Part 207 (1/2)

_Sufficient_ to make 18 buns.

TO MAKE GOOD PLAIN BUNS.

1730. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of flour, 6 oz. of good b.u.t.ter, 1/4 lb. of sugar, 1 egg, nearly 1/4 pint of milk, 2 small teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, a few drops of essence of lemon.

_Mode_.--Warm the b.u.t.ter, without oiling it; beat it with a wooden spoon; stir the flour in gradually with the sugar, and mix these ingredients well together. Make the milk lukewarm, beat up with it the yolk of the egg and the essence of lemon, and stir these to the flour, &c. Add the baking-powder, beat the dough well for about 10 minutes, divide it into 24 pieces, put them into b.u.t.tered tins or cups, and bake in a brisk oven from 20 to 30 minutes.

_Time_.--20 to 30 minutes. _Average cost_, 1s.

_Sufficient_ to make 12 buns. _Seasonable_ at any time.

LIGHT BUNS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUNS.]

1731. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 teaspoonful of tartaric acid, 1/2 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, 1 lb. of flour, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 2 oz. of loaf sugar, 1/4 lb. of currants or raisins,--when liked, a few caraway seeds, 1/2 pint of cold new milk, 1 egg.

_Mode_.--Rub the tartaric acid, soda, and flour all together through a hair sieve; work the b.u.t.ter into the flour; add the sugar, currants, and caraway seeds, when the flavour of them latter is liked. Mix all these ingredients well together; make a hole in the middle of the flour, and pour in the milk, mixed with the egg, which should be well beaten; mix quickly, and set the dough, with a fork, on baking-tins, and bake the buns for about 20 minutes. This mixture makes a very good cake, and if put into a tin, should be baked 1-1/2 hour. The same quant.i.ty of flour, soda, and tartaric acid, with 1/2 pint of milk and a little salt, will make either bread or teacakes, if wanted quickly.

_Time_.--20 minutes for the buns; if made into a cake, 1-1/2 hour.

_Sufficient_ to make about 12 buns.

VICTORIA BUNS.

1732. INGREDIENTS.--2 oz. of pounded loaf sugar, 1 egg, 1-1/2 oz. of ground rice, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1-1/2 oz. of currants, a few thin slices of candied peel; flour.

_Mode_.--Whisk the egg, stir in the sugar, and beat these ingredients well together; beat the b.u.t.ter to a cream, stir in the ground rice, currants, and candied peel, and as much flour as will make it of such a consistency that it may be rolled into 7 or 8 b.a.l.l.s. Put these on to a b.u.t.tered tin, and bake them from 1/2 to 3/4 hour. They should be put into the oven immediately, or they will become heavy; and the oven should be tolerably brisk.

_Time_.--1/2 to 3/4 hour. _Average cost_, 6d.

_Sufficient_ to make 7 or 8 buns. _Seasonable_ at any time.

ITALIAN RUSKS.

1733. A stale Savoy or lemon cake may be converted into very good rusks in the following manner. Cut the cake into slices, divide each slice in two; put them on a baking-sheet, in a slow oven, and when they are of a nice brown and quite hard, they are done. They should be kept in a closed tin canister in a dry place, to preserve their crispness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PANNICLED MILLET.]

PANNICLED MILLET.--This is the smallest-seeded of the corn-plants, being a true gra.s.s; but the number of the seeds in each ear makes up for their size. It grows in sandy soils that will not do for the cultivation of many other kinds of grain, and forms the chief sustenance in the arid districts of Arabia, Syria, Nubia, and parts of India. It is not cultivated in England, being princ.i.p.ally confined to the East. The nations who make use of it grind it, in the primitive manner, between two stones, and make it into a diet which, cannot be properly called bread, but rather a kind of soft thin cake half-baked. When we take into account that the Arabians are fond of lizards and locusts as articles of food, their _cuisine_, altogether, is scarcely a tempting one.

TO MAKE RUSKS.

(_Suffolk Recipe_.)

1734. INGREDIENTS.--To every lb. of flour allow 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1/4 pint of milk, 2 oz. of loaf sugar, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoonful of yeast.