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Bread

Receipt for Unfermented Bread

A simple bread made with flour, bicarbonate of soda, cold water, and muriatic acid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Receipt for Unfermented Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Mix the dough

  1. In a bowl, combine the flour and bicarbonate of soda.

  2. Add the cold water and mix until smooth.

  3. Carefully add the muriatic acid and stir well.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough as desired and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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
Provides the structure that holds the dough together as it sets.
Bicarbonate of soda
Reacts with the acid to release carbon dioxide, which leavens the dough.
Muriatic acid
Reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to produce the gas that makes the bread rise.
Cold water
Hydrates the flour so it forms a smooth, workable dough.

The step that matters

Adding the muriatic acid. The acid and bicarbonate of soda react immediately and release gas, so the acid should be stirred in carefully and the dough shaped and baked promptly. Waiting lets the gas escape and reduces the rise.

“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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