BREADS MADE FROM SOUR MILK Milk or cream used for baking is best when it sours quickly and does not separate, but remains thick and smooth. The usual measurement to use in every recipe where lightness is desired is 1 level teaspoonful soda to 2 cupfuls sour milk or 1 cup ful molasses. Sometimes the milk is sour, but not loppered; then use it in gingerbread or brown bread, where there is molasses enough to complete the acidity, or let it stand for a few hours in a warm place to lopper. The more acid the milk is, the more soda it will require. Never use milk which has turned bitter or moldy. If you are lucky enough to possess sour cream, cut down in each recipe 0 tablespoonfuls butter to 1 cupful sour milk, else the mixture will be too rich.
Woodlawn Brown Bread.
2 cupfuls sour milk, 1 egg, 3 cupfula Qraham flour 1 teaspoonful soda, cupful molasses, teaspoonful salt If the Graham flour is very coarse, sift it and throw away the bran. Add the salt, pour in the molasses, milk, beaten egg, and the soda dissolved in a little water. If you desire bread that is not very dark or sweet, use 2 tablespoonfuls molasses and 1 tea spoonful sugar. Steam for two and a half-hours in pound baking-powder can. Give it three hours if steamed in a quart pail.
Sunday-Morning Loaf.
2 cupfuls Graham flour, 1 cupful wheat flour, 1 cupful Indian meal, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 cupful molasses, teaspoonfuls soda, cupful cold water, 1 tablespoonful melted lard, 1 cupful sour milk, cupfuls sweet milk.
Sift the dry materials together, add the molasses, lard, soda melted in water, and milk. Beat thoroughly; pour into a buttered mold, and steam for three hours. This makes two me dium-sized loaves. In New England these are called Sunday-Morning loaves, because they are generally made Saturday night and put in the oven for half an hour next morning to serve with the traditional baked beans. They keep for one or two weeks and may be heated for use at any time.
Steamed Graham Loaf.
3 cupfuls of Graham flour, 1 cupful wheat flour, 1 teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 cupful molasses, 2i cupfuls sour milk.
Sift dry ingredients, add molasses and milk, beat well and turn into a buttered mold. Steam three and a half hours. This mixture, cooked in pound baking - powder cans, will make four loaves, which can be re heated when required. Place the can on a frame in a kettle containing boiling water.
Whole-Wheat Muffins.
1 cupful whole-wheat meal, 1 cupful flour, 2 tablespoonfuls sugar, teaspoonful salt, / teaspoonful soda, 11 cupfuls sour milk, 2 tablespoonfuls melted butter, 1 egg.
Sift the dry ingredients together, mix with the beaten egg, milk, and butter. Bake in hot gem pans.
Spider Corn Cake.
/ cupful cornmeal, cupful flour, 1 tablespoonful sugar, teaspoonful salt, teaspoonful soda, 1 egg, cupful sour milk, cupful sweet milk.
Sift the dry ingredients together and mix them with the well-beaten egg and milk. Beat thoroughly. Melt 9 tablespoonfuls butter in an iron spider and pour the mixture into it. Pour cupful sweet milk over the top of the batter and set it very carefully into a hot oven. Bake for twenty minutes.
Rice or Hominy Griddlecakes or Muffins.
1 cupful sour milk, 1 cupful cold rice or fine hominy, teaspoonful salt, / teaspoonful soda, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful melted butter, Flour to make a batter.
Heat the rice or hominy over hot water and moisten gradually with the milk till free from lumps. Add salt and soda, stir in the beaten egg yolk, then the melted butter, then flour to make a soft batter, lastly the white of egg beaten stiff. This is for grid dlecakes. For muffins, use flour enough to make a stiff batter.
Corn Bread.
9 cupfuls sour milk, 3 eggs, 2 cupfuls Indian meal (white), 1 teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful sugar.
Beat the eggs separately, sift the soda twice through the meal, and add the salt. Beat the ingredients well together, adding the whites last of all. Bake in a moderate oven in muf fin rings, with a large spoonful of the batter to each, until golden brown.