LADIES’ COLUMN.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 664, 2 September 1921, Page 2

LADIES’ COLUMN.

(By “ Ru-ru.") “ Ru-ru” hitherto has given no recipes for bread, so this week’s column will be entirely given to different methods of making bread and various scone recipes. Bread making is a very ancient art indeed, The Assyrians, Egyptians and Greeks used to make bread, in which oil, with aniseed and other spices was an element, but this was unleavened. Every family used to prepare the bread for its own consumption, the trade of baking not having yet taken shape. It is said that somewhere about the beginning of the thirtieth Olympiad, the slave of an archer at Athens made leaven bread by accident. He had left some wheaten dough in an earthen pan and forgotten it. Some days after he came upon it again, and found it turning sour. His first thought was /to throw it away, but his master coming up, he mixed this.sour dough with some fresh which he was work-' ing at. The bread thus produced, by the introduction of the dough in which alcoholic fermentation had begun, was found delicious by the archer and his friends, and the slave, being summoned and catechised, tolcl the secret. It spreajJ all over Athens and everybody wanted leavened bread at once. Certain persons set up as bread makers or bakers. In a short time bread-making became quite, an art and “Athenian bread” was quoted all over Greece as the best bread. In our own times and among civilised peoples bread has become an article of food of the first necessity, and properly so, for it constitutes of itself a complete life sustainer—the gluten, fibrin, fat, phosphates, starch and sugar—which it contains, representing all the necessary classes of food. General Directions for Bread-mak-ing.—The first thing required for making wholesome bread is the utmost cleanliness ; the next is the soundness and sweetness of all the ingredients used for it, and in addition to these there must be care throughout the whole process. A certain way of spoiling dough is to leave it half-made, and to allow it to become cold before it is finished. >Another common cause of failure is using yeast that is no longer sweet ; too small a proportion of yeast, or insufficient time allowed for the dough to rise, will cause the bread to be heavy. The Utensils required for MakingBread.—On a moderate scale, are a kneading-trough or pan, sufficiently large that the dough may be kneaded freely without throwing the flour over the edges,, and also to allow for its rising, a hair-sieve for straining the yeast, and a large, strong spoon. Two very important reasons urge the necessity of using home-made bread in preference to that purchased at a baker’s. These reasons are its superior qualify and its cheapness. To IWake Yeast for Bread. loz of hops, 2 quarts of water, % pint of yeast, large cup sugar. Mode: Boil hops in water for 20 minutes, then allow it to stand covered till luke warm; then put in the yeast; keep it warm and let it work for 3 or 4 hours; then put iulto half-pint bottles, cork them well and tie corks down. It will keep for about .three weeks. When required to use, boil 3 or four potatoes wi/thout salt, mash them in the same water in which they are boiled and rub through a cdllander. Stir in about 3 olb flour, 2 dessertspoonfuls sugar and add cup of yeast. Put in an enamelled billy and let it stand in a warm place till risen (about 5 or 6 hours). This is * called sponge.

Rfleihod of JVSixsng Sread.

Put 61b flour into pan, add 2 heaped tablespoonfuls salt; make a well in centre* of flour and pour .in the sponge, adding about two breakfast cupfuls of warm water to begin with. Mix this with wooden spoon, adding; more warm water as kneading proceeds, kneading into fairly stiff dough. The more the dough is kneaded the better 'the bread. When finished place in a warm spot by stove, covering" with clean cloth and then small folded blanket. If made in the evening it will be risen by next morning. Knead down again and allow to rise a second time, then put into tins (half full) kneading and shaping the loaves and set again to rise by stove. When nice and light and risen, bake for about an hour, according to size of loaves.

The Easiest Rletbcd of Bread-making.

Very many people now make bread with Dominion compressed yeast, and “Ru-ru” has made a trial baking (as all recipes are tried before appearing in this column), which turned out most successfully, and if made in the following way is not only a very easy method, but most delicious. Ingredients: 2ib flour, 3 teaspoonfuls of Dominion yeast, 1 dessertspoonful of salt, ,1 pint (about) of warm water. Method: Well sift the flour and put it and the salt in warm basin; brain yeast with good tablespoonful of sucrar in separate basin and add half the tepid water to it, pour into the flour and mix with the hand until a soft dough, adding more water when necessary; knead well (for about 20 minutes). Cover with clean cloth and then piece of blanket and set in warm place till well risen (from 2 to 3 hours). Turn on to floured board, knead weLl and form into loaves; place in greased tins, set to prove till well risen and bake in ouick oven. Dominion yeast lasts only .10 days and \ made in Christchurch, but can be 'procured at most Auckland grocers, who pest it to their various customers. Billy Bread. Two t>real;fastcupfuls- wneatmcai, - breakfasicupfuls flour. 3 gcoci toaspoonfuls baking powder, i. gooe. tablespoor.fui butter, 2 tablespoonfu s golden syrup, little salt. ra:tU to mix. Method: Woil sift flour and wneatmeal with baking powusr and sail,

