A BAKER’S DOZEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18186, 20 June 1927, Page 5

A BAKER’S DOZEN.

1. —When baking meat pies of any kind, take care to leave a good hole in the top crust, or your pies wall be unwholesome to eat. 2. —Milk puddings should be baked in a slow to moderate oven. In a very hot one the milk will boil and evaporate. 3. —Cover (shepherd’s pie. macaroni cheese or similar dishes with a plate or greased paper till the cooking is nearly finished, removing this in time to let the top brown attractively. Otherwise the top layer of potato or macaroni will bake hard and dry. 4. —Put a little water into the tin in which you are baking apples. 5. —Bake potatoes in a moderate oven, allowing about two hours, and turning them several times. Serve as soon as cooked. 6. —Pastry needs a hot oven; don’t open the oven door on any account until the paste has had time to rise. After the crust has “set” grease-proof paper may be laid over it to prevent it colouring too much. 7. —To test the oven for meringues, put in a sheet of white notepaper, shut the door and count a hundred. If the paper has coloured, the oven is too hot. The paper should be crisp, but remain un tinted. 8. —Sponge cakes need a very moderate oven, but Swiss roll should be baked in a very quick one. 9. —A dish of water placed in the oven when you are baking cakes will give that “moistness” to the heat that suits them best. 10. —Ricli large cakes should be baked in a moderate oven: scones and buns do best in a hot, but not too fierce, 11. —Potatoes that are to be baked with the joint cook better if first parboiled. They are then cooked through before the outside has time to harden. 12. —When baking tomatoes, put a little gravy in the tin instead of water. It makes them more tasty. 13. —Don’t bake “spill-overs.” When gravy, fruit juice, milk or whatnot boil over on the oven shelf, get them scraped and washed off as soon as possible. Otherwise you will quite spoil the flavour of whatever else you bake.