thickness of an eighth of an inch, cut out with
a plain round cutter two and a half inches in diameter, place them on
clean tins, not buttered, bake in a cool oven. When the biscuits are a
little coloured on the edges they are done.


89.--Peruvian Biscuits.

4 ozs. of flour, 1 lb. of rice-flour, ½ lb. of arrowroot, 1 lb. of
butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 6 eggs, ½ oz. of voil. Make into a dough same
as for other biscuits, roll into strips the thickness of your finger,
cut them the size of small marbles, and bake on slightly greased tins
in a moderate oven.


90.--Currant Fruit Biscuits.

3 lbs. of flour, 12 ozs. of arrowroot, 14 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of
sugar, 10 eggs, 20 ozs. of currants, ½ oz. of voil. Proceed to make
dough as before; roll out in a sheet the thickness of two penny pieces.
Cut with a plain round cutter, and bake in a moderate oven.


91.--Snowdrop Biscuits.

1 lb. of arrowroot, 1 lb. of flour, the whites of 10 eggs, ½ lb. of
butter, ¾ lb. of sugar, ¼ oz. of voil. Rub the butter in the flour, add
the arrowroot, make a bay, add all the other ingredients, mix into a
dough. Proceed the same as for Peruvian biscuits, and bake in a very
cool oven.


92.--Rice Biscuits.

1¼ lb. flour, ¾ lb. rice-flour, ½ lb. butter, 1 lb. sugar, 2 eggs, ¼
oz. of voil. Make into dough with a little milk, roll out in sheets
same size as for Currant Fruit, place on dry tins, and dust the tops
with ground rice.


93.--Genoa and Toulouse Biscuits, Exhibition Nuts and Marseillaise
Biscuits.

6 lbs. flour, 14 ozs. butter, 4 lbs. sugar, 10 eggs, ¼ oz. voil. Make a
nice stiff dough with the rest milk.

_Genoas_ are made by rolling out the dough in strips and cutting off in
pieces the length of the little finger. Wash them on top with white of
egg and throw on lump sugar the size of split peas.

_Marseillaise Biscuits_ are made from the same dough, rolled out in
strips, but cut the size of small marbles. Put about twenty or thirty
of them into a sieve, and roll them about to make them round. These are
baked on dry tins.

_Toulouse Biscuits_ and _Exhibition Nuts_ have currants added to them.
For _Toulouse_ biscuits, roll out the dough in strips, cut the same
length as Genoas, and wash the top with yolk of egg. Place on slightly
greased tins ½ inch apart.

For _Exhibition Nuts_ cut the dough the size of small marbles, lay in
the tin with the cut side down, and press gently with heel of the hand.


94.--Walnut Biscuits.

2 lbs. flour, ½ lb. brown sugar, ½ lb. castor sugar, ½ lb. butter, and
yolk of one egg. Simmer the sugar and a little milk over a slow fire,
rub the butter into the flour; after the sugar has become cold put it
into the bay and make into a stiffish dough. Put the dough into blocks,
and give them the impression of half a walnut, after which cut off the
surplus dough with a sharp knife, knock out the biscuits, and bake on
slightly buttered tins until a nice brown. After they are baked dip in
white of egg, and put two together so as to form a walnut.


95.--Queen’s Drops.

8 ozs. butter, 8 ozs. sugar, 4 eggs, 10 ozs. flour, 6 ozs. currants.
Some add a little voil, but if well creamed there is no use for voil.
Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs, then flour and
currants; have ready a linen bag with a small tin funnel at the end
of it; have a small cork in the funnel so as to keep the mixture from
dropping out, drop them on paper about the breadth of a shilling, put
them on tins, and bake in a sound oven.


96.--Cracknel Biscuits.

3½ lbs. flour, 3 ozs. butter, 6 ozs. castor sugar, 13 eggs, 2 drs.
voil. Rub the butter in the flour, make a bay, put in the sugar in
powder with the eggs and voil, make the whole into a dough of moderate
consistence; break it well and let it be quite clear and smooth; roll
out a quarter of an inch thick, cut out with an oval cutter, or one in
the form of an oak-leaf, dock them in the centre, lay them on a tray in
rows, cover them with a damp cloth. Have a copper on the fire boiling,
throw them into the water one at a time face upwards, and after they
have risen to the top be careful to turn each biscuit face upper-most.
Let them remain this way for two or three minutes for the edges to turn
up. When ready take a skimmer and throw them into a pail of cold water.
When they have been in the water for about an hour put them in a sieve
to strain, and bake on buttered tins in a moderate oven. When baked
they should be placed in the drying stove for a few hours.


97.--Premium Drops.

1 lb. butter, 1 lb. sugar, 9 eggs, 1 lb. rice-flour, ¼ oz. voil, 1 lb.
flour, 4 drops essence of lemon. Proceed the same as for Queen’s Drops.
The batter, however, will be found a good deal stiffer. This makes a
nice drop when well got up.


98.--German Wafers.

8 ozs. sugar, 8 eggs, 4 ozs. flour, 1 oz. butter. Put the flour in a
small basin, rub in the butter and add eggs and sugar; have the tins
well greased, and drop the batter on them with a spoon in pieces a
little larger than a penny. Bake in a cool oven. When baked form into
the shape of a cone, dip each edge in white of egg, and then each end
in coloured sugar. They make a nice show for a window.


99.--Crimp, or Honeycomb Biscuits.

4 lbs. flour, 2 lbs. sugar, 1 lb. butter, 9 eggs, ½ oz. voil. Rub the
butter in with the flour, make a bay, add the sugar, eggs and voil.
Roll out a sheet a nice thickness. Cut out with a small round plain
cutter, but before doing so run over the surface of the dough with a
crimp-pin. Bake in a moderate oven.


100.--Hermit Biscuits.

2 lbs. flour, 4 oz. butter, 12 ozs. sugar, ¼ oz. caraway seeds, 5 or
6 eggs, ¼ oz. voil. Make up the dough as usual for biscuits, cut them
out the size of spice nuts with spice-nut cutter, egg them on top;
have some loaf sugar, and almonds with the skins on cut the size of
split peas, place the biscuits on the sugar and almonds, gently press
them down before putting them on slightly buttered tins, and bake in a
moderate oven.


101.--Italian Macaroons.

1 lb. of Valentia almonds, 2 lbs. of powdered sugar, 7 or 8 whites of
eggs. Beat the almonds with whites of eggs, but not so fine as for
common macaroons; lay out stiff on wafer-paper; have almonds cut in
slices, one into six pieces, lay them on the sides and top of each
macaroon; ice them well from the icing-bag, and bake in a slow oven.


102.--Common Macaroons.

1 lb. Valentia almonds, 1½ lb. sugar, about 8 whites of eggs. Beat
the almonds very fine with the white of an egg in a mortar, and then
add the sugar and two or three whites of eggs; beat well together.
Take out the pestle, add two more whites, and work them well with a
spatter until the whole of the whites are incorporated. Lay out one on
wafer-paper and bake it in a slow oven. If it appears smooth and light
the mixture is ready, but if not add one more white of egg, as it is
hardly possible to ascertain the exact number of whites to use. If
ready lay out on wafer-paper, ice them with sugar on top, and bake in a
moderate oven.


103.--French Macaroons.

1 lb. of Valentia almonds, 1 lb. of sugar, 5 or 6 whites of eggs.
Proceed as before, but instead of beating the almonds with whites of
eggs use rose or orange-flower water, and when beaten very fine put in
the whites of eggs and sugar, beating them well with the spatter. Lay
out one oval on wafer-paper and bake it. If it runs into its shape the
mixture is ready; if too stiff, add one more white of egg; lay out on
wafer-paper, dust sugar on top, and bake them in a good oven.


104.--Ratafias.

8 ozs. of bitter almonds, 8 ozs. of sweet almonds, 2½ lbs. of sugar,
and about eight whites of eggs. Blanch and beat the almonds with
white of egg as fine as possible, and be careful when beating them
you do not oil them. When beaten fine, mix in the sugar and beat both
well together; then add more whites of eggs, work them well with the
spatter, adding more whites of eggs as you proceed. Then lay one or
two on dry paper half the size of a macaroon, and bake them in a slow
oven. If they are of proper stiffness lay them out; if too stiff, add
more whites of eggs to them. Should they be good they will come off the
paper when cold; if not, the paper must be laid on a damp table, when
they will come off easily.


105.--Princess Biscuits.

These are exactly the same as common macaroons, but must be laid out
on wafer paper half the size, and a dried cherry put on the top for
effect. Use a square of citron on some, and a square of angelica on
others. Dust them on top with sugar, and bake them in a slow oven.


106.--Rusks.

1 quart of sponge, 4 ozs. sugar, 2 eggs, 2 ozs. of butter. Mix all
the ingredients together, make it up the size of bun dough with best
flour, let it lie for two hours, make into long rolls and batch them on
tins, greasing between each roll. Bake in moderate oven for thirty-five
minutes. After they are baked let them lie for one day. Rasp top and
bottom off, cut into neat slices, and bake again in a moderate oven
until thoroughly crisp and dry, and of a nice brown colour. Put them in
a basket, and leave them all night in a warm place. This will make them
much crisper. Some add a pinch of ground alum.


107.--Rock Almonds (White).

Blanch and cut the long way any quantity of almonds. Make some icing
pretty stiff (p. 63), put the almonds into it and let them take up all
the icing. Citron, lemon, and orange cut small may also be added. Lay
out on wafer paper in small heaps and bake in a very slow oven.


108.--Rock Almonds (Pink).

Make any desired quantity of icing, colour it with lake finely ground,
mix in as many cut almonds, citron, and lemon as it will take; lay out
on wafer paper in small heaps and bake in a slow oven.


109.--Rock Almonds (Brown).

Take any quantity of Jordan almonds, cut them up very small (but not
blanch them); also citron, lemon, and orange cut small. Prepare some
very light icing, with which mix the almonds, &c., into a soft paste.
Lay out on wafer paper and bake in a slow oven.


110.--Almond Fruit Biscuits.

1 lb. of Valentia almonds, 1 lb. of powdered sugar, 2 or 3 whites of
egg. Beat up the almonds very fine with white of one egg; then rub the
sugar and almonds into a fine paste with 1 or 2 whites of egg, divide
it into two parts, work 2 ozs. of flour into one part and roll it out
thin for the bottom, cut it square and cover it with good raspberry
jam; then roll out another square the same size, and lay it on the top
of the fruit, cover this thinly with icing and cut it up into different
shapes according to fancy; lay them on wafer paper and bake in a slow
oven.

NOTE.--There will be many cuttings from the above shapes which should
not be wasted. Put several bits together in little heaps on wafer
paper, put a little icing on top, a bit of green citron, and a small
bit of raspberry jam. A little pink icing may also be added. Bake in a
slow oven.


111.--Meringues.

