7 lbs. flour, salt to taste (about 3/4 ounce), 1 ounce yeast, 1-1/2 quarts of warm water. Put the flour into a pan or large basin, add salt to taste, and mix it well in. Put the yeast with a lump of sugar into a small basin, and pour a little of the warm water on to if. Cold or hot water kills the yeast. Leave this a little while until the yeast bubbles, then smooth out all lumps and pour into a hole made in the middle of the flour. Pour in the rest of the warm water, and begin to stir in the flour. Now begin kneading the dough, and knead until the whole is smooth and damp, and leaves the hand without sticking, which will take about 15 to 20 minutes. Time spent in kneading is not wasted. Set the pan in a warm place, covered with a clean cloth. Be careful not to put the pan where it can get too hot. The fender is a good place, but to the side of the fire rather than in front. Let it rise at least an hour, but should it not have risen very much--say double the size--let it stand longer, as the bread cannot be light if the dough has not risen sufficiently. Now have a baking-board well floured, and turn all the dough on to it. Have tins or earthenware pans, or even pie-dishes well greased. Divide the dough, putting enough to half fill the pans or tins. Put these on the fender to rise again for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake in a hot oven, about 350 degrees (a little hotter than for pastry). Bake (for a loaf about 2 lbs. in a moderate oven) from 30 to 40 minutes. Of course the time depends greatly on the size of the loaves and the heat of the oven. The above recipe produces the ordinary white loaf. Better bread would, in my opinion, result from the use of a very fine wholemeal flour such as the "Nu-Era," and the omission of salt.
Cook rice as in foregoing recipe. Fry a small, finely-chopped onion in very little fat. Add this to the cooked rice with butter the size of a walnut, and a pinch of savoury herbs. Shake over the fire until hot. Serve with peeled baked potatoes and baked tomatoes.
1 medium marrow, 2 ozs. butter or 1-1/2 oz. nutter, 1 dessertspoon sage, 2 medium onions, 4 tablespoons bread-crumbs, 1 tablespoon milk or water. Chop the onion small and mix with the bread-crumbs, sage, and milk or water. Peel the marrow and scoop out the pith and pips. (Cut it in halves to do this, or, better still, if possible cut off one end and scoop out inside with a long knife.) Tie the two halves together with clean string. Stuff the marrow and bake for 40 minutes on a well-greased tin. Lay some of the nutter on top and baste frequently until done. It should brown well. Serve with brown gravy or white sauce.
Make a stiff mixture as for nut roast, add a tablespoonful savoury herbs if liked. Form into small, flat rissoles, roll them in white flour, and fry in deep fat or oil. Serve hot with gravy, or cold with salad.
1 cup unpolished rice, 3 cups water. Put the rice on in cold water, and bring it gradually to the boil. Boil hard for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Draw it to the side of the stove, where it is comparatively cool, or, if a gas stove is used, put the saucepan on an asbestos mat and turn the gas as low as possible. The water should now gradually steam away, leaving the rice dry and well cooked. Serve plain or with curry.
1-1/2 lbs. (when prepared and cut up) of mixed seasonable vegetables, including, whenever possible, tomatoes, celery and spinach; one tablespoonful of water. Cut up the moist, juicy vegetables such as celery, spinach, onions and tomatoes, place them with the water in a casserole, put lid on and slowly cook for about one hour until enough juice is extracted to safely add the rest of the cut-up vegetables. The whole should now be placed in a slightly greater heat and simmered until the last added vegetables are quite tender. The mixture should be stirred occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Use the ingredients given and proceed the same as for German lentil curry, using any cold steamed vegetables in season. The best curry, according to an Indian authority, is one made of potatoes, artichokes, carrots, pumpkin and tomatoes. Note.--A writer in Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery says:--"A spoonful of cocoanut kernel dried and powdered gives a delicious flavour to a curry, as does also acid apple."
1/2 lb. small macaroni, 2 qts. water or vegetable stock, 3/4 lb. onions or 1 lb. tomatoes. Break the macaroni into small pieces and add to the stock when nearly boiling. Cook with the lid off the saucepan until the macaroni is swollen and very tender. (This will take about an hour.) If onions are used for flavouring, steam separately until tender, and add to soup just before serving. If tomatoes are used, skin and cook slowly to pulp (without water) before adding. If the vegetable stock is already strong and well-flavoured, no addition of any kind will be needed.
1/4 pint pearl barley, 1/4 pint red lentils, 2 qts. cold bran water, flavouring. To make the bran water, boil 1 measure of bran with 4 measures of water for not less than 30 minutes. Simmer together the barley, lentils, and bran water for 3 hours. To flavour, put 4 ozs. butter or 3 ozs. nutter into a pan with 1 lb. sliced onions. Shake over fire until brown, but do not let them burn or the flavour of the soup will be spoilt. Add these to the stock at the end of the first hour. Any other vegetable liked may be chopped to dice and added. Tomato may be substituted for the onion if preferred and no fat used. Strain through a hair sieve, and serve the clear liquid after boiling up.
