Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Into a scant half-pint of scalding milk put a teaspoonful each of salt and sugar and a heaping one of prime butter. Stir until about bloodwarm, then add a fourth of a yeast cake previously dissolved in a little of the milk, and, when these ingredients are well blended, sift in a heaping pint of unsifted flour. Stir with a stout spoon until all the flour disappears. If the measure of milk proves too small to take up all the flour, sprinkle on a few drops of water ; too much wetting will make the biscuits tough. Place to raise, for five hours, where the temperature ranges from eighty to ninety degrees. The pan must not come in direct contact with a hot surface ; heat should be derived from radiation, for if sponge be subjected to too great heat it becomes thin and pasty. The mixing-pan should be of tin or crockery ware, several times larger than the lump of dough, to allow Buns Buns, Hot Cross room for increase in size, and be provided with a close-fitting tin cover for the purpose of excluding the air and keeping in the moisture. When the five hours have expired, turn the sponge on to a lightly floured board or pie-tin, and knead for two minutes. If the dough sticks, dredge on a little flour from time to time ; a table-spoonful in all will be enough. Divide the dough into sections, rolling each between the palms into little balls. Place in a greased pan, allowing only the outer edges of the balls to meet. The pan should be about an inch and a half in depth, with another of the same size to fit over closely for a cover while raising. Raise for three hours in same temperature as first directed. When ready for the oven the little balls will have expanded and risen until they form one rounded whole, with slight depressions showing the dividing -lines. Bake for fifteen or twenty minutes in a quick oven and serve hot. Buns. — One and one-quarter lbs. flour and J4 lb. butter rubbed fine together, one wineglass of home-made yeast or one-half cake compressed yeast, one wineglass of brandy and rose-water mixed, four eggs beaten light, two table-spoonfuls of currants, one teaspoonful of spice, nutmeg, and cinnamon; add a pint of warm milk, and put to rise. When light, stir gently with ^4 lb. of finely powdered sugar. Make into forms ; when sufficiently raised, bake, and just as you take from the oven sift over them powdered sugar. Buns, Bath. — Put i lb. of flour into a pan, and make a hole in the centre of the flour, into which pour one tablespoonful of yeast and one cupful of milk, slightly warmed. Mix these together with a little of the flour, and leave it near the fire to rise. Dissolve 6 ozs. of butter, and beat up four eggs ; add this to the sponge, and knead all together. The dough must be again allowed to rise ; and when it has well risen, which will be in about an hour, put small balls of this mixture on a well-greased oven-tin two or three inches apart. This dough being light, it will fall into the required shape. Sprinkle loaf sugar on the top, or brush the buns over with a mixture of egg and milk. Five or six caraway comfits and lemon or citron-peel may be added. Bake in a moderate oven.