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The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) written by Mrs. F.L. Gillette

M >> Mrs. F.L. Gillette >> The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)




When it is convenient to get compressed yeast, it is much better and
cheaper than to make your own, a saving of time and trouble. Almost
all groceries keep it, delivered to them fresh made daily.


SALT-RAISING BREAD.

While getting breakfast in the morning, as soon as the tea-kettle has
boiled, take a quart tin cup or an earthen quart milk pitcher, scald
it, then fill one-third full of water about as warm as the finger
could be held in; then to this add a teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of
brown sugar and coarse flour enough to make a batter of about the
right consistency for griddle-cakes. Set the cup, with the spoon in
it, in a closed vessel half-filled with water moderately hot, but not
scalding. Keep the temperature as nearly even as possible and add a
teaspoonful of flour once or twice during the process of fermentation.
The yeast ought to reach to the top of the bowl in about five hours.
Sift your flour into a pan, make an opening in the centre and pour in
your yeast. Have ready a pitcher of warm milk, salted, or milk and
water (not too hot, or you will scald the yeast germs), and stir
rapidly into a pulpy mass with a spoon. Cover this sponge closely and
keep warm for an hour, then knead into loaves, adding flour to make
the proper consistency. Place in warm, well-greased pans, cover
closely and leave till it is light. Bake in a steady oven, and when
done let all the hot steam escape. Wrap closely in damp towels and
keep in closed earthen jars until it is wanted.

This, in our grandmothers' time, used to be considered the prize
bread, on account of its being sweet and wholesome and required no
prepared yeast to make it. Nowadays yeast-bread is made with very
little trouble, as the yeast can be procured at almost any grocery.


BREAD FROM MILK YEAST.

At noon the day before baking, take half a cup of corn meal and pour
over it enough sweet milk boiling hot to make it the thickness of
batter-cakes. In the winter place it where it will keep warm. The next
morning before breakfast pour into a pitcher a pint of boiling water;
add one teaspoonful of soda and one of salt. When cool enough so that
it will not scald the flour, add enough to make a stiff batter; then
add the cup of meal set the day before. This will be full of little
bubbles. Then place the pitcher in a kettle of warm water, cover the
top with a folded towel and put it where it will keep warm, and you
will be surprised to find how soon the yeast will be at the top of the
pitcher. Then pour the yeast into a bread-pan; add a pint and a half
of warm water, or half water and half milk, and flour enough to knead
into loaves. Knead but little harder than for biscuit and bake as soon
as it rises to the top of the tin. This recipe makes five large
loaves. Do not allow it to get too light before baking, for it will
make the bread dry and crumbling. A cup of this milk yeast is
excellent to raise buckwheat cakes.


GRAHAM BREAD.

One teacupful of wheat flour, one-half teacupful of Porto Rico
molasses, one-half cupful of good yeast, one teaspoonful of salt, one
pint of warm water; add sufficient Graham flour to make the dough as
stiff as can be stirred with a strong spoon; this is to be mixed at
night; in the morning, add one teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a
little water; mix well, and pour into two medium-sized pans; they will
be about half full; let it stand in a warm place until it rises to the
top of the pans, then bake one hour in a pretty hot oven.

This should be covered about twenty minutes when first put into the
oven with a thick brown paper, or an old tin cover; it prevents the
upper crust hardening before the loaf is well-risen. If these
directions are correctly followed the bread will not be heavy or
sodden, as it has been tried for years and never failed.


GRAHAM BREAD. (Unfermented.)

Stir together three heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder, three cups
of Graham flour and one cup of white flour; then add a large
teaspoonful of salt and half a cup of sugar. Mix all thoroughly with
milk or water into as stiff a batter as can be stirred with a spoon.
If water is used, a lump of butter as large as a walnut may be melted
and stirred into it. Bake immediately in well-greased pans.


BOSTON BROWN BREAD.

One pint of rye flour, one quart of corn meal, one teacupful of Graham
flour, all fresh; half a teacupful of molasses or brown sugar, a
teaspoonful of salt, and two-thirds of a teacupful of home-made yeast.
Mix into as stiff a dough as can be stirred with a spoon, using warm
water for wetting. Let it rise several hours, or over night; in the
morning, or when light, add a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a
spoonful of warm water; beat it well and turn it into well-greased,
deep bread-pans, and let it rise again. Bake in a _moderate_ oven from
three to four hours.

_Palmer House, Chicago_.


BOSTON BROWN BREAD. (Unfermented.)

