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Bread Griddle-cakes
1 1/2 cups fine stale bread crumbs 1 1/2 cups scalded milk 2 tablespoons butter 2 eggs 1/2 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 teaspoons baking powder Add milk and butter to crumbs, and soak until crumbs are soft; add eggs well beaten, then flour, salt, and baking powder mixed and sifted. Cook same as other griddle-cakes.
A thrift recipe that turns dry bread into a soft, custardy griddle-cake. The batter behaves differently from a flour pancake, so a couple of habits need adjusting.
- Soak properly firstThe crumbs must go fully soft before anything else is added, or the cakes cook up gritty with hard flecks. Ten to fifteen minutes in the hot milk is usually enough; stale bread that has gone rock-hard may want longer.
- Crumbs, not dried breadcrumbs"Fine stale bread crumbs" means day-old soft bread rubbed or torn fine, not the sandy commercial crumbs sold for coating. Packaged dry crumbs absorb far more liquid and will give you a stiff paste.
- Baking powder timingFour teaspoons is a lot by modern standards, and the baking powders of the period were generally single-acting. Mix the powder with the flour and salt, add it last, and get the cakes onto the griddle within a few minutes.
- Batter consistencyExpect something thicker than pancake batter, closer to a soft drop batter. If it will not spread at all, thin with a spoonful or two of milk rather than adding flour.
- Griddle heatAbout 350-375F on an electric griddle, or a heavy pan where a drop of water skitters. The high proportion of milk and egg means these brown faster than flour cakes and scorch easily; keep the heat moderate and cook them a little longer than you would a standard pancake so the centre sets.
- Scalded milkScalding is usually explained as a precaution dating from raw milk. With pasteurised milk you only need it hot enough to soften the crumbs, so heat until steam rises and bubbles show at the edge.
- YieldRoughly a dozen cakes of three to four inches, serving three or four. They are best straight from the griddle, as they stiffen on standing.