Take any desired quantity of whites of eggs (half duck whites if you
can procure them), whisk them until so stiff that an egg will lie on
the surface, then mix in with the spatter some fine powdered sugar
until they appear of a proper stiffness, which may be known by laying
out one oval with a knife and spoon. If it retains the mark of the
knife they are ready to bake; if not, more sugar must be added. Lay out
oval on dry paper and bake on a piece of wood two inches thick: this
is to prevent them having any bottom. They must have a pretty bloom
on them when baked. Take one carefully off with a knife, take out the
inside and fill it with any kind of preserved fruit. Then take off
another and do the same, putting both sides together; and so on till
they are all baked. If good they will have the appearance of a small
egg.

112. _Another Way._--The whites of 12 eggs and 1 quart of clarified
sugar. Let one person whisk up the eggs as before directed while the
sugar is boiled to the degree called “Blown;”[A] then grain the sugar,
and mix the whites of eggs and the sugar together. Lay out and bake as
before directed.


113.--Common Drop Biscuits.

Break the eggs into a round-bottom pan, whisk them till they are
hot, having your pan placed over hot water; take them off and whisk
them till they are cold, then put in the sugar and whisk till hot,
after which again whisk till they are cold. When the eggs and sugar
are perfectly light take out the whisk, stir in the flour gently.
From beginning to end the operation should not take more than twenty
minutes. Cover the tins or wires with wafer paper, and lay out the
biscuits any size required from a savoy bag. Dust them over with sugar
and bake in a hot oven.

The savoy bag should be of the strongest fustian and so made as to
come to a point, like a jelly-bag, at the point of which must be fixed
a small tin pipe two inches long. Boil the bag two or three times to
prevent the mixture passing through.


114.--Savoy Biscuits.

For ingredients, take 8 eggs, 1 lb. of sugar, and 1 lb. of flour, and
see directions below under _Fruit Biscuits_.


115.--French Savoy Biscuits.

Take 8 eggs and 4 yolks, 1 lb. of sugar, and 1 lb. of flour, and see
directions below.


116.--Judges’ Biscuits.

Take 8 eggs and 4 yolks, 1 lb. of sugar, 1 lb. of flour, and a few
caraway seeds, and see directions below.


117.--Lord Mayor’s Biscuits.

Take 8 eggs, 1 lb. of sugar, 1 lb. of flour, and a few caraway seeds,
and see directions below.


118.--Fruit Biscuits.

For these the ingredients are 6 eggs and 6 yolks, 1 lb. of sugar, and 1
lb. of flour.

To mix the above five recipes, observe the directions given for
_Common Drop Biscuits_. They must be baked in a hot oven. The _Savoy
Biscuits_ must be laid out from a savoy bag on “cap” paper one-half
round and one-half long. The _French Savoys_ must be laid out oval, and
when baked two are to be put together. The _Judges’ Biscuits_ are to be
laid out round, about the size of a half-crown; and the _Lord Mayor’s_
are to be round, and of double the size. The _Fruit Biscuits_ are to be
laid out about the size of a shilling, and preserved fruit put between
two of them. Have ready some castor sugar, spread it on a piece of
paper, making it smooth on the surface; then lay each half-sheet of
paper on which the biscuits are placed on the sugar; let them remain a
moment, take them off, give them a shake and bake in a hot oven. Turn
each half-sheet on to a clean table, wash the bottom of the paper with
clean water, let them lie for a moment, and they will be found to come
off easily. Proceed in this way till all are off, and baked.

NOTE.--Some prefer whisking up sponge mixtures cold. They keep better,
but are not so showy.


119.--Palais Royal Biscuits.

Make the mixture exactly the same way as for French Savoys. Bake them
in paper boxes about two inches long, one inch and a-half wide, and
an inch deep. Dust them lightly on the top with sugar and bake in a
moderate oven. The boxes must be made of the best writing paper. They
are very proper to mix with rout biscuits.


120.--Rice Biscuits.

Take the weight of 8 eggs in sugar, 2 eggs in flour, and 6 eggs in
rice-flour; or take 1 lb. of sugar, 4 ozs. of flour, 12 ozs. of
rice-flour, and 8 eggs. Mix cold in the same manner as for Savoy
Biscuits. Bake in a moderate oven in sponge frames nicely buttered.


121.--Scarborough Water Cakes.

8 eggs, 1 lb. of sugar, 1 lb. of flour, and a little ground cinnamon.
Mix the same way as for Savoy Biscuits. Flavour with as much ground
cinnamon as will make them pleasant to the taste. When taken off the
paper put two together.


122.--Sponge Biscuits.

Take 12 eggs, 1 lb. 2 ozs. of sugar, 15 ozs. of flour. Mix cold the
same as for Savoy Biscuits, which is the best method; or they may be
mixed hot. The pans must be neatly buttered with creamed butter, and a
dust of sugar thrown over them. Bake in a moderate oven, but not too
hot. The bottoms should be a neat brown.


123.--Almond Sponge Biscuits.

Make exactly the same way as Sponge Biscuits, only have ready Jordan
almonds blanched and each cut the long way into 6 or 8 pieces. Put them
neatly on the top of each biscuit, dust sugar over them and bake as
before.


124.--Naples Biscuits.

8 eggs, 1 lb. of sugar, 1 gill of water, 1 lb. 2 oz. of flour. A Naples
Biscuit frame is about 8 ins. long, 3 ins. broad, and 1 in. deep. In
this the partitions are upright, and must be papered neatly. Put the
sugar and water into a small pan, let it dissolve and boil; then whisk
the eggs. Pour in the sugar gently, and keep whisking until very light.
When it is quite cold scatter in the flour, and mix it until smooth,
stirring it as lightly as possible. Put it into the frames, well
filled, and bake in a good oven, but not too hot. Dust them with sugar
before putting in the oven.

FOOTNOTE:

[A] To boil sugar to the degree called “Blown,” see p. 74.




VII. PASTRY, CUSTARDS, ETC.


125.--Butter for Puff Paste.

The butter must be perfectly sweet, and before it is used worked on a
marble slab to make it smooth. Salt butter from cows fed on poor land
makes the best puff paste, but it must first be washed in two or three
waters. For every kind of cakes the butter cannot be too rich.


126.--Puff Paste.

3 lbs. of butter and 3 lbs. of flour. The butter must be tough: if
salt, wash it in two waters the night before using it. Take half of it
and rub into the flour, and with pure water make into a paste the same
stiffness as the butter. Roll it on a marble slab half an inch thick,
spot it with small pieces of butter, dust it with flour; then double it
up again, spot it as before, and roll it out again, spot it the third
time, roll out again twice, and put in a cool place for half an hour
with a cloth over it, when it will be fit for use.

NOTE.--Common puff paste for large pies may be made this way by using 1
lb. of butter and 2 lbs. of flour.

127. _Another Way_.--2 lbs. 8 ozs. of butter, and 3 lbs. 8 ozs. of
flour. Mix the flour with water to the same stiffness as the butter,
then roll out the paste, spot it with the butter. Roll it out three
times, and dust it with flour as before. This paste is worse for lying,
and should therefore be baked as soon as possible.

By using lard of a good tough quality, and mixing it as above, with the
addition of a little salt, a good puff paste can be made suitable for
wholesale purposes.


128.--Crisp Tart Paste.

1 lb. of butter, and 2 lbs. of flour. Rub the butter and flour very
finely together, then mix it, with water, into a paste of the stiffness
of the butter. This is a choice paste for tarts made of fresh fruit.


129.--Sweet Tart Paste.

6 ozs. of butter, 2 ozs. of sugar, 1 lb. of flour. Beat to a froth the
whites of two eggs, rub the butter and flour very finely together, make
the paste of the proper stiffness with whites of egg and a little water.


130.--Paste for a Baked Custard.

8 oz. of butter and 1 lb. of flour. Boil the butter in a small
teacupful of water, mix it into the flour, make it smooth, and raise it
to any shape desired.


131.--Paste for small Raised Pies.

12 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of flour, and 1 gill of water. Mix the same
way as for baked custards.


132.--To make a handsome Tartlet.

Take a large oval dish and sheet it with the best puff paste; cut it
round the sides to make leaves, and fill it three-parts full with good
preserved fruit. On the fruit put some device in cut paste, such as a
large star, a sprig of flowers, or a tree.


133.--Nelson Cake or Eccles Cake.

Take 2 lbs. of puff paste, roll out half of it, spread 1½ lb. of clean
currants and ½ lb. of raw sugar upon it with a little spice, and dash
a little water on the sugar and currants to make them unite; then roll
out the remainder of the paste and lay it on the top. Ice it well with
whites of eggs and sugar. Bake on a square tin in a good oven.


134.--To make a Custard.

Boil 1 pint of milk with a bit of cinnamon and a little fresh
lemon-peel, then mix in a pint of cream and the yolks of 7 eggs well
beaten. Sweeten to taste and let the whole simmer until of a proper
thickness. It must not be allowed to boil. Stir it one way the whole
time with a small whisk, until quite smooth, then stir in a glass of
brandy.


135.--Common Custard.

Beat up 3 eggs, add 1 gill of cream or new milk and a little sugar. Put
a dust of cinnamon on each before putting in the oven.




VIII. FRUIT CAKES, BRIDE CAKES, ETC.


136.--Directions for mixing Cakes made with Butter.

Take your butter and work it on a marble slab, then cream it in a warm
earthenware pan, and be particularly careful not to let the butter
oil; add the sugar and work it well with your hand, mixing in one or
two eggs at a time, and so on progressing until all the eggs are used.
Beat it well up, and as soon as you perceive the mixing rise in the pan
put in the flour and beat it well. Then add the spices, currants, and
whatever else is required for the mixing. You may then put it up into
the tins you intend for it. It will be necessary during the time of
creaming it to warm it two or three times, particularly in cold weather.

137. _Another Way._--Proceed with the butter and sugar as before. Have
ready separated the whites from the yolks of the eggs; mix in the yolks
two or three at a time; let another person whisk up the whites stiff.
Then put them to the other mixture and proceed as before directed.


138.--London Way of mixing Cakes.

Weigh down the flour and sugar on a clean smooth table, make a hole in
it, and bank it well up; in this hole put your eggs; cream the butter
in an earthenware pan; then add to the flour and sugar the eggs and
butter; mix all together and beat up well with both hands. You may work
it up this way as light as a feather; then add the currants, spices,
&c.

139. _Another Way._--Take six pieces of cane about 18 inches long,
tie them fast together at one end, but in order to make them open put
in the middle, where you tie them, one or two pieces half the length.
This is called a mixing-rod. Provide a tall pot, as upright as can be
procured, which make hot; work your butter on a marble slab, then put
it in the pan and work it well round with the rod until it is nicely
creamed; put in the sugar and incorporate both together; add one or two
eggs at a time, and so on progressively until they are all used up;
work away with the rod with all speed, and as soon as it is properly
light (which you may know by its rising in the pan) take it out and mix
in the flour, spices, currants, &c., with a spatter. This is esteemed
the very best way of mixing cakes.


140.--Citron Cake.

1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. 2 ozs. of sugar, 6 eggs, and 4 yolks; 1 lb. 4
ozs. of flour. Cut 4 ozs. of green citron in long thin pieces and place
them in two or three layers as you put the cake up. It must be baked in
a deep tin or rim papered with fine paper. Neatly buttered and baked in
a slow oven.


141.--Common Fruit Cake.