One cupful of rye flour, two cupfuls of corn meal, one cupful of white
flour, half a teacupful of molasses or sugar, a teaspoonful of salt.
Stir all together _thoroughly_, and wet up with sour milk; then add a
level teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a tablespoonful of water. The
same can be made of sweet milk by substituting baking powder for soda.
The batter to be stirred as thick as can be with a spoon, and turned
into well-greased pans.


VIRGINIA BROWN BREAD.

One pint of corn meal; pour over enough boiling water to thoroughly
scald it; when cool add one pint of light, white bread sponge, mix
well together, add one cupful of molasses, and Graham flour enough to
mold; this will make two loaves; when light, bake in a moderate oven
one and a half hours.


RHODE ISLAND BROWN BREAD.

Two and one-half cupfuls of corn meal, one and one-half cupfuls of rye
meal, one egg, one cup of molasses, two teaspoonfuls of cream of
tartar, one teaspoonful of soda, a little salt and one quart of milk.
Bake in a covered dish, either earthen or iron, in a moderately hot
oven three hours.


STEAMED BROWN BREAD.

One cup of white flour, two of Graham flour, two of Indian meal, one
teaspoonful of soda, one cup of molasses, three and a half cups of
milk, a little salt. Beat well and steam for four hours. This is for
sour milk; when sweet milk is used, use baking powder in place of
soda.

This is improved by setting it into the oven fifteen minutes after it
is slipped from the mold. To be eaten warm with butter. Most
excellent.


RYE BREAD.

To a quart of warm water stir as much wheat flour as will make a
smooth batter; stir into it half a gill of home-made yeast, and set it
in a warm place to rise; this is called setting a sponge; let it be
mixed in some vessel which will contain twice the quantity; in the
morning, put three pounds and a half of rye flour into a bowl or tray,
make a hollow in the centre, pour in the sponge, add a dessertspoonful
of salt, and half a small teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a little
water; make the whole into a smooth dough, with as much warm water as
may be necessary; knead it well, cover it, and let it set in a warm
place for three hours; then knead it again, and make it into two or
three loaves; bake in a quick oven one hour, if made in two loaves, or
less if the loaves are smaller.


RYE AND CORN BREAD.

One quart of rye meal or rye flour, two quarts of Indian meal, scalded
(by placing in a pan and pouring over it just enough _boiling_ water
to merely wet it, but not enough to make it into a batter, stirring
constantly with a spoon), one-half cup of molasses, two teaspoonfuls
salt, one teacup yeast, make it as stiff as can be stirred with a
spoon, mixing with warm water and let rise all night. In the morning
add a level teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little water; then put
it in a large pan, smooth the top with the hand dipped in cold water;
let it stand a short time and bake five or six hours. If put in the
oven late in the day, let it remain all night.

Graham may be used instead of rye, and baked as above.

This is similar to the "Rye and Injun" of our grandmothers' days, but
that was placed in a kettle, allowed to rise, then placed in a covered
iron pan upon the hearth before the fire, with coals heaped upon the
lid, to bake all night.


FRENCH BREAD.

Beat together one pint of milk, four tablespoonfuls of melted butter,
or half butter and half lard, half a cupful of yeast, one teaspoonful
of salt and two eggs. Stir into this two quarts of flour. When this
dough is risen, make into two large rolls and bake as any bread. Cut
across the top diagonal gashes just before putting into the oven.


TWIST BREAD.

Let the bread be made as directed for wheat bread, then take three
pieces as large as a pint bowl each; strew a little flour over the
paste-board or table, roll each piece under your hands to twelve
inches length, making it smaller in circumference at the ends than in
the middle; having rolled the three in this way, take a baking-tin,
lay one part on it, joint one end of each of the other two to it, and
braid them together the length of the rolls and join the ends by
pressing them together; dip a brush in milk and pass it over the top
of the loaf; after ten minutes or so, set it in a quick oven and bake
for nearly an hour.


NEW ENGLAND CORN CAKE.

One quart of milk, one pint of corn meal, one teacupful of wheat
flour, a teaspoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter.
Scald the milk and gradually pour it on the meal; when cool add the
butter and salt, also a half cup of yeast. Do this at night; in the
morning beat thoroughly and add two well-beaten eggs, and a half
teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a spoonful of water. Pour the
mixture into buttered deep earthen plates, let it stand fifteen
minutes to rise again, then bake from twenty to thirty minutes.


GERMAN BREAD.

