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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1913)
THE CHEM AW A AM ERICAN 11 m ented by a h alf-d ay ’s in d u strial w ork in the departm ents, w here we learn all th in g s th a t pertain to the hom e. On being g rad u ated from th is school a girl is fitted to go into her own home and take up all th e duties of a good hom em aker, as she atten d s to the various duties of san itation, sw eeping, d u stin g , general cleaning, and laundry work. Nor is sew ing neglected, for here we are ta u g h t to cut and m ake our own dresses as well as to do plain sew ing. T h is is an extrem ely im p ortant art in th is day of high prices and will assist very greatly in the economy of the hom e. The dresses we have on today were made by us at an average cost of $4.00 for m aterial, and will serve to dem onstrate to you ou r skill in th is branch of hom ekeeping. T hen last, but not least, will come the actual practice in the p rep ara tion of food, since we have been ta u g h t here to prepare and to serve meals; not elaborate ones, of course, but the good, plain, wholesome meals, such as we shall need to have in our own homes. T he happiness of a hom e depends in a very large m easure upon the health of the fam ily, and upon no one does th is responsibility fall so heavily as upon the housem other. To preserve th is health she m ust constantly consider all m atters of sanitation in cleanliness and the care of the waste m ater ials th a t will accum ulate about her kitchen. A s to th eir diet— there is, perhaps, no article of food so necessary to be properly prepared as is her bread, and we shall now dem onstrate to you how we have learned to m ake it in our dom estic science d e p a rt m ent. T he necessary ing red ien ts for the m aking of good bread are a first- class flour of some variety and liquid for m oistening it, salt for flavor ing and some form of yeast to lighten it. T h e first point we shall con sider is the choice of flour. As it is poor economy to buy cheap flour n o th in g less th an m edium grade should ever be used. T he hard and soft w heat varieties differ som ew hat, b u t most au th o rities tell us that hard w heat flour is best used for pastries, w hile th e sp rin g w heat flour m akes the best bread, since it contains more g lu ten and less starch so th a t less flour is required to stiffen th e dough. As for the liquid used, it may be m ilk—whole or skim m ed—or w ater, or e \e n half of each, b u t should alw ays be used warm ; how ever, if the tem perature exceeds 70 degrees there is danger of destroying th e yeast germ s, so care m ust be taken alw ays to test it before using. In cold w eather it will be necessary to warm the flour to about the sam e tem p er ature as th at of the w ater. Most housew ives prefer w ater, alth o u g h m ilk supplies some sugar fat, and other nitrogenous m atter which produces a more nourishing loaf than th at w hich is m ade w ith w ater. To th is m ix tu re a small q u an tity both of sugar and sh o rten in g m ust be added, for su g ar used in too large