The Healthy Life Cook Book, 2d ed. | Page 3

or pastry.
It must not be forgotten that ovens are like children they need
understanding. The temperature of the kitchen and the oven's nearness
to a window or door will often make a difference of five or ten minutes
in the time needed for baking. One gas oven that I knew never baked
well in winter unless a screen was put before it to keep away draughts!
ROLLS.--If you desire to get your bread more quickly it is only a
question of making smaller loaves. Little rolls may be cut out with a
large egg-cup or small pastry cutter, and these take any time from
twenty minutes to half an hour.

2. EGG BREAD.
9 ozs. fine wholemeal, 1 egg, a bare 1/2 pint milk and water, butter size
of walnut.
Put butter in a qr. qtn. tin (a small square-cornered tin price 6-1/2d. at
most ironmongers) and let it remain in hot oven until it boils. Well
whisk egg, and add to it the milk and water. Sift into this liquid the
wholemeal, stirring all the time. Pour this batter into the hot buttered tin.
Bake in a very hot oven for 50 minutes, then move to a cooler part for
another 50 minutes. When done, turn out and stand on end to cool.
3. GEM BREAD.
Put into a basin a pint of cold water, and beat it for a few minutes in
order to aerate it as much as possible. Stir gently, but quickly, into this
as much fine wholemeal as will make a batter the consistency of thick
cream. It should just drop off the spoon. Drop this batter into very hot
greased gem pans. Bake for half an hour in a hot oven. When done,
stand on end to cool. They may appear to be a little hard on first taking
out of the oven, but when cool they should be soft, light and spongy.
When properly made, the uninitiated generally refuse to believe that
they do not contain eggs or baking-powder.
There are proper gem pans, made of cast iron (from 1s.) for baking this
bread, and the best results are obtained by using them. But with a
favourable oven I have got pretty good results from the ordinary
baking-tins with depressions, the kind used for baking small cakes. But
these are a thinner make and apt to produce a tough crust.
4. HOT WATER ROLLS.
This bread has a very sweet taste. It is made by stirring boiling water
into any quantity of meal required, sufficient to form a stiff paste. Then
take out of the basin on to a board and knead quickly with as much
more flour as is needed to make it workable. Cut it into small rolls with
a large egg-cup or small vegetable cutter. The quicker this is done the
better, in order to retain the heat of the water. Bake from 20 to 30

minutes.
5. OATCAKE.
Mix medium oatmeal to a stiff paste with cold water. Add enough fine
oatmeal to make a dough. Roll out very thinly. Bake in sheets, or cut
into biscuits with a tumbler or biscuit cutter. Bake on the bare oven
shelf, sprinkled with fine oatmeal, until a very pale brown. Flour may
be used in place of the fine oatmeal, as the latter often has a bitter taste
that many people object to. The cause of this bitterness is staleness, but
it is not so noticeable in the coarse or medium oatmeal. Freshly ground
oatmeal is quite sweet.
6. RAISIN LOAF.
1 lb. fine wholemeal, 6 oz. raisins, 2 oz. Mapleton's nutter, water.
Well wash the raisins, but do not stone them or the loaf will be heavy.
If the stones are disliked, seedless raisins, or even sultanas, may be
used, but the large raisins give rather better results. Rub the nutter into
the flour, add the raisins, which should be well dried after washing, and
mix with enough water to form a dough which almost, but not quite
drops from the spoon. Put into a greased tin, which should be very hot,
and bake in a hot oven at first. At the end of twenty minutes to half an
hour the loaf should be slightly browned. Then move to a cooler shelf,
and bake until done. Test with a knife as for ordinary cakes.
For this loaf a small, deep, square-cornered tin is required (price
6-1/2d.), the same as for the egg loaf. 3 ozs. fresh dairy butter may be
used in place of the 2 ozs. nutter.
7. SHORTENED BREAD.
Into 1 lb. wholemeal flour rub 4 ozs. nutter or 5 ozs. butter. Mix to a
stiff dough with cold water. Knead lightly but well. Shape into small
buns about 1 inch thick. Bake for an hour in a moderate