One pint of milk well boiled, one teacupful of sugar, two
tablespoonfuls of nice lard or butter, two-thirds of a teacupful of
baker's yeast. Make a rising with the milk and yeast; when light, mix
in the sugar and shortening, with flour enough to make as soft a dough
as can be handled. Flour the paste-board well, roll out about one-half
inch thick; put this quantity into two large pans; make about a dozen
indentures with the finger on the top; put a small piece of butter in
each, and sift over the whole one tablespoonful of sugar mixed with
one teaspoonful of cinnamon. Let this stand for a second rising; when
perfectly light, bake in a quick oven fifteen or twenty minutes.


CORN BREAD.

Two cups of sifted meal, half a cup of flour, two cups of sour milk,
two well-beaten eggs, half a cup of molasses or sugar, a teaspoonful
of salt, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Mix the meal and flour
smoothly and gradually with the milk, then the butter, molasses and
salt, then the beaten eggs, and lastly dissolve a level teaspoonful of
baking soda in a little milk and beat thoroughly altogether. Bake
nearly an hour in well-buttered tins, not very shallow. This recipe
can be made with sweet milk by using baking powder in place of soda.

_St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans._


VIRGINIA CORN BREAD.

Three cups of white corn meal, one cup of flour, one tablespoonful of
sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking
powder, one tablespoonful of lard, three cups of milk and three eggs.
Sift together the flour, corn meal, sugar, salt and baking powder; rub
in the lard cold, add the eggs well beaten and then the milk. Mix into
a moderately stiff batter; pour it into well-greased, shallow baking
pans (pie-tins are suitable). Bake from thirty to forty minutes.


BOSTON CORN BREAD.

One cup of sweet milk, two of sour milk, two-thirds of a cup of
molasses, one of wheat flour, four of corn meal and one teaspoonful of
soda; steam for three hours, and brown a few minutes in the oven. The
same made of sweet milk and baking powder is equally as good.


INDIAN LOAF CAKE.

Mix a teacupful of powdered white sugar with a quart of rich milk, and
cut up in the milk two ounces of butter, adding a saltspoonful of
salt. Put this mixture into a covered pan or skillet, and set it on
the fire till it is scalding hot. Then take it off, and scald with it
as much yellow Indian meal (previously sifted) as will make it of the
consistency of thick boiled mush. Beat the whole very hard for a
quarter of an hour, and then set it away to cool.

While it is cooling, beat three eggs very light, and stir them
gradually into the mixture when it is about as warm as new milk. Add a
teacupful of good strong yeast and beat the whole another quarter of
an hour, for much of the goodness of this cake depends on its being
long and well beaten. Then have ready a tin mold or earthen pan with a
pipe in the centre (to diffuse the heat through the middle of the
cake). The pan must be very well-buttered as Indian meal is apt to
stick. Put in the mixture, cover it and set it in a warm place to
rise. It should be light in about four hours. Then bake it two hours
in a moderate oven. When done, turn it out with the broad surface
downwards and send it to table hot and whole. Cut it into slices and
eat it with butter.

This will be found an excellent cake. If wanted for breakfast, mix it
and set it to rise the night before. If properly made, standing all
night will not injure it. Like all Indian cakes (of which this is one
of the best), it should be eaten warm.

_St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans._


JOHNNIE CAKE.

Sift one quart of Indian meal into a pan; make a hole in the middle
and pour in a pint of warm water, adding one teaspoonful of salt; with
a spoon mix the meal and water gradually into a soft dough; stir it
very briskly for a quarter of an hour or more, till it becomes light
and spongy; then spread the dough smoothly and evenly on a straight,
flat board (a piece of the head of a flour-barrel will serve for this
purpose); place the board nearly upright before an open fire and put
an iron against the back to support it; bake it well; when done, cut
it in squares; send it hot to table, split and buttered.

_Old Plantation Style_.


SPIDER CORN-CAKE.

Beat two eggs and one-fourth cup sugar together. Then add one cup
sweet milk and one cup of sour milk in which you have dissolved one
teaspoonful soda. Add a teaspoonful of salt. Then mix one and
two-thirds cups of granulated corn meal and one-third cup flour with
this. Put a spider or skillet on the range and when it is hot melt in
two tablespoonfuls of butter. Turn the spider so that the butter can
run up on the sides of the pan. Pour in the corn-cake mixture and add
one more cup of sweet milk, but do not stir afterwards. Put this in
the oven and bake from twenty to thirty-five minutes. When done, there
should be a streak of custard through it.


SOUTHERN CORN MEAL PONE OR CORN DODGERS.

Mix with cold water into a soft dough one quart of southern corn meal,
sifted, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of butter or lard
melted. Mold into oval cakes with the hands and bake in a very hot
oven, in well-greased pans. To be eaten hot. The crust should be
brown.