3 lbs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 24 eggs, 5¼ lbs. of flour, 4½ lbs.
of currants, 1 lb. 8 ozs. of lemon and orange peel, a little mace, a
pint of warm milk, ¼ oz. of soda, about ½ oz. cream of tartar. Proceed
as directed.


142.--Pound Cakes.

1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 8 eggs, 1 lb. 2 ozs. of flour, 1 lb. 8
ozs. of currants, 8 ozs. of orange and lemon peel. Proceed as directed.


143.--Seed Cakes.

1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 8 eggs, 1 lb. of flour, caraway
seeds. Some put 1 tablespoonful of brandy and 2 ozs. of cut almonds.


144.--Two and Three Pound Cakes.

2 lbs. 4 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 16 eggs, 2 lbs. 6 ozs. of
flour, 3 lbs. 8 ozs. of currants, 1 lb. 8 ozs. of orange, lemon, and
citron; almonds and brandy if required; ¾ oz. of cream of tartar and
carbonate of soda. Proceed as directed.


145.--Another Seed Cake.

2 lbs. 8 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 16 eggs, 2 lbs. 4 ozs. of
flour, 4 ozs. of cut almonds, caraway seeds, and a glass of brandy; ¾
oz. of cream of tartar and carbonate of soda. Proceed as directed.


146.--Four and Six Pound Cakes.

2 lbs. 8 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 16 eggs, 3 lbs. 8 ozs. of
flour, 6 lbs. of currants, 2 lbs. of orange and lemon, citron and
almonds. Proceed as directed.


147.--Bride Cakes.

The following mixtures are made in a few first-class shops, and the
recipes for the same are not generally known. The prices quoted allow
for almond-icing as well.

  ---------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
    Ingredients. |10s. 6d.|  12s. |  15s. |  18s. | £1 1s.|£1 11s.| £2 2s.
  ---------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
                 | lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.
  Butter         |  0  11 | 0  13 | 1   1 | 1   4 | 1   6 |2    1 | 2  12
  Sugar          |  0   7 | 0   8 | 0  10 | 0  12 | 1   0 |1    6 | 1  12
  Currants       |  1   4 | 1   6 | 1  10 | 2   0 | 2   8 |3   12 | 5   0
  Orange and     |        |       |       |       |       |       |
    citron, mixed|  0   6 | 0   7 | 0   8 | 0  10 | 0  12 |1    2 | 1   8
  Almonds        |  0   1½| 0   2 | 0   2 | 0   3 | 0   3 |0    4 | 0   6
  Mixed spice[B] |  0   0½|  --   | 0   0¾|  --   | 0   1 |0    1½| 0   2
  Flour          |  0  11 | 0  13 | 1   1 | 1   4 | 1   6 |2    1 | 2  12
  Eggs, number of|    6   |   7   |   9   |   10  |   12  |  18   |  24
  Brandy or     {| Wine-  | Wine- | Wine- | Wine- |¼-pint.|¼-pint.|½-pint.
    brandy and  {| glass- | glass-| glass-| glass-|       |       |
    wine        {|  ful.  |  ful. |  ful. |  ful. |       |       |
  ---------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------


148.--Icing Sugar for Bride Cakes, &c.

To make this take 2 lbs. of finely powdered icing sugar (first having
an earthenware pan made warm), put in six fresh whites of eggs, and
immediately whisk them, and as quickly as possible, until quite stiff;
then add the sugar by degrees, whisking all the time. As soon as it
appears light cease whisking, and beat it well with the spatter until
you have put in all the sugar. A little tartaric acid or lemon-juice
may be added towards the end of the mixing. To know when it is
sufficiently beaten, take up a little on the spatter and let it drop
into the basin again. If it keeps its shape it is ready; if it runs it
is either beaten too little or requires more sugar.

A good substitute for eggs is French glue. Take a quarter of an ounce
of it and fully one imperial pint of boiling water. Pour the water
on the glue, and stir in with a spoon until all is dissolved. If
convenient, make it two days before using. The glue is used similar to
eggs. Add to it a small pinch of tartaric acid. This glue is mostly
used for wholesale or cheap purposes.


149.--Almond Icing for Bride Cakes.

1 lb. Valencia almonds, 2 lbs. of icing sugar, and about 3 whites of
eggs and 2 yolks. Blanch and beat the almonds. Fine with whites of
eggs, then add the sugar and whites and yolks, beat them well together
and make them into a stiffish paste. As soon as the cake is baked, take
it out and take off the hoop and the paper carefully from the sides,
then put the almond icing carefully on the top of the cake, and make it
as smooth as you can. Put into the oven, and let it remain until the
almond icing is firm enough and of the colour of a macaroon; let it
stand two or three hours, then ice it with sugar icing.


150.--Wedding Cake.

1¼ lb. of flour, 1 lb. 2 oz. of butter, 1 lb. of moist sugar, 4 lbs.
of currants, 1½ lb. of mixed peel, 2 nutmegs grated, ½ oz. ground
cinnamon, 10 eggs, ½ lb. blanched sweet almonds cut in halves, and a
wineglassful of brandy. Mix as before directed.


151.--Rich Twelfth Cake.

Same as wedding cake. In olden times a bean and a pea were introduced
into the cake to determine who should be king and queen of the evening
festivities.


152.--Madeira Cakes.

1¾ lb. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 2 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of patent
flour, 24 eggs. Proceed as before directed. This mixing makes eight
cakes, selling at a shilling each. Put two thin slices of citron on
each. Bake in a cool oven. Note.--Patent flour is made with 8 lbs. of
flour, 4 ozs. cream of tartar, 2 ozs. carbonate of soda, and sifted
three times.


153.--Plum Cake. (_As made for best shops in Edinburgh._)

3 lbs. of butter, 3 lbs. of sugar, 4½ lbs. of flour, 40 eggs, 8 or 10
lbs. of currants, 2 lbs. of peel, a few drops of essence of lemon.
Cream and finish as before directed.


154.--Genoa Cake.

1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 1¼ lb. of flour, 1 lb. of eggs, 2½
lbs. of currants, washed and picked, 1½ lb. of orange peel. Bake in a
small square-edged tin. Proceed as before directed. When nicely in the
tin have prepared some blanched and chopped almonds, strew them rather
thickly on the top, and bake in a moderate oven.


155.--Rice Cake (_Scotch Mixture_).

2 lbs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 2¼ lbs. of flour, ¼ lb. of rice
flour, 20 eggs, essence of lemon. Proceed as before directed.


156.--Madeira Cake (_Scotch Mixture_).

1¼ lb. of butter, 1¾ lb. of sugar, 2¼ lbs. of flour, 20 eggs, a
small pinch of tartaric acid and carbonate of soda. Proceed as before
directed.


157.--Pond Cake or Dundee Cake.

1 lb. of butter, 1¼ lb. of sugar, 13 eggs, 1¾ lb. of flour, 2 lbs. of
peel cut in small squares. After it is creamed up and ready, entirely
cover the top with small comfits. Bake in moderate oven. Do not cream
it so light as for other cakes so as to keep the comfits from sinking
in the cake.


158.--Silver Cake.

1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 1 pint of whites of eggs, 1¾ lb. of
flour, almond to flavour.


159.--Gold Cake.

1¼ lb. of butter, 1½ lb. of sugar, 1 pint of yolks of eggs, 1¾ lb. of
sultana raisins, ½ lb. of lemon peel, 2 lbs. of flour, ¼ lb. of patent
or soda flour. Add a little milk to make it as soft as the Silver
mixture, paper a deep square tin, and spread the gold mixture 2 inches
thick, then spread the silver mixture nicely over the top of the gold.
Baking, about 2¼ hours.


160.--Plum Cake at 6d. per lb. (_As sold by Grocers._)

8 lbs. of flour, 2 lbs. of butter, 3 lbs. of sugar, 4 lbs. of currants,
½ lb. of peel, 15 eggs, 2 ozs. of carbonate of soda, 3 ozs. of cream of
tartar, essence of lemon, and fresh churned milk, to make into a nice
dough. Have some square one-pound tins nicely papered, and weigh in 1
lb. of the mixture. This is an excellent mixture if well got up.

161. _Another Way._--1 lb. of lard, 1¼ lb. of sugar, 8 ozs. of peel, 5
lbs. of currants, 6 lbs. of flour, a grated nutmeg, 1 oz. carbonate of
soda, 2 ozs. cream of tartar, 8 eggs, the rest milk.

162. _Another Way._--½ lb. of butter, ¾ lb. of sugar, 4 eggs, 3 lbs.
of currants, 4 lbs. of flour, ¾ oz. of carbonate of soda, ½ oz. of
tartaric acid. Dough with milk.


163.--Mystery, or Cheap Plum Cake at 3d. per lb.

8 lbs. of common flour, 3 lbs. of brown sugar, 1 lb. of lard, 2 ozs. of
peel, 3 lbs. of currants, 1½ oz. of spice, 2 ozs. of carbonate of soda,
1 oz. of tartaric acid. Dough with milk. Bake in a slow oven, wash with
egg on top.


164.--Plum Cake at 4d. per lb.

4 lbs. of flour, 3 lbs. of currants, 12 ozs. of lard, 14 ozs. of sugar,
1½ oz. of cream of tartar, 1 oz. of carbonate of soda, ¼ oz. of spice.
Dough with good churned milk.


165.--Lafayette Cakes.

½ lb. of butter, ½ lb. of sugar, ½ lb. of flour, 6 eggs, ¼ oz. of
volatile salts in powder. Mix same as pound cake. Bake in round flat
tins about ¼ of an inch deep, or drop some of the paste on whity-brown
paper and spread it out into a round thin cake about 6 inches in
diameter. This will make 12 cakes. Bake them in a moderate oven in
tins. Take them off the paper when baked, spread some raspberry or
other jam on two of them and put three together. Trim them round the
edges with a knife, and divide or cut them into 4, 6, or 8 parts
according to the price at which they are to be sold.


166.--American Genoa Cake.

Take 7 lbs. of common butter or butterine, 7 lbs. of castor sugar, 60
eggs, 12 lbs. of flour, 10 lbs. of currants, 3 lbs. of chopped peel,
1½ oz. of cream of tartar, ¾ oz. of soda, about 2 pints of churned
milk. Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs, then mix all
the other ingredients together. Paper a square-edged pan, lay on your
batter about three inches thick, and bake in a sound oven. After the
cake is baked, put it aside in a cool room till next morning, when you
may turn it out of the tin, and then, after taking the paper nicely
off, cut it into suitable sizes.

NOTE.--The sides of the tin before being papered must be lined with
wood upsets.

This cake is sold at 6d. per pound.


167.--Lemon Cake.

¾ lb. of butter, ¾ lb. of sugar, 1 lb. of eggs, ½ gill of brandy, ½ lb.
of flour, the grated rind of two lemons. Cream the butter, sugar, and
eggs, in the usual way, stir in the lemon rind, brandy, and flour; put
in small moulds and bake in a moderate oven.


168.--Bristol Cake.

2 lbs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 2 lbs. of eggs, 2 lbs. of flour, 1
lb. of patent flour, 3 lbs. of sultana raisins. Cream this cake in the
usual way, bake in small round hoops, weighed out at 1 lb. each. Bake
in moderate oven.


