Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1891 — THE KITCHEN. [ARTICLE]

THE KITCHEN.

Salt Rifting Bread. Early in the morning, say as early as 5 o’clock, take a vessel of about a quart size and fill it one-third full of water, milk-warm, adding three tablespoonsful of new milk, and salt and sugar each as much as you can hold between the thumb and forefinger, then stir in as much flour as will make a thick batter. Set in a kettle of warm water if the weather is cool, and keep at an even temperature till fermentation takes place, which will be in four or five hours; then take as much flour as will make two large loaves, and a teaspoonful of salt added. Scald about one-third of the flour in water, a little below the boiling point; this makes the bread sweet and moist, the two main qualities in good bread; then add enough milk and water to make this paste sufficiently cool, so as not to scald the rising, which will bear a pretty high temperature; then mix in your rising and knead quick and thoroughly. Lay your loaves in good baking pans, set in a warm place, cover with a clean cloth, and lay on top of that a light pillow to keep the warmth from escaping. Your bread will be ready for the oven in about halfan ho.ur. Bake till it is alight brown color and it is thoroughly done. Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Fie, If pumpkin is peeled, cut up and stewed rapidly, it makes coarse pies which have very little of the native sweetness of the vegetable. If it is cooked in a very small amount of water, in a thick, porcelain-lined kettle, where it will gradually steam for six or eight hours, it requires a richness and sweetness that can’t be obtained by any other process of cooking it. A half pumpkin will not require more than a pint of water, and by the time it is thoroughly cooked by this method, all the water will have been absorbed. The old-fashioned rule for pumpkin pie is about two cups of pumpkin to five of milk, or four of milk and one of cream, four or five eggs, sweetening and spices to taste. Do not forget to add half a teaspoonful of salt to every quart of milk used in the pies.