RAISED POTATO-CAKE.

Potato-cakes, to be served with roast lamb or with game, are made of
equal quantities of mashed potatoes and of flour, say one quart of
each, two tablespoonfuls of butter, a little salt and milk enough to
make a batter as for griddle-cakes; to this allow half a teacupful of
fresh yeast; let it rise till it is light and bubbles of air form;
then dissolve half a teaspoonful of soda in a spoonful of warm water
and add to the batter; bake in muffin tins. These are good also with
fricasseed chicken; take them from the tins and drop in the gravy just
before sending to the table.




BISCUITS, ROLLS, MUFFINS, ETC.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.


In making batter-cakes, the ingredients should be put together over
night to rise, and the eggs and butter added in the morning; the
butter melted and eggs well beaten. If the batter appears sour in the
least, dissolve a little soda and stir into it; this should be done
early enough to rise some time before baking.

Water can be used in place of milk in all raised dough, and the dough
should be thoroughly light before making into loaves or biscuits; then
when molding them use as little flour as possible; the kneading to be
done when first made from the sponge, and should be done well and for
some length of time, as this makes the pores fine, the bread cut
smooth and tender. Care should be taken not to get the dough too
stiff.

Where any recipe calls for baking powder, and you do not have it, you
can use cream of tartar and soda, in the proportion of one level
teaspoonful of soda to two of cream of tartar.

When the recipe calls for sweet milk or cream, and you do not have it,
you may use in place of it sour milk or cream, and, in that case,
baking powder or cream of tartar _must not_ be used, but baking-soda,
using a _level_ teaspoonful to a quart of sour milk; the milk is
always best when just turned, so that it is solid, and not sour enough
to whey or to be watery.

When making biscuits or bread with baking powder or soda and cream of
tartar, the oven should be prepared first; the dough handled quickly
and put into the oven immediately, as soon as it becomes the proper
lightness, to ensure good success. If the oven is _too slow_, the
article baked will be heavy and hard.

As in beating cake, never _stir_ ingredients into batter, but beat
them in, by beating down from the bottom, and up, and over again. This
laps the air into the batter which produces little air-cells and
causes the dough to puff and swell as it comes in contact with the
heat while cooking.


TO RENEW STALE ROLLS.

To freshen stale biscuits or rolls, put them into a steamer for ten
minutes, then dry them off in a hot oven; or dip each roll for an
instant in cold water and heat them crisp in the oven.


WARM BREAD FOR BREAKFAST..

Dough after it has become once sufficiently raised and perfectly
light, cannot afterwards be injured by setting aside in any cold place
where it cannot _freeze_; therefore, biscuits, rolls, etc., can be
made late the day before wanted for breakfast. Prepare them ready for
baking by molding them out late in the evening; lay them a little
apart on buttered tins; cover the tins with a cloth, then fold around
that a newspaper, so as to exclude the air, as that has a tendency to
cause the crust to be hard and thick when baked. The best place in
summer is to place them in the ice-box, then all you have to do in the
morning (an hour before breakfast time, and while the oven is heating)
is to bring them from the ice-box, take off the cloth and warm it, and
place it over them again; then set the tins in a warm place near the
fire. This will give them time to rise and bake when needed. If these
directions are followed rightly, you will find it makes no difference
with their lightness and goodness, and you can always be sure of warm
raised biscuits for breakfast in one hour's time.

Stale rolls may be made light and flakey by dipping for a moment in
cold water, and placing immediately in a very hot oven to be made
crisp and hot.


SODA BISCUIT.

One quart of sifted flour, one teaspoonful of soda, two teaspoonfuls
of cream of tartar, one teaspoonful of salt; mix thoroughly, and rub
in two tablespoonfuls of butter and wet with one pint of sweet milk.
Bake in a quick oven.


BAKING POWDER BISCUIT.

Two pints of flour, butter the size of an egg, three heaping
teaspoonfuls of baking powder and one teaspoonful of salt; make a soft
dough of sweet milk or water, knead as little as possible, cut out
with the usual biscuit-cutter and bake in rather a quick oven.


SOUR MILK BISCUIT.

Rub into a quart of sifted flour a piece of butter the size of an egg,
one teaspoonful of salt; stir into this a pint of sour milk, dissolve
one teaspoonful of soda and stir into the milk just as you add it to
the flour; knead it up quickly, roll it out nearly half an inch thick
and cut out with a biscuit-cutter; bake immediately in a quick oven.

Very nice biscuit may be made with sour cream without the butter by
the same process.


RAISED BISCUIT.