169.--Jubilee Cakes.

4½ lbs. of flour, 1 lb. 6 ozs. of butter, 1 lb. 14 ozs. of castor
sugar, 11 eggs, 1¼ oz. of carbonate of soda, 1¾ oz. of cream of tartar,
churned milk to dough. Weigh the flour, add the tartar and soda, make
a bay; have the butter previously warmed, put it in the bay with the
sugar, cream it well with your hand, adding the eggs gradually, then
mix all together and make into a nice batter. Weigh at 1 lb. for
sixpence.

This makes a number of cakes of various kinds--such as _Citron Cake_,
by adding a small quantity of thinly chopped citron; _Madeira Cake_, by
dusting the top with castor sugar, and placing two pieces of peel on
the top; _Plum Cake_, by adding a few currants and cut peel; _Cocoa-nut
Cake_, by adding a little cocoa-nut to the mixture, and dusting the top
with cocoa-nut; and _Seed Cake_, by adding a few seeds. It is a capital
mixture when nicely got up.

FOOTNOTE:

[B] Nutmegs, mace, and cinnamon.




IX. HANDY WHOLESALE RECIPES FOR SMALL MASTERS.


170.--Soda Cakes or Scones.

12 lbs. of flour, 6 ozs. of cream of tartar, 3 ozs. of carbonate of
soda, 12 ozs. of lard, 2 ozs. of salt. Dough up with churned milk, mix
the tartar and soda with the flour, rub the lard in the flour, make a
bay, add the salt, and make into a nice dough with milk. Weigh off at 6
ozs. for a penny. Mould round, pin out the breadth of a small saucer,
wash the top with milk, bake on the bottom of a good sound oven. Dock
them with a docker.


171.--Currant or Milk Scones.

6 lbs. of flour, 6 ozs. of lard, 6 ozs. of sugar, 3 ozs. of cream of
tartar, 1½ oz. soda, 1 lb. of currants, 1 oz. of salt; buttermilk to
dough. Mix as above. Weigh off at 11 ozs. for 2d., mould, pin out and
cut in four; put on flat clean tins; wash with egg on top. Bake in a
sound oven.


172.--Sugar or White Spice Biscuits.

7 lbs. of good fine flour, 12 ozs. of lard, 3 lbs. of moist sugar, 4
ozs. of ammonia, churned milk to dough; mix as above, but do not work
the mixture too much. Take about 4 lbs. of the dough, work it into a
square or round shape, pin it out a little thicker than a penny piece,
cut out either in shapes or farthing or halfpenny biscuits, but well
dock the sheet before you cut them. Bake on greased tins; wash on top;
a few currants strewn on the shapes. Bake in a sharp oven.


173.--Halfpenny Scotch Cakes.

3½ lbs. of flour, 12 ozs. of lard, 12 ozs. of sugar, ¼ oz. voil, and a
little milk, as much as will dissolve the volatile salts and sugar. Mix
as above, but well rub the dough; make it nice and easy to work off.
Pin out a sheet about ¼ of an inch thick, cut out with a small round
cutter; dock each one well; pinch round the edges with the finger and
thumb. Bake on clean tins, but not greased, in a moderate oven.


174.--Large Square Penny Albert Cake.

Rub 6 ozs. of lard in 6 lbs. of flour, then add 4 ozs. of cream of
tartar and 2 ozs. of soda. Mix all together and make a bay. Put in the
bay 2 lbs. of sugar and 3 lbs. of currants, and dough with churned
milk, a little softer than for plum cake mixture. Have a large-edged
pan cleaned and greased, put the mixture in the tin and spread it
equally over the tin, putting your hand occasionally in a little milk
to smooth over the surface. This mixture is best made up in a basin or
large bowl and poured into the tin. Bake in a moderate oven and cut
when cold.


175.--Brandy Snaps.

Rub 1 lb. of lard in 4 lbs. of flour, put 4 lbs. of moist sugar on it
and mix together; make a bay, put in 4 lbs. of syrup and about half a
teaspoonful of essence of lemon. Make all into dough, pin it out, cut
with a small round cutter, about the thickness of a penny. Bake on
well-greased tins in a moderate oven. You can curl them round the peel
or have them plain.


176.--Nonpareil Biscuits.

Rub 6 ozs. of lard in 5 lbs. of flour, make a bay, put in 2½ lbs. of
moist sugar, 2 ozs. of ammonia; dough with milk; make into a dough,
but do not work it too much. Cut out the same size and thickness as for
brandy snaps; wash the top with milk; have some nonpareil sweets spread
on the table, throw the biscuits on them, put on slightly greased tins.
Bake in moderate oven.


177.--Common Halfpenny Queen Cake.

3 lbs. of flour, add 1 oz. of cream of tartar, 1 oz. of soda; mix; rub
in 12 ozs. of lard, make a bay, put in 24 ozs. of castor sugar, essence
of lemon; dough with churned milk; dough rather soft. Have some fluted
tins ready greased, take a spoon and three-parts fill your tins. Bake
in a moderate oven.


178.--Halfpenny Lunch Cake.

2 lbs. of flour, 4 ozs. of lard, 8 ozs. of sugar, 8 ozs. of currants, 1
oz. of soda, 1 oz. of cream of tartar; dough with churned milk and mix
as for queens. Have some square sponge cake tins ready greased, take a
spoon and three-parts fill them; wash with egg on top, dust them with
castor sugar and bake in sound oven.


179.--Polkas or Halfpenny Sponges.

Put 2½ lbs. of good flour on the table, make a bay, put in S eggs, 1½
lb. of castor sugar, and 1 oz. voil; beat eggs, sugar, and ammonia with
your hand for twelve or fifteen minutes, add a little churned milk,
take in your flour and beat all well together with 12 drops of essence
of lemon. Have your tins greased, take a spoon, half fill it with the
mixture; put on tins about 2 inches apart; put about 6 or 8 currants on
each and bake in a hot oven.




THE SUGAR-BOILER’S ASSISTANT.




THE SUGAR-BOILER’S ASSISTANT.




X. CONFECTIONS IN SUGAR-BOILING.


180.--Clarifying Sugar.

The clarifying and boiling of sugar to the different degrees must
be considered as the key to all sorts of stove working, and I will
give here the method used for clarifying sugar. The pan used must be
perfectly clean and bright. Whisk two whites of eggs in one pint of
water; break 30 lbs. of good lump sugar into small pieces and put it
into the pan; pour over it 6 quarts of water, set it on a clear stove
to melt, but be careful it does not blubber and boil before it is
melted; when you see it rise it is then boiling, and must be stopped
immediately by putting in 1 quart of water; when it rises again add the
same quantity of water, and so on two or three times; this prevents the
scum from boiling into the sugar and makes it rise to the top. Draw the
pan to one side of the fire and take all the scum off; let it continue
to simmer. Keep adding a little water to make the remaining part of the
scum rise. By this time the scum will be very white and tough, which
also take off if the sugar appear clear. Dip in your finger, and if a
drop hang from it, it is of the first degree, called smooth, and may be
put by for use.

You may clarify a much smaller quantity of sugar by carefully attending
to these instructions.


181.--Testing Sugar.

Granulated sugar is considered the best to use, as it is less liable
to adulteration than any other kind. Of moist sugars, Demerara is the
best. The simplest way to test sugar for its purity is to dissolve a
little in a glass of clear water. If the sugar be quite pure the water
will only be slightly thickened, but not in the least clouded, neither
will there be any sediment. In keeping sugar care should be taken to
protect it from dampness and vermin--especially ants.


To boil Sugar to the different degrees.

182. _To the degree called “Pearled.”_--Cover your preserving pan
bottom two or three inches deep, boil it briskly over a clear fire for
a short time, then dip in your finger and put it to your thumb, if on
separating them a small string of sugar adheres to each it is boiled to
the degree called pearled.

183. _To the degree called “Blown.”_--After you have ascertained that
the sugar is boiled to the degree called pearled put in the skimmer and
let it boil a few minutes, then shake it out of the sugar and give it a
blow. If sugar fly from the skimmer in small bladders it is boiled to
the degree called blown.

184. _To the degree called “Feathered.”_--Continue to boil the sugar
from blown for a short time longer; take out the skimmer and give it
a jerk over the pan, then over your head, and if sugar fly out like
feathers it is boiled to the degree called feathered.

185. _To the “Ball” Degree._--To know when the “ball” has been
acquired, first dip your finger into a basin of cold water, then apply
your finger to the syrup, taking up a little on the tip and dipping it
into the water again; if upon rolling the sugar with the fingers and
thumb you can make it into a small ball, that is what is termed the
“small ball;” when you can make a larger and harder ball, which you
could not bite without its sticking unpleasantly to the teeth, you may
be satisfied that is the “large ball.”

186. _To the degree called “Crackled.”_--Boil the sugar from the degree
called feathered a little longer; dip a stick or a piece of pipe (or
your finger, if you are used to boiling) into water, then into the
sugar and again into the water. If it crack with the touch it is boiled
to the degree called crackled.

187. _To the degree called “Caramelled.”_--Boil the sugar still
further, dip a stick or your finger into water, then into the sugar,
and again into the water. If it snap like glass it is of the highest
degree, called caramelled, and must be taken off the fire immediately,
for fear of burning. This sugar is proper to caramel any sort of fruit.


188.--To boil Sugar by the Thermometer.

All the foregoing tests are according to the old style of boiling; but
a boiling-glass can now be had which enables us to boil to a better
degree of accuracy. Thus, to boil to the pearl is to boil to 220
degrees; the small thread 228 degrees; the large thread 236 degrees;
the blow 240 degrees; the feather 242 degrees; the small ball 244
degrees; the large ball 250 degrees; the small crack 261 degrees; the
hard crack 281 degrees; the caramel 360 degrees.


189.--Barley Sugar.

Put some sugar in a pan with water and place it on the fire to boil;
when it is at the feather add a little lemon juice and continue boiling
to the caramel; when done add a few drops of essence of lemon. Pour it
on a marble slab previously oiled, cut into strips. When nearly cold
take the strips in your fingers and twist them, and when quite cold put
them into tin boxes and keep them closed down. The reason that barley
sugar is so named is that it was originally made with a decoction of
barley.


190.--Barley Sugar Drops.

These are made in the same manner as the preceding. You pour the sugar
while hot into impressions made in dried icing sugar.


191.--Acid Drops.

Boil 3 lbs. of loaf sugar, 1 pint of water, and a teaspoonful of cream
of tartar to the caramel; add a few drops of essence of lemon, and pour
it on an oiled marble slab or stone; sprinkle on it a tablespoonful
of powdered tartaric acid and work it in. Oil a tin sheet and put the
sugar on it in a warm place, then cut off a small piece and roll it
into a round pipe, cut this into small pieces the size of drops with
a pair of scissors and roll them round under the hand; mix with fine
powdered sugar, sift the drops from it and put them in boxes, to be
used as required.


192.--Pine-apple Drops.

