_Baking_ is the cooking of food by dry heat in a closed oven. Only foods
containing a considerable degree of moisture are adapted for cooking by
this method. The hot, dry air which fills the oven is always thirsting
for moisture, and will take from every moist substance to which it has
access a quantity of water proportionate to its degree of heat. Foods
containing but a small amount of moisture, unless protected in some
manner from the action of the heated air, or in some way supplied with
moisture during the cooking process, come from the oven dry, hard, and
unpalatable.

Proper cooking by this method depends greatly upon the facility with
which the heat of the oven can be regulated. When oil or gas is the fuel
used, it is an easy matter to secure and maintain almost any degree of
heat desirable, but with a wood or coal stove, especial care and
painstaking are necessary.

It is of the first importance that the mechanism of the oven to be used,
be thoroughly understood by the cook, and she should test its heating
capacity under various conditions, with a light, quick fire and with a
more steady one; she should carefully note the kind and amount of fuel
requisite to produce a certain degree of heat; in short, she should
thoroughly know her "machine" and its capabilities before attempting to
use it for the cooking of food. An oven thermometer is of the utmost
value for testing the heat, but unfortunately, such thermometers are not
common. They are obtainable in England, although quite expensive. It is
also possible at the present time to obtain ranges with a very reliable
thermometer attachment to the oven door.

[Illustration: An Oven Thermometer]