Sift two quarts of flour in a mixing-pan, make a hole in the middle of
the flour, pour into this one pint of warm water or new milk, one
teaspoonful of salt, half a cup of melted lard or butter, stir in a
little flour, then add half a cupful of yeast, after which stir in as
much flour as you can conveniently with your hand, let it rise over
night; in the morning add nearly a teaspoonful of soda, and more flour
as is needed to make a rather soft dough; then mold fifteen to twenty
minutes, the longer the better; let it rise until light again, roll
this out about half an inch thick and cut out with a biscuit-cutter,
or make it into little balls with your hands; cover and set in a warm
place to rise. When light, bake a light brown in a moderate oven. Rub
a little warm butter or sweet lard on the sides of the biscuits when
you place them on the tins, to prevent their sticking together when
baked.


LIGHT BISCUIT. No. 1.

Take a piece of bread dough that will make about as many biscuits as
you wish; lay it out rather flat in a bowl; break into it two eggs,
half a cup of sugar, half a cup of butter; mix this thoroughly with
enough flour to keep it from sticking to the hands and board. Knead it
well for about fifteen or twenty minutes, make into small biscuits,
place in a greased pan, and let them rise until about even with the
top of the pan. Bake in a quick oven for about half an hour.

These can be made in the form of rolls, which some prefer.


LIGHT BISCUIT. No. 2.

When you bake take a pint of sponge, one tablespoonful of melted
butter, one tablespoonful of sugar, the white of one egg beaten to a
foam. Let rise until light, mold into biscuits, and when light bake.


GRAHAM BISCUITS, WITH YEAST.

Take one pint of water or milk, one large tablespoonful of butter, two
tablespoonfuls of sugar, a half cup of yeast and a pinch of salt; take
enough wheat flour to use up the water, making it the consistency of
batter-cakes; add the rest of the ingredients and as much Graham flour
as can be stirred in with a spoon; set it away till morning; in the
morning grease a pan, flour your hands, take a lump of dough the size
of an egg, roll it lightly between the palms of your hands, let them
rise twenty minutes, and bake in a tolerably hot oven.


EGG BISCUIT.

Sift together a quart of dry flour and three heaping teaspoonfuls of
baking powder. Rub into this thoroughly a piece of butter the size of
an egg; add two well-beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of sugar, a
teaspoonful of salt. Mix all together quickly into a soft dough, with
one cup of milk, or more if needed. Roll out nearly half of an inch
thick. Cut into biscuits, and bake immediately in a quick oven from
fifteen to twenty minutes.


PARKER HOUSE ROLLS.

One pint of milk, boiled and cooled, a piece of butter the size of an
egg, one-half cupful of fresh yeast, one tablespoonful of sugar, one
pinch of salt, and two quarts of sifted flour.

Melt the butter in the warm milk, then add the sugar, salt and flour,
and let it rise over night. Mix rather soft. In the morning, add to
this half of a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a spoonful of water.
Mix in enough flour to make the same stiffness as any biscuit dough;
roll out not more than a quarter of an inch thick. Cut with a large
round cutter; spread soft butter over the tops and fold one-half over
the other by doubling it. Place them apart a little so that there will
be room to rise. Cover and place them near the fire for fifteen or
twenty minutes before baking. Bake in rather a quick oven.


PARKER HOUSE ROLLS. (Unfermented.)

These rolls are made with baking powder, and are much sooner made,
although the preceding recipe is the old original one from the "Parker
House." Stir into a quart of sifted flour three large teaspoonfuls of
baking powder, a tablespoonful of cold butter, a teaspoonful of salt
and one of sugar, and a well-beaten egg; rub all well into the flour,
pour in a pint of cold milk, mix up quickly into a smooth dough, roll
it out less than half an inch thick, cut with a large biscuit-cutter,
spread soft butter over the top of each; fold one-half over the other
by doubling it, lay them a little apart on greased tins. Set them
immediately in a pretty hot oven. Rub over the tops with sweet milk
before putting in the oven, to give them a glaze.


FRENCH ROLLS.

Three cups of sweet milk, one cup of butter and lard, mixed in equal
proportions, one-half cup of good yeast, or half a cake of compressed
yeast, and a teaspoonful of salt. Add flour enough to make a stiff
dough. Let it rise over night; in the morning, add two well-beaten
eggs; knead thoroughly and let it rise again. With the hands, make it
into balls as large as an egg; then roll between the hands to make
_long rolls_ (about three inches). Place close together in even rows
on well-buttered pans. Cover and let them rise again, then bake in a
quick oven to a delicate brown.


BEATEN BISCUIT.