Cut the half of a pine-apple into slices, drop them into a mortar and
pound them; put the pulp into a cloth and extract the juice; take as
much sugar as will be required and boil it to the crack. When the sugar
is at the feather commence to add the pine-apple juice; pour it on
slowly, so that by the time the syrup is at the crack it shall all be
mixed in with the sugar. Finish as for barley sugar drops.


193.--Poppy Drops.

Extract the essence of the poppies (the wild flowers are the best) in
hot water, boil some sugar in a pan--the same way as for barley sugar
drops--and add the decoction of poppies just before the syrup is at
the crack. No essence of lemon should be used, and they need not be
sugared when put into boxes.


194.--Ginger Drops.

Make these after the same manner as barley sugar drops, in boiling
the sugar, and flavour with a few drops of the essence of ginger just
before the syrup is at the crack.


195.--Cayenne Drops.

These are made the same way as barley sugar drops and the poppy and
ginger drops. Flavour a minute before the boiling sugar is at the
crack. To give the cayenne flavour add a few drops of the essence of
capsicum.


196.--Ginger Candy.

Boil some clarified sugar to the ball, and flavour with essence of
ginger, then rub some of the sugar against the sides of the pan with a
spatula until the sugar turns white; pour it into tins which have been
oiled and put into the stove. The sugar should be coloured with some
vegetable yellow whilst boiling.


197.--Lemon Candy.

This is made in the same manner as ginger candy. Colour yellow with a
little saffron, add a few drops of essence of lemon. This is made by
boiling sugar to the feather and ball, and grained by rubbing against
the pan.


198.--Peppermint Candy.

The mode of making this candy is the same as that for making ginger
candy, only add essence of peppermint.


199.--Rose Candy.

Made the same way as ginger candy. Rose candy should be coloured with
cochineal or carmine.


200.--Burnt Almonds.

1 lb. of almonds, 2 lbs. of sugar. Take 2 lbs. of clarified sugar
and boil it to the “ball;” put 1 lb. of Jordan or Valencia almonds,
blanched and dried, into the pan with the sugar; stir them from the
fire, and let them absorb as much sugar as possible. If you want
them well saturated with sugar repeat this until the sweetening is
completed. Flavour with orange-flower water.


201.--Cast Sugar Drops.

Select the best refined sugar with a good grain, pound it and pass
through a coarse hair sieve; sift again in a lawn sieve, to take out
the finest part, as the sugar, when it is too fine, makes the drops
heavy and compact and destroys their brilliancy and shining appearance.
Now put the sugar into a pan and moisten it with any aromatic
spirit you intend to use, using a little water to make it of such a
consistence as to allow of its dropping off the spoon without sticking
to it. Rose water is the best; it should be poured in slowly, stirring
all the time with a wooden spoon. Colour the sugar with prepared
cochineal or any other colour, ground fine and moistened with a little
water; the tint should be light and delicate. Then take a small pan,
made with a lip on the right side, so that when it is held in the left
hand the drops may be detached from the right. Put in the paste and
place the pan in the stove on a ring that just fits it. Take a small
spatula and stir the sugar until it dissolves and makes a slight noise,
but do not let it boil, but remove it from the fire when it is near the
boiling point, then stir it well with the small spatula until of such a
consistence that when dropped it will not spread too much, but retain a
round form. Should it, however, be too thin add a little of the coarse
powdered sugar, which should be reserved for the purpose, and make it
of the thickness required. Take a smooth tin or copper plate and let
the paste drop on it from the lip of the pan at regular intervals. You
hold the pan in the left hand and with a piece of straight wire in the
right hand you separate the drop of sugar from the lip of the pan,
letting it fall on the tin. In the course of an hour and a half or two
hours the drops may be removed with a thin knife. If no copper plates
are at hand a piece of stout cartridge paper will do. Damp the back of
the paper with a sponge when you wish to remove the drops.


202.--Rose Drops.

These are made as in the preceding case. Flavour with essence of rose
and colour with cochineal.


203.--Orange-flower Drops.

Flavour with orange-flower water or a little of the essence of neroli.


204.--Chocolate Drops.

2 ozs. of chocolate, 2 lbs. of sugar. The chocolate must be scraped to
a powder and then made into a paste with cold water, finishing as for
cast sugar drops.


205.--Coffee Drops.

2 ozs. of coffee, 2 lbs. of sugar. Make a decoction of coffee in the
regular manner and add it to your sugar to make the paste or syrup.
Finish in the same way as for cast sugar drops.


206.--Barberry Drops.

6 ozs. of barberries, 1½ lb. of sugar. Press the juice out of the
barberries and mix it into the pounded sugar. Should there not be
sufficient juice add a little clear water. Make no more paste than you
can actually use, as the second time it is heated it becomes greasy and
difficult to drop.


207.--Peppermint Drops.

Moisten the sugar, which should be white and of the finest quality,
with peppermint water, or flavour it with the essence of peppermint and
moisten it with a little clear water. See that your utensils are very
clean.


208.--Pine-apple Drops.

Take the pine-apple and rub the rind on a piece of rough sugar. The
sugar thus impregnated you scrape off for use directly. Pound the
pine-apple, and pass the pulp or juice through a fine hair sieve. Add
the sugar just scraped off and as much more as you think it requires to
make it sweet. Make it into a paste with clear water. Every precaution
must be used, as it soon greases. No more should be made than you
actually want for immediate use.


209.--Vanilla Drops.

2 pods of vanilla, 1 lb. of pounded sugar. Use the pods of vanilla in
preference to the essence; the latter is apt to grease the paste. Cut
the vanilla up very fine, put it in a mortar, and pound it well along
with a portion of your sugar. When sufficiently smooth, sift it through
a fine sieve. Finish as for the rest.


210.--Ginger Drops.

Take as much ginger as you wish to use, pound, and sift it through a
fine lawn sieve; add it to as much sugar as you desire to flavour, and
mix it with clear water. Some use the ginger sold at the shops already
powdered; some, again, the essence of ginger, colouring the paste with
saffron.


211.--Lemon Drops.

Rub off the yellow rind of some lemons on a piece of rough sugar;
scrape it off, and mix it into your paste. Add sufficient to your sugar
to give it a good flavour, and colour it a light yellow with saffron.
Moisten with clear water, and mix as the rest.


212.--Orange Drops.

These are made the same as lemon drops.


213.--Pear Drops.

Made the same as above, and flavoured with the essence of jargonel pear.


214.--Lavender, Violet, Musk, and Millefleur Drops.

These are all made the same way as the above, being flavoured with the
essences that give them their names.


215.--Pink Burnt Almonds.

Put 1 pint of clarified sugar in a round-bottomed pan on a clear fire,
boil it to the degree called blown, mix in as much prepared cochineal
as will make it a good colour, boil it again to the degree called
blown, throw in the brown burnt almonds free from small; take the pan
off the fire and stir the almonds well about in the sugar with the
spatter until it is all upon them, which is very easily done if you are
careful. You may repeat this two or three times, which will make the
almonds very handsome.


216.--Philadelphia Caramels.

Take 10 lbs. of sugar, 2 quarts of rich cream, 1½ lb. of glucose, 1
lb. of fresh butter, 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar, 1 lb. of cocoa
paste, and ¼ of a lb. of white wax of paraffin. Boil these to the
“crack,” pour upon a greased marble slab, between iron bars, and let it
remain until cold, then cut it into small cubes and fold in wax-paper.


217.--Boston Chips.

These are made of sugar boiled to the hard crack, flavoured and tinted
to suit your fancy; it is then poured upon a greased marble slab. As
soon as it becomes sufficiently cold the edges are turned in and the
batch is folded in a mass, placed upon the candy hook and pulled; it
is then run through a machine the iron rollers of which are set very
closely together, so that the candy comes through as thin as a wafer;
it is then cut into strips to suit, or it may be wound around an oiled
round stick and then slipped off, making a curl. Two or more colours
may be joined together before it is run through the machine, thus
making a parti-coloured ribbon.


218.--Engagement Favours.

Break up 1 lb. of loaf sugar into small particles, let it dissolve in
a pan with ½ pint of water and 2 spoonfuls of lemon-juice; skim and
boil to the ball, add pieces of lemon peel tied together with a string,
boil until a sample is brittle; take out the lemon peel, pour out the
sugar on an oiled slab, taking care to distribute it so that the whole
mass cools at the same time. It is pulled, manipulated, and cut in
the ordinary way. A small part of the sugar coloured red and boiled
separately may be used to variegate the sweets, and should be worked in
just before cutting.


219.--Almond Hardbake.

Oil a square or round tin with low edges, split some almonds in halves
and place them in rows over the bottom with the split side downward
until the surface is covered. Boil some raw sugar to the crack, pour it
over them so as to cover the whole with a thin sheet of sugar.

Cocoanut cut in thin slices, currants, and other similar candies are
made in the same way, except that the sugar is ground before it is
poured over.


220.--To make Gum Paste.

Put any quantity of picked gum dragon into an upright earthen jar,
cover it over with cold water and let it stand two or three days. Have
ready some of the very finest icing sugar, take the gum into a coarse
piece of canvas and let another person assist in twisting it round
until the whole has passed through. Beat it well up in the mortar to
make it tough and white, then add sugar by degrees, still beating it
with the pestle. When it is stiff take it out and keep it in an earthen
jar for use. When it is worked into ornaments it will require a little
starch-powder to smooth and make it proper for use. If you want to
colour any part of it, use vegetable colouring.


221.--To spin a Silver Web.

Take 1 pint of clarified sugar and 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice, boil
it in a small pan to the degree called caramelled; the moment the sugar
is ready take it off and put the bottom of the pan in cold water. As
soon as the water is warmed take the pan out. This precaution will
keep the sugar from discolouring. As this sugar is to represent silver
you must be particularly careful not to boil it too high. Have ready a
crocanth mould neatly oiled with sweet oil, then take a teaspoon and
dip the shank of it into the sugar on one side of the pan, take up a
little sugar and throw the spoon backwards and forwards in the mould,
leaving as fine a thread as possible. Continue to do so until the mould
is quite full. You must observe that there be no blotches and that
the threads be as fine as hair; you may then take it out and cover it
over a custard or any other sweet, and may, if you please, raise it by
spinning light threads of sugar on the top.


222.--To spin a Gold Web.

Proceed with a gold web exactly the same as with the silver web, only
boil the sugar a moment longer.


223.--A Spun Sugar Pyramid.

Provide four or five round moulds, the one larger than the other, oil
them neatly, then boil your sugar as for silver web, only let it remain
on the fire one minute longer, then take up sugar with the shank of the
spoon and spin it as near the side of the mould as possible, but let no
blotches appear; do this to the four moulds. As soon as cold take them
out and fix one above another with hot sugar, then spin long lengths
of sugar round until they form a complete pyramid. You may spin long
threads of sugar to represent a feather, and place them on the top, or
you may place a sprig of myrtle on the top and spin long lengths of
sugar round it. The way to do it is to take the shank of your spoon,
dip it into the cool sugar at the side of the pan, take hold of a bit
of the sugar with your finger and thumb and pull it out to any length
and fineness you please.


224.--To spin a Gold Sugar Crocanth.

