Flour Ball
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Boil the flour ball
Scald a square of heavy white cotton and tie in it 3 cups of flour.
Place the cloth in a deep kettle of boiling water and boil for 5 to 6 hours.
Lift out the cloth, remove it, and scrape the paste from the outside of the ball.
Dry, brown and finish
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until well dried.
Break and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until lightly browned.
Roll fine and sift; keep in a covered jar.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Boiling gelatinizes its starch into a firm paste that forms the ball, and baking dries it into a crisp, powdery mass.
The step that matters
Bake in a slow oven until well dried. Drying removes the water left in the boiled paste. Until it is fully dry the ball stays soft and gummy, so it will not break cleanly or roll and sift into a fine powder.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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