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Bread

Compressed Yeast Bread

A yeast bread made with compressed yeast, flour, water, and salt, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Compressed Yeast Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the sponge

  1. Dissolve the compressed yeast in 1 pint of lukewarm water.

  2. Stir in enough flour to make a thick batter.

  3. Cover the bowl with a thick cloth and set it in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes until foamy.

Make the dough

  1. Stir in the salt dissolved in a little warm water.

  2. Add the remaining flour.

  3. Add enough warm water to make a stiff dough.

  4. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes.

Shape and bake

  1. Divide the dough into loaves.

  2. Knead each loaf again.

  3. Place the loaves in buttered baking tins.

  4. Cover with a double cloth.

  5. Let the loaves rise until doubled in size.

  6. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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
Forms the gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
Compressed yeast
Produces carbon dioxide gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Warm water
Hydrates the flour to form dough and activates the yeast.
Salt
Controls yeast activity and strengthens the gluten for a better texture.

The step that matters

Let the loaves rise until doubled in size. Under-proofed loaves stay dense and over-proofed ones collapse in the oven. Yeast gas must fill the gluten structure to the right volume before baking sets it.

“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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