Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/57

 five or six minutes, and put into the oven. Ten or fifteen minutes will bake them if light. When beginning to brown wet the tops with a feather dipped in milk. With home made yeast the best time to set the rolls is at night, say at six o’clock in the evening set the sponge, work it up before going to bed, and leave it the night to rise, work up first thing next morning, and bake for breakfast.

A Damper is very easily made, but still it requires a certain amount of knowledge to make it, and more than all to bake it. Now-a-days, most men travelling carry baking powder, but years ago I have often been amused when bushmen have asked me for a small quantity of soda for their dampers. I have argued with them that soda alone could be of no use, save to give a most unpleasant flavour, that they must have acid to counteract it; but it was to no purpose. They always used a pinch of soda, and, right or wrong, they preferred keeping to the old custom. In everything, be it bread, cake, or pudding, when soda is used half the quantity of acid should be added, or else sour milk, which, of course, comes to the same thing, as the acidity of the milk acts upon the soda. Any one who gives the matter a moment’s thought will understand why it is, but let me illustrate it more plainly. Dissolve a little soda in water, and then add a wee pinch of acid. It fizzes. Just the same effervescence takes place in the cake or damper as in the tumbler, and it is the air bubbles, caused by it, that make the cake, pudding, &amp;c., rise or swell, and become light. Many of the baking powders sold are excellent, but as all are merely composed of the two ingredients mentioned, viz., soda and acid, and, in some instances, a small quantity of ground rice, or some other equally harmless powder, just to add to the quantity, they can as well be made at home, by pounding together soda and tartaric acid. It is better not to mix too much at a time, as it is apt to get damp. About four teaspoonsful of soda and two of acid is a convenient quantity, and to about a pound of flour use one teaspoonful of powder. Many cooks prefer cream of tartar to the stronger acid: possibly one is as good as the other, but the tartaric acid being stronger I prefer it. In mixing the baking powder into anything, it should always be rubbed in with the dry flour; if put in when the mixture is moist it effervesces at once, so half or three parts of its effect is lost before the cake is ready.

Plain Soda Loaf.—The great art in making soda bread is to get it out of hand, and into the oven as quickly as possibly. If you let it stand, as your own common sense will tell you, the effervescenseeffervescence [sic] is going on, and if not baked before it is all over the bread will be heavy. Put about one pound of flour into a dish or crock: mix in a small teaspoonful of soda pounded quite free from lumps; a teaspoonful of salt, and mix the whole with enough thick or sour milk to form into a dough. Divide into two parts and bake in bread tins in a moderately quick oven. Some people like a lump of butter added and rubbed in with the flour, but it is not necessary. If you cannot get sour milk use the baking powder instead of the plain soda, and mix with warm water. Borwick’s baking powder is very good, but there is one I much prefer to it called “William’s Australian Yeast Powder.” It is sold in small tins, and I have never yet found it fail, in producing light bread and cakes.

Scones are mixed in much the same way as the soda loaf. Butter in them is optional. Some people add a little sugar to sweeten them, but of course this is merely a matter of taste, just as treacle and currants are in scones. The nicest are mixed with buttermilk, but of course it is not often one can