Boil your sugar a minute longer than for the silver web, using the
same precaution as before. Have ready your mould neatly oiled, then
take a little sugar on the shank of your spoon, spin it quite close
to the side of your mould (be careful you make no blotches), spin all
round, and strengthen the sugar as much as you can. There must be no
holes or blotches, but an even regular sugar, all parts as near alike
as possible. When the sugar is perfectly cold turn it out carefully,
and set it over a custard or any other sweet. You may use it plain or
ornament it with gum paste, as you think proper.


225.--To spin a Gold Cup.

Provide a copper mould like a cup. It must be made in three parts, and
must be perfectly smooth within; oil each neatly, and spin sugar in
each, agreeable to the directions for the crocanth. If two persons can
spin at the same time it will be much better. When the three moulds
are perfectly covered with sugar, and cold, take each out and put them
together in a proper manner with hot sugar. You may ornament the cup
with gum paste, which will make it very beautiful.

NOTE.--In boiling sugar to spin, great care must be taken to have a
clear fire, and only to boil a small quantity at a time in a small
brass pan. If you have two or three sugars to spin you must use two or
three pans. One person may be attending to the boiling while another
is spinning. A teaspoonful of lemon juice must be put to a pint of
clarified sugar. If the sugar is likely to boil over the top of the pan
drop one drop of sweet oil from your finger into the sugar, which will
stop it immediately.


226.--A Spun Sugar Bee-hive.

Mould twenty or thirty bees in gum paste, as near the colour and shape
as possible, make a hole with a pin on each side of the mouth and let
them dry; make some of the wings extend as if flying. Provide a large
round crocanth mould as near the shape of a bee-hive as possible, then
boil the sugar as formerly instructed. Spin the sugar hot close to
the inside of the mould. It must be regularly spun and very strong,
the threads very fine, and no blotches. When it is so, let it stand
until quite cold, then turn it out of the mould on to a large dish and
ornament as under.


227.--To Ornament a Bee-hive.

Before you begin to boil the sugar take as many borders out of your gum
paste moulds as will go round the bottom; also take out leaves for the
top; run a husk round the sides to represent the matting of the hive,
lay your borders and leaves on a marble slab, with a cloth over them
to keep them moist. You may also twist a length of gum paste like a
wreath and make it into a large ring; this must be dried; then fix on
the ornaments with a little hot sugar and set the ring upright on the
top. You may then spin long lengths of sugar very fine on to a tin
plate. Take the bees and fix them with hot sugar on the top and sides
of the hive; break the lengths of sugar in short pieces and fix them in
the holes made in the bees. You may also form three entrances into the
hive with the gum paste husk.




XI. COLOURING SUGAR.


228.--To prepare Sugar for Colouring.

Take good loaf sugar, get it ground well, put it through a hair sieve;
what remains in the hair sieve put into a fine wire sieve and sift it,
and the sugar which comes through the wire sieve will be rough sugar
proper for colouring.


229.--To colour Sugar.

Divide the sugar into as many parts as you intend to colour, put each
into a sheet of paper, then prepare your colours. Take a round-bottomed
pan and put it on a warm stove, pour in your lot of sugar, stir it
about with a dry whisk until the sugar is warm, add the colour, stir it
well with the whisk to make the sugar all of that colour, then stir it
about till the sugar is nearly dry, when you may spread it about on the
sheet of paper. You may proceed in this manner with all the colours.
The first colour used should be yellow, and the next green, which may
be coloured in the yellow pan and with the same whisk. You must then
wash both, and colour red, and after that orange. When the sugar is
cold, sift it to take out any coupled, then bottle it separately. It
will be found to be a useful article to ornament rout biscuits, creams,
&c.


230.--Blue Colouring.

Take a fig of the best indigo, dip one side in warm water and rub it
on a marble slab until you gain the strength you want; or if you wish
for a quantity, put a fig into a small cup, drop a tablespoonful of
water upon it, and let it stand half an hour; then pour off the water
at the top, and you will have a fine smooth colour.


231.--Carmine Colouring.

Take carmine, No. 24 or 40, 1 dr., liquor potassæ 2½ drs., water 2
ozs., glycerine sufficient to make 4 ozs. Rub the carmine to a paste
with liquor potassæ and add the water and glycerine. This is a splendid
red, and works well with liquor acids.


232.--Green Colouring.

Take some strong saffron colour and a little of the fine melted blue;
mix them well together, which will make a green colour. If you want a
pale green, use more yellow; if a dark green, use more blue.

233. _Another Way._--Take a quantity of spinach, pick the leaves from
the stalks, put them very tight down in a small pan, add a small
quantity of water, cover them closely up, and set the pan on a warm
stove for two hours; then turn the leaves into a coarse canvas, and let
two persons twist it round until all the liquor is squeezed out; set it
on a clear fire in a small pan, and let it boil one minute. When cold,
bottle and cork it tight.

NOTE.--The vegetable colouring bought at shops which manufacture it
specially for confectioners is the safest, cheapest, and best.


234.--Orange Colouring.

Take one tablespoonful of cochineal colour and the same quantity of the
saffron liquor; mix them together and you will have an orange colour.
If it be too red, add a little more yellow; if it be too yellow, add a
little more red.


235.--Red Colouring.

Beat 1 oz. of cochineal fine in a mortar, to which put 1½ pint of soft
water and ½ oz. of cream of tartar; simmer them in a pan for half an
hour over a slow fire. Take it off, and throw in ½ oz. of roach alum
to strike the colour. You may ascertain the strength by dipping in a
piece of writing paper. If not sufficiently strong, simmer it again for
a short time. When nearly cold, strain it through a strong piece of
canvas, and before you bottle it add 2 ozs. of double refined sugar.


236.--Yellow Colouring.

Put the best saffron down tightly in a small jar, pour a little boiling
water over it, cover it closely up, and set it in a warm place for half
an hour, turning it two or three times in the water; then strain and
bottle it for use.




XII. LOZENGES.


Lozenges are made of loaf sugar finely ground, gum arabic dissolved in
water, also gum dragon. They are mixed together into a paste, cut round
or oval with cutters, and dried. To make the best sort of lozenges,
1 lb. of gum arabic should be dissolved in 1 pint of water; but the
proportion of gum and water in general use is 2½ lbs. of gum arabic in
1 quart and ½ pint of water, and 1 oz. of gum dragon in ½ pint of water.


237.--Peppermint Lozenges.

Take some finely powdered loaf sugar, put it on a marble slab, make a
bay in the centre, pour in some dissolved gum, and mix into a paste,
flavour with the essence of peppermint, roll the paste on the marble
slab until it is about an eighth of an inch thick. Use starch-powder
to dust it with; this keeps it from sticking. Dust the surface with a
little starch-powder and sugar, and rub it over with the palm of your
hand. Cut out the lozenges and place them on wooden trays, and place
them in the stove to dry. All lozenges are finished in the same way.


238.--Rose Lozenges.

Make the paste the same way as the preceding, and use essence of roses
to flavour with; colour the paste with cochineal.


239.--Ginger Lozenges.

1 oz. of powdered ginger, 1 lb. of powdered sugar. Mix to a paste with
dissolved gum; colour with yellow.


240.--Transparent Mint Lozenges.

These are made with the coarser grains of powdered loaf sugar. Pass the
sugar through a hair sieve, then sift it through a fine sieve to take
away the powder. Flavour with peppermint. Finish as the others.


241.--Cinnamon Lozenges.

Mix as the others; flavour with cinnamon in powder, adding a few drops
of essential oil. Colour with coffee colour.


242.--Clove Lozenges.

1 oz. of cloves powdered and 2½ lbs. of sugar. Mix, and finish as for
the others.


243.--Nutmeg Lozenges.

¼ oz. of oil of nutmeg, 2 lbs. of sugar. Mix as instructions for the
others.


244.--Lavender Lozenges.

Mix as for others; flavour with English oil of lavender, and colour
with a little cochineal and blue mixed.


245.--Vanilla Lozenges.

Use essence of vanilla or the stick pounded with sugar and sifted
through a fine hair sieve.


246.--Brilliants.

Take either of the pastes for lozenges and cut into small fancy devices
or ornaments.




XIII. ICE CREAMS.


The genuine recipe for making ice creams will be found below. The first
operation is the thorough scalding of the cream, sugar, and eggs: this
gives it greater body and richness.


247.--Vanilla Ice Cream.

Put into a perfectly bright and clean copper basin 2 lbs. of sugar, 4
eggs, 1 large fine bean of vanilla split and cut into small pieces,
stir all well together with a large wire whisk, then add 4 quarts of
rich cream, place it upon the fire and stir well and constantly until
it is about to boil; then immediately remove it from the fire and
strain it through a hair sieve into an earthen tureen or crock; let it
stand till cool, pour it into your freezing-can already imbedded in
broken ice and rock-salt, cover and turn the crank slowly and steadily
until it can be turned no longer, open the can and remove the dasher,
scrape the hardened cream from the sides with a long-handled spatula,
and beat and work the cream until smooth. Close the can, draw off the
water, and repack with fresh ice and salt and let it rest for an hour
or two to harden and ripen.

Ice cream is often made from fresh unscalded cream beaten vigorously
during the entire freezing process, this causes it to swell and
increase in bulk from a fourth to a third, but what is gained in
quantity is lost in quality, as it becomes very light and snowy in
texture, having no body: it is simply a frozen froth. Ice cream should
be firm, smooth, and satiny, yet melting on the tongue like the best
quality of gilt-edged butter.

In flavouring ice creams with fruit juices or the pulp thereof, the
latter must never be cooked or scalded with the cream under any
circumstances; they must be added, mixed, and beaten into the cream
after it is frozen.

The process given above for vanilla ice cream is the same for all cream
ices.


248.--Bisque or Biscuit Glace.

Make a rich and highly flavoured vanilla ice cream and add for each
quart ¼ of a lb. of almond macaroons dried crisp and reduced to a
powder in a stone mortar. After the cream is frozen, add and work into
it the macaroon powder, and finish as above directed for vanilla ice
cream.


249.--Crushed Strawberry Ice Cream.

As for bisque, make a rich vanilla ice cream, and when it is well
frozen add to it 1 pint of strawberries to each quart of cream. The
berries must be full ripe and be crushed to a pulp with some fine sugar
before adding and working them into the cream. Finish as for vanilla.


250.--Hokey Pokey.

This article is not an ice cream proper, but a species of frozen
custard made of milk, eggs, sugar, gelatine, and flavouring. Take 2
ozs. of gelatine, dissolve in ½ pint of milk or water, then to 4 quarts
of milk and 8 eggs slightly beaten add 1½ lb. of sugar and the thin
yellow rind of 2 lemons, and a pinch of salt; put the ingredients into
a clean, bright basin, place on a moderate fire, and stir constantly
till it begins to thicken, then remove quickly, and pour it into an
earthen pan and continue to stir it till nearly cold, then add and stir
in the dissolved gelatine; pour all into your freezer and freeze as
for other ices. When frozen it may be put in small boxes about three
inches long by two inches wide, or it may be wrapped in wax paper and
kept ready for sale in an ice cave. The office of the gelatine is to
solidify the compound and assist its “keeping” qualities.


251.--Cocoanut Ice.