warm milk, enough to mix to stiff dough, and mix with treacle, then add to flour and wheatmeal. Bake in billy or tin with lid on for I*4 hours and leave lid on for ten minutes after itis cooked.’ Nut Bread. Four cups flour, 4 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup walnuts, 1 cup milk (1 egg if liked). Method: Put flour into basin with Vi teaspoonful salt, add baking powder and sift all together; add sugar, walnuts (broken up) and then mix with, the milk in which the beaten egg has been mixed. Put into greased tin and bake in steady oven for little over one hour. Brown Loaf. One cup flour, 2 cups wheatmealw 2 teaspoons c. tartar, 1 teaspoon sc da, 1 large teaspoon golden syrup, 1 cup milk, 3 /2 teaspoon salt. Mix in usual way and bake for one hour ia steady oven. Scones. The different recipes for scones are many and varied. No two households make scones quite in the same way.

“ Ru-ru” has tried all the following recipes and found' -tMiiVi most successful. Coffee Rolls. Two large tablespoonfuls of butter, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, 1 egg, 1 teacupful of milk, 1 saltspoon sat, 2 teacupfuls of flour, 1 teaspoonful cart), soad, 2 ditto cream tartar. Method: Beat butter and sugar well together, add egg well beaten, beat mixture well, then add milk slightly warmed, lastly Hour with the soda and cream of tartar 'mixed and well sifted in. Press ,out /thinly, cut into rounds and fold one half over the other. Bake in pretty quick oven. Plain Scones. Two. breakfastcupfuls flour, 1 saltspoonful salt, good teaspoonful sugar (icing), .1, large teaspoonful carb. soda, 2 ditto cream of tartar, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder and enough warmed milk to mix, must not be stiff, quite a soft paste. Press out, and cut into squares and bake in very hot oven. ; or!' Brown Scones. One breakfast ctipful of flour, 1 ditto wheatmeal, 1 small teaspoonful salt, 2 ditto 1 good tablespoonful of butter, 1 teaspoonful of carb. soda, 2 ditto c. ftartar, 1 small teaspoonful of baking powder, enough milk to mix. Method: Sift socfa and c.. tartar, salt and sugar into flour and wheatmeal, then dissolve butter in 1 tablespoonful boiling water, add to milk, then mix all into flour father moist. Press out and cult into rounds and bake in quick oven. Baking Powder Scones. Two breakfast cupfuls flour, 1 tablespoonful butter, 1 teaspoonful :sugar, small ditto salt, 3 large tablespoonfuls baking powder, about 1 breakfast cupful milk. Sift all dry ingredients into flour, then rub butter in, make into scone paste with milk, turn on to floured board and divide into 3 parts. Roll each into a round half-inch thick, then cut in foui’ from the centre; brush with milk. Place on hot tray; bake in quick oven for 5 minutes. Lancashire Bun Loaf. Take 21b bread dough, %lb butter, —lb stoned raisins, 141 b currants, 2oz peel. Melthod: Place the dough on a beard, work into it first the butter, just slightly melted, then the fruit and peel very thinly sliced and chopped small. Knead all till thoroughly mixed with dough. Put cake into a greased tin, let stand in a warm place covered with a cloth for an hour or until well risen. Bake for' little more than an hour in quick oven. Very nice for school children’s lunches. Scone Loaf. Three breakfast cupfuls flour, 1 tablespoonful sugar, hj teaspoonful salt, 1 egg, Ih> breakfast cupfuls milk. 4 heaped teaspoonfuls baking powder. Method: Mix all dry ingredients well together. Make a well in centre and pour beaten egg and milk in and mix into rather stiff batter. Bake in small meat tin, well greased, in moderate over for half an hour.

SOME SUGGESTIONS

A soda bath is often a very good •thing in a case of rehumatism. Add lib of washing soda to 30 gallons of water, which will be found to give ■great relief. Hoarseness can often be cured by taking a lump of sugar which has been steeped in the juice of a baked lemon. Tender hands should be washed in warm water containing oatmeal and when thoroughly dried, rubbed with a mixture made of equal parts of glycerine and methylated spirits. The secret of preserving a washed chamoois leather soft and supple, is to bang it op to dry while the soapsuds are still in it. Rinsing it makes it hard. To keep a cake moist for a great length of time, place an apple in the cake. tin. renewing the apple when it begins to wither. BEST CAKE RECIPE. “ Ru-ru :r is offering a prize for the best cake recipe, not necessarily a block c; ke. Any fancy kinds may be ontereu. All reviews must bo sent in win fo( r üblisb'rd on September 33.