Family, or Home-baked Bread, Made with Brewers’ Barm
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Warm the flour in a tub or pan near the fire or oven.
Mix the brewers’ barm with a small quantity of warm water.
Pour the water and barm into a hole in the middle of the flour and mix to form a stiff batter.
Cover the batter and let it rise in a warm place.
Make the dough
Dissolve the salt in warm water and add it to the batter.
Mix in enough water to create a mellow dough and let it rise again.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into loaves and allow for a slight proof.
Bake in a hot oven until done.
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 the dough builds and holds when baked.
- Brewers’ barm
- Yeast-rich leaven that makes the dough rise and gives it a light crumb.
- Salt
- Controls yeast activity and adds flavour to the bread.
The step that matters
Mix in enough water to create a mellow dough. Too little water leaves the dough stiff and dense, while the right hydration lets gluten develop so the dough stretches and traps gas as it rises.
“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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