Take grated white meat of 3 fine cocoanuts and the milk they have
contained, to which add 3 quarts of filtered water; place on the fire
and boil for ten minutes, then pour it into an earthen or stoneware
crock, cover, and let it infuse till nearly cold, then strain and
press off the liquid with a fine sieve; to this liquid add 1¼ lb. of
pulverised sugar and the whites of 3 eggs; mix all thoroughly well
together and pour it into the freezer already imbedded in ice and salt.
Freeze and finish as other ices.




XIV. PRESERVING FRUITS.


The preserving of fruits has always been considered a principal branch
of confectionery, and one which requires no small degree of attention
and diligence. As you are instructed in the boiling of sugars in its
several degrees, named in each recipe, should it be boiled lower the
fruit will lose its colour, turn windy, and spoil; if it is boiled
higher it will rock and cannot be got out of the jars. Another
important point is to preserve such fruit only as is quite fresh
picked, the flavour, which is a very essential consideration, being
lost if the fruit be stale. Cleanliness in this branch, as in every
other, must not be neglected. Preserving pans, &c., must resemble a
looking-glass as much as possible. Fruits well preserved will keep in
almost any place. It is better, however, to keep them neither in too
dry nor in too damp a place. The jars must be well protected from air
by covering each with writing-paper dipped in brandy, covered and tied
over with wet bladder.

NOTE.--A wood skimmer must be made of ash or elm about 4 inches long,
3 inches broad, and 1 inch thick. There is a handle fixed on one side,
which take hold of and lay the wood gently on the fruit where the scum
is, then take it off and scrape off the scum, and so on until all is
taken off.


252.--Large Strawberries.

Procure the largest Carolina or Hanoverian strawberries, pack two
layers with care in a flat-bottomed preserving pan, then pour over
them 1 pint of currant juice, cover them with smooth clarified sugar,
and over it a sheet of paper, set them on a warm part of the stove
until the syrup is new-milk warm, then take them off; next morning
take them out one at a time with an egg-spoon and lay them on a fine
splinter sieve set over a pan to drain; add to the syrup a little
clarified sugar and boil it to the degree called “pearled,” put in the
fruit with care and simmer them round; as soon as the syrup is off the
degree called pearled, take them from the stove, skim, and put them
with great care into a flat pudding pot, cover them up for two days,
then lay them on a splinter sieve to drain, and add to the syrup 1 or 2
pints of clarified sugar as occasion may require, with the proportion
of red currant juice, boil it to the degree called pearled, and put
in your fruit with great care and simmer them very gently round the
sides of the pan; as soon as the syrup is off the degree called pearled
skim them and put them into jars, filling them within half an inch of
the top. When cold cover them with writing-paper dipped in brandy and
bladder them over.


253.--Strawberry Jam.

Take any quantity of scarlet strawberries, pass them through a fine
splinter sieve, add to them 1 or 2 pints of red currant juice,
according to the quantity of strawberries, put the same weight of
sifted loaf sugar as fruit, boil them over a bright fire, keep stirring
all the time with a spatter, and with it make a figure of eight in the
pan to prevent the jam taking hold of the bottom; when it has boiled
ten minutes take it off and take a little jam out with a scraper,
which drop upon a plate; if it retains the mark of the scraper it is
of a proper consistency and ready to put into jars, but should it run
thin on the plate it must be boiled again until of the substance above
named. It is necessary here to observe that all sorts of red fruit
should be kept as short a time as possible on the fire, and for that
reason let your fires be perfectly bright before you use them.


254.--Raspberry Jelly.

Take 4 quarts of clear raspberry juice, add to it 8 pounds of sifted
lump sugar, set it on a clear fire in your preserving pan, stir it with
the spatter to keep it from burning; let it rise, then take it from
the fire, skim it, set it on the fire again, and let it rise three
or four times, skimming it each time. If, on taking out the skimmer,
small flakes hang from it, it is of a proper consistency and may be put
into jars. When cold cover it with writing-paper dipped in brandy, and
bladder them over.


255.--Black Currant Jelly.

Pick black currants from the stalks as well and in as short a time as
you can, then put them into strong earthen jars or stew pots, cover
them well over and set them in a slow oven for one night; next morning
put them into the jelly-bag, and as soon as drained, which will be in
three or four hours, measure the juice. To each pint of juice take 1
lb. 4 ozs. of sifted loaf sugar, boil and skim it as before. You may if
you think proper clarify the sugar, but this is a much easier way.


256.--Red Currant Jam.

Pick red currants until you have 7 lbs., then force the whole of them
through a splinter sieve, to which add 7 lbs. of sifted lump sugar;
boil this very well over a brisk fire for twenty minutes, stirring
it all the time with the spatter. This is very useful for tartlets,
cheaper than rasps, and a much better colour. Put it into jars, cover
them with paper dipped in brandy and bladder them over.


257.--Apple Jelly.

Take codlin apples, cut them very thin across, fill your preserving
pan nearly full, cover them with soft water and then with a sheet
of paper, set them on a slow fire, let them simmer slowly for a
considerable time to extract the jelly from the apple. They must not on
any account be stirred about in the pan. When the virtue appears to be
quite extracted from them pour them into a jelly-bag. Cut more apples
as before, about half the quantity, put them into the pan, and pour
over them the extract from the first apples, simmer them very slowly as
before. When the essence is all extracted put them into a jelly-bag.
This jelly is used in the putting up of all preserved fruits.


258.--Gooseberry Jam.

Take 7 lbs. of clean, picked, dry gooseberries, put them into your
preserving pan with 1 pint of water and 7 lbs. of sifted loaf sugar.
Boil over a clear fire from twenty minutes to half an hour; when they
are boiled to the consistency required take them off, put them into
jars and secure them from the air as the others.


259.--Orange Marmalade.

Take 12 Seville and 12 China oranges, pare the outer skin off as thin
as you can, lay it in soft water and freshen it every two hours to take
out the bitterness, then pull off the white skin from the pared oranges
and throw it away; cut them across, squeeze the juice from them, and
set them on the fire in the preserving pan with plenty of soft water,
boil them until so soft as to pulp through a hair sieve. Then boil the
outer skin equally soft. If it will not go through, beat it well in a
mortar and then put it through; add to it the other pulp and the juice.
Weigh it, and to each pound allow 1 lb. 2 ozs. of sifted loaf sugar.
Boil this well together, stirring it all the time, until it will retain
the mark of the scraper, when it will be ready to put into jars, which
must be secured from air as before.




XV. CHOCOLATE.


260.--General Directions for Making Chocolate.

Provide yourself with an iron pestle and mortar, also a stone slab of
a very fine grain about two feet square, and a rolling-pin of hard
stone or iron. The stone must have an opening beneath in which to place
a pot of burning charcoal to heat it. Warm the mortar and pestle by
placing them on a stove, or charcoal may be used, until they are so hot
that you can scarcely bear your hand against them. Wipe the mortar out
clean, and put any convenient quantity of prepared nuts in it, which
pound until they are reduced to an oily paste into which the pestle
will sink with its own weight. Add fine powdered sugar to the chocolate
paste. After it has been well pounded, the sugar must be in proportion
of 3 lbs. to 4 lbs. of prepared cocoa. Continue to pound it until
completely mixed; then put it in a pan and place it in the stove to
keep warm. Take a portion of it and roll or grind it well on the stone
slab with the roller, both being previously heated like the mortar
until it is reduced to a smooth impalpable paste, which will melt in
the mouth like butter when this is accomplished. Put it in another pan
and keep it warm until the whole is similarly disposed of; then place
it again on the stove, which must not be quite so warm as previously.
Work it over again, and divide it into pieces of two, four, eight, or
sixteen ounces each, which you put in tin mould. Give it a shake, and
the chocolate will become flat. When cold, it will easily turn out.


261.--Chocolate Harlequin Pistachios.

In making harlequin pistachios, you warm some of the sweet chocolate by
pounding it in a hot mortar. After it has been prepared in this manner,
take some of it and wrap it round a blanched pistachio nut; roll it in
the hand to give it the form of an olive, and throw it into nonpareils
of mixed colours, so that it may be variously coloured, à la harlequin.
Proceed with the remaining pistachio nuts after the same fashion,
dropping them into the nonpareils so that the comfits will adhere to
the pistachios. Fold them in coloured or fancy papers, with mottoes.
The ends are generally fringed.


262.--Chocolate Drops with Nonpareils.

Prepare some warm chocolate as in the preceding recipe. When the
chocolate has been well pounded and is a smooth impalpable paste, make
it into balls the size of a small marble by rolling in the hand. Place
them on square sheets of paper about one inch apart; having filled the
sheet, take it by the corners and lift it up and down, letting it touch
the table each time: this will flatten them. Completely cover their
surfaces with white nonpareils, gently shaking off the surplus ones.
After the drops are cold, they can be very easily removed from the
paper. The drops should be about the size of a sixpence.


263.--Chocolate in Moulds.

It is usual now amongst confectioners to use the English unsweetened
chocolate, as it saves much time and trouble, and is equally good. To
form it into shapes you must have two kinds of moulds, made either of
thick tin or copper tinned inside; the one sort is impressed with a
device or figure, and with a narrow edge; the other is flat or nearly
so, and the same size as the previous mould, with a shallow device
in the centre. You put a piece of prepared chocolate into the first
mould, and then cover it with the flat one; upon pressing it down the
chocolate receives the form of both devices. After it is cold it can be
easily taken out. It should have a shining appearance.




_Now Ready, uniform with the present Work, 124 pp., price 2s._


THE

PASTRYCOOK AND CONFECTIONER’S GUIDE

For Hotels, Restaurants, and the Trade in General. Adapted also for
Family Use.

BY ROBERT WELLS,

AUTHOR OF THE “BREAD AND BISCUIT BAKER’S AND SUGAR-BOILER’S ASSISTANT.”

_CONTAINING A LARGE VARIETY OF MODERN AND USEFUL RECIPES._


LONDON: CROSBY LOCKWOOD & SON, 7, STATIONERS’ HALL COURT.




INDEX.


