Cookery for every household

To Make the Sponge or Leaven.- • — Sieve the flour and take a quarter of it. Put this into a basin and make a well in the centre. Mix the yeast with a pinch of salt until smooth and creamy, pour on to it 2 or 3 table-spoonfufs of tepid water, and then strain into the centre of the flour. Mix in the flour and form a softish dough. Roll this in a little flour to make a ball, and cut it across the top with a sharp knife. Then place it in sufficient warm water to cover it whilst preparing the dough (about £ hour). The water must be kept warm, rather more than tepid, but not hot, and the sponge or leaven will swell to two or three times its original volume. To Make the Dough. — Put the remainder of the flour into a basin and make a well in the centre. Add 2 eggs, mix in the flour gradually, adding the third egg by degrees as the whole of it may not be required. Make a softish dough, and when well mixed turn it out on a lightly floured baking board. Now work it and beat it energetically with the hands until it becomes smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to the fingers. Then mix in the sugar, salt, and butter, slightly softened. When these are well incorporated, drain the sponge, place it in the centre of the other dough, and mix it in very lightly and without beating the dough. Put the dough into a floured basin, cover it over, and let it stand in the natural heat of the kitchen for about 3 hours, when it should have swelled to twice its original volume. Then beat the dough down to make it fall again, and set iun a cool place until the next day, beating it down again if it rises too much. It may be kept for 24 hours in this way as long as it is not allowed to rise too high. To Make Small Brioches. — Grease small fluted brioche tins. Take some brioche dough, cut off Pieces the size of a large walnut, roll them in the hands to form compact little balls, and place one in each tin. Then cut some smaller pieces of dough, the size of a small nut, roll them first into little balls, then into little carrot -shaped pieces with a point. Place one of these pieces on the top of each Brioche ball of dough in the tins, inserting the pointed end well into the centre. Score the lower piece of dough across two or three times with a knife, and place the brioche in a warm place to rise. When double their original size, brush them over with beaten egg, and bake in a good oven 15 to 20 minutes. To Make a Large Brioche for Timbale. — Grease a souffle tin, and tie a strong band of greased white paper round the outside to give it more height, in the same way as for a souffle (see p. 425). Half fill the tin with brioche dough, and set it in a warm place to rise. When the dough fills the tin, put it in a good oven to bake. It will require from 30 to 40 minutes to bake. To make a Timbale, see Recipe 2080. 2663. Plain White Seones, 1 | lb. flour. 1 oz. butter. | tea-sp. salt. 1 tea-sp. baking powder. 1 gill milk. 1 tea-sp. sugar.