  Abernethy Biscuits, 39
  ---- As made in London, 40
  ---- Usual way of making, 40
  Acid Drops, 76
  Adulteration with Alum, Professor Vaughan on, 13
  Albert Cakes, 31, 69
  Almonds, Rock, 52
  Almond Fruit Biscuits, 52
  ---- Hardbake, 82
  ---- Sponge Biscuits, 56
  Alum in Bread, 13
  ---- Liebig on Action of, 13
  ---- Professor Vaughan on, 13
  American Genoa Cake, 66
  Apple Jelly, 97
  Arrowroot Biscuits, 42
  Art of Bread-making, Slow Progress in, 1


  Baking, General Remarks on, 10
  Balloon or Prussian Cakes, 29
  Balmoral Cakes, 29
  Barberry Drops, 79
  Barley Sugar, 75
  ---- Drops, 76
  Bath Buns, 27
  ---- Oliver Biscuits, 43
  Bee-hive, to Ornament a, 85
  ---- in Spun Sugar, 85
  Biscuits, Fancy, Recipes for, 45
  ---- Hard, Recipes for, 38
  Bisque or Biscuit Glace, 93
  Blue Colouring for Sugar, 87
  Boiling Sugar to the degree called “Pearled”, 74
  ---- to the degree called “Blown”, 74
  ---- to the degree called “Feathered”, 74
  ---- to the degree called “Ball”, 74
  ---- to the degree called “Crackled”, 75
  ---- to the degree called “Caramelled”, 75
  ---- by the Thermometer, 75
  Boston Chips, 82
  ---- Lemon Crackers, 41
  Brandy Snaps, 35, 69
  Bread, Tea Cakes, Buns, &c., Recipes for, 17
  ---- Good, Essentials of, 10
  Bread-making by the Old Method, 17
  ---- Modern way of, 18
  ---- Process of, 5
  ---- Scotch style of, 19
  Bride Cakes, 62
  ---- Almond Icing for, 63
  ---- Icing Sugar for, 63
  Brilliants, 91
  Bristol Cake, 67
  Brown Bread compared with White, 7
  Buns, Recipes for, 27, 28, 29, 30
  Burnt Almonds, 78, 81
  Butter for Puff Paste, 57
  Butter for Pastry and Cakes, 14


  Cakes made with Butter, Directions for Mixing, 60
  ---- London way of Mixing, 60
  Captains’ Biscuits, 39
  ---- Thick, 39
  Carmine Colouring for Sugar, 88
  Cast Sugar Drops, 78
  Cayenne Drops, 77
  Chelsea Buns, 28
  Chemistry as applied to Bread-making, 2, 8
  Chocolate, General Directions for Making, 99
  ---- Drops, 79
  Chocolate Drops with Nonpareils, 100
  ---- Harlequin Pistachios, 100
  ---- in Moulds, 100
  Cinnamon Buns, 30
  ---- Lozenges, 91
  Citron Cake, 61
  Clarifying Sugar, 73
  Clove Lozenges, 91
  Coarse Bread, 22
  Cocoanut Cakes, 31
  ---- Ice, 94
  Coffee Biscuits, 42
  ---- Drops, 79
  Colouring Sugar, 87
  Confections in Sugar Boiling, 73
  Cracknel Biscuits, 48
  Crimp or Honeycomb Biscuits, 49
  Crumpets, 26
  Currant Fruit Biscuits, 47
  ---- Jam, Red, 97
  ---- Jelly, Black, 97
  ---- or Milk Scones, 68
  Custard, 59
  ---- Common, 59


  Diet Bread, 21
  Digestive Biscuits, 41, 42, 45
  Drop Biscuits, Common, 54
  Dundee Cake, 65


  Eccles Cake, 58
  Edinburgh Biscuits, 43
  Engagement Favours, 82
  Essentials of good Bread-making, 10
  Exhibition Nuts, 47


  Fermentation, 4
  Flour, Judging between Good and Bad, 13
  Flour, Patent, 31
  Fruit Biscuits, 54
  Fruit Cakes, Bride Cakes, &c., Recipes for, 60
  ---- Cake, Common, 61
  Fun Nuts, 34


  Genoa Biscuits, 47
  ---- Cake, 64
  ---- ---- American, 66
  Germ Flour Bread, 23
  German Buns, 30
  German Wafers, 49
  ---- Yeast, 11
  Ginger Cakes, 33
  ---- Candy, 77
  Ginger Drops, 77, 80
  ---- Lozenges, 91
  Gingerbread, Queen’s, 32
  ---- German, 32
  ---- Grantham or White, 34
  ---- Halfpenny Squares, 35
  ---- Light, 34
  ---- Scarborough (for wholesale purposes), 33
  ---- Spiced, 32
  Gold Cake, 65
  ---- Cup, 84
  ---- Sugar Crocanth, 84
  ---- Web, 83
  Gooseberry Jam, 98
  Graham, Professor, on Brown Bread, 8
  Green Colouring for Sugar, 88
  Gum Paste, 83


  Halfpenny Lunch Cake, 70
  ---- Queen Cake, 70
  ---- Scotch Cakes, 69
  ---- Sponges, 70
  Hardbake, Almond, 82
  Hermit Biscuits, 50
  Hokey Pokey, 93
  Home-made Bread, 17
  Honeycomb Biscuits, 49
  Hot-cross Buns, 28
  Hunting Nuts, 36


  Ice Creams, 92
  Icing Sugar, 63
  Imperial or Lemon Biscuits, 45


  Jago, Professor, on Brown Bread, 7
  Jubilee Buns, 30
  ---- Cakes, 67
  Judges’ Biscuits, 54
  Jumbles or Brandy Snaps, 35, 69


  Kent Biscuits, 45


  Lafayette Cakes, 66
  Laughing or Fun Nuts, 34
  Lavender Drops, 81
  ---- Lozenges, 91
  Lemon Biscuits, 45
  ---- Cake, 67
  ---- Candy, 77
  ---- Drops, 80
  Liebig on Action of Alum in Bread, 13
  ---- on Process of Bread-making, 5
  London Buns, 30
  Lord Mayor’s Biscuits, 54
  Lozenges, Recipes for, 90
  Lunch Cake, 70
  Luncheon Biscuits, 41


  Macaroons, common, 50
  ---- French, 51
  ---- Italian, 50
  Machine Biscuits, 43
  ---- made Biscuits, 38
  Madeira Cakes, 64
  ---- Cake (Scotch Mixture), 64
  Making Bread, Liebig on, 13
  ---- Modern Way of, 18
  ---- Scotch Style of, 19
  Marmalade, 98
  Marseillaise Biscuits, 47
  Meringues, 53
  Milk Scones, 68
  Millefleur Drops, 81
  Mixing Cakes, London way of, 60, 61
  Muffins, 25
  Musk Drops, 81
  Mystery Plum Cake, 66


  Naples Biscuits, 56
  Nelson Cake, 58
  Nonpareil Biscuits, 69
  Nursery Biscuits, 44
  Nutmeg Lozenges, 91


  Oatmeal Cake, 27
  Orange Colouring for Sugar, 88
  ---- Drops, 81
  Orange Marmalade, 98
  Orange-flower Drops, 79


  Palais-Royal Biscuits, 55
  Parisian Barm, 11
  Parking Cake, 36
  Parkings, 36
  Paste for Baked Custard, 58
  ---- Small Raised Pies, 58
  ---- Tarts, 58
  Pastry, Custard, &c., Recipes for, 57
  Pear Drops, 81
  Penny Albert Cake, Large Square, 69
  ---- Queen Cakes, 31
  ---- Rice Cakes, 31
  Peppermint Candy, 77
  Peppermint Drops, 80
  ---- Lozenges, 90
  Peruvian Biscuits, 47
  Philadelphia Caramels, 81
  Pic-Nics, 41
  ---- Common, 41
  Pineapple Drops, 76, 80
  Pink Burnt Almonds, 81
  Plum Cake (as made for best shops in Edinburgh), 64
  Plum Cake at 6d. per lb. (as sold by Grocers), 65
  ---- at 3d. per lb. (Mystery), 66
  ---- at 4d. per lb., 66
  Polkas or Halfpenny Sponges, 70
  Pond Cake, 65
  Poppy Drops, 76
  Pound Cakes, 61, 62
  Premium Drops, 49
  Preserving Fruits, 95
  Princess Biscuits, 51
  Prussian Cakes, 29
  Puff Paste, 57


  Queen Cakes, 31, 70
  Queen’s Bread, 24
  ---- Drops, 48


  Raspberry Jelly, 97
  Ratafias, 51
  Red Colouring for Sugar, 89
  Rice Biscuits, 47, 55
  ---- Cake (Scotch Mixture), 64
  ---- Cakes, 31
  Rock Almonds, Brown, 52
  ---- Pink, 52
  ---- White, 52
  Rose Candy, 77
  ---- Drops, 79
  ---- Lozenges, 90
  Rusks, 51
  Rye Bread, 22


  Saffron Buns, 29
  Sally Luns, 24
  Savoy Biscuits, 54
  Scarborough Water Cakes, 56
  Scones, 68
  ---- Currant or Milk, 68
  Scotch Cakes, 69
  Seed Cakes, 61, 62
  Shell Biscuits, 43
  Ship Biscuits, 38
  Shortbread, English, 37
  ---- French, 37
  ---- Scotch, 36
  Shrewsbury Biscuits, 46
  Silver Cake, 65
  Silver Web, 83
  Snowdrop Biscuits, 47
  Soda Biscuits, 40, 44
  ---- Cakes, 68
  Spice Nuts, 34
  Sponge Biscuits, 56
  Spun Sugar Bee-hive, 85
  ---- Pyramid, 84
  Strawberry Ice Cream, 93
  ---- Jam, 96
  Strawberries, Preserving, 95
  Sugar Biscuits, 68
  ---- Boiling, 74, 75
  ---- Clarifying, 72
  ---- Testing, 74
  ---- to prepare for Colouring, 87
  ---- to Colour, 87


  Tart Paste, Crisp, 58
  ---- Sweet, 58
  Tartlet, a Handsome, 58
  Tea Cakes, 24
  ---- Yorkshire, 24
  Technical Training, Need of, 1
  Testing Sugar, 74
  Toulouse Biscuits, 47
  Transparent Mint Lozenges, 91
  Treacle, Prepared, 33
  ---- for thick Gingerbread, 33
  Twelfth Cake, 64


  Unfermented or Diet Bread, 2


  Vanilla Drops, 80
  ---- Lozenges, 91
  ---- Ice Cream, 92
  Vaughan (Professor) on Adulteration with Alum, 13
  Venice Biscuits, 46
  Victoria Biscuits, 42
  Violet Drops, 81


  Walnut Biscuits, 48
  Wedding Cake, 63
  White Gingerbread, 34
  White Spice Biscuits, 68
  Whole Meal Bread, Home-made, 20
  ----for Master Bakers, 21
  Wine Biscuits, 40


  Yeast, American, Recipe for, 12
  ---- German, 11
  Yellow Colouring for Sugar, 89
  York Biscuits, 43
  Yorkshire Cakes, 24


PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.




       *       *       *       *       *

Transcriber’s Notes

Minor punctuation errors (such as missing periods) have been corrected.

Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained, except
in cases where the index was made to match the main text.

Variations in the chapter headings and recipe names between the Table
of Contents and the main text have been retained. However, the entry
for recipe “57. Machine-made Biscuits” was incorrectly listed at the
end of Chapter IV. in the original. It has been moved to its correct
place under Chapter V.--Hard Biscuits.

The following apparent typographical errors have been corrected.

Page 3, “proteine” changed to “protein.” (consists of protein,
compounds)

Page 39, “in to” changed to “into.” (crumbled into very small pieces)

Page 49, “8 ozs. eggs” changed to “8 eggs.” (in German Wafers recipe)

Page 56, “Biscuit” changed to “Biscuits.” (Sponge Biscuits)

Page 68, “pennypiece” changed to “penny piece.” (a little thicker than
a penny piece)

Page 69, “vol” changed to “voil.” (in Halfpenny Scotch Cakes recipe)

Page 105, “Lunns” changed to “Luns.” (Sally Luns, 24)





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bread and Biscuit Baker's and
Sugar-Boiler's Assistant, by Robert Wells

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 53627 ***