BREAD AND YEAST

the bread rise. In the country yeast cakes are found very con- venient, but they seldom make the bread as good as fresh lively yeast.

BREAD. — Mix into six pounds of sifted flour one ounce of salt nearly half a pint of fresh sweet yeast as it comes from the brewery, and a sufficient quantity of warmed milk to make the whole into a stiff dough; work and knead it well upon a paste- board, on which a little flour has been strewed, for fifteen or twenty minutes, then put it into a deep pan, cover it with a warmed towel, set it before the fire, and let it rise for an hour and a half, or perhaps two hours; cut off a piece of this sponge or dough; knead it well for eight or ten minutes, together with flour merely sufficient to keep it from adhering to the board ; put it into small tins, filling them three-quarters full ; dent the rolls all round with a knife, and let them stand a few minutes before putting them into the oven. The remainder of the dough must then be worked up for loaves, and baked either in or out of a shape.

BREAD, FRENCH. — Take half a bushel (or six pounds) of flour, put it on the slab, make a hole in the centre, in which put two ounces of yeast; make your dough with warm water, to about a consistency; work it up well, adding two ounces of salt, dissolved in a little warm water; cover, and set it in a warm place to rise; on this part of the operation depends the quality of the bread. Having left the dough one or two hours, according to the season, knead it again, and leave it as before, for two hours. In the meanwhile, heat the oven, divide the dough into eight equa. parts, of which form as many loaves, into any shape you please; put them into the oven as quickly as possible. As soon as they are done, rub the crusts with a little butter, which will give it a fine yellow color.

BROWN, OR DYSPEPSIA BREAD. — Take six quarts of wheat meal, rather coarsely ground, one teacup of good yeast, and half a teacup of molasses, mix these with a pint of milk- warm water and a teaspoonful of saleratus. Make a hole in the flour and stir this mixture in the middle of the meal till it is like batter. Then proceed as with fine flour bread. Make the dough when sufficiently light into four loaves, which will weigh two pounds per loaf when baked. It requires a hotter oven than fine flour bread, and must bake about an hour and a half.

RYE AND INDIAN BREAD. — There are many different propor- tions in, the mixing of this bread. Some put one-third Indian

BREAD AXD YEAST. Ill

with two of rye; others like one-third rye and two of Indian; others prefer it half and half.

If yon use the largest proportion of rye meal, make your dough stiff, so that it will mould into loaves; when it is two- thirds Indian, it should he softer and baked in deep earthen or tin pans after the following rules.

Take four quarts of sifted Indian meal ; put it into a glazed earthen pan, sprinkle over it a table-spoonful of fine salt; pour over it about two quarts of boiling water, stir and work it till every part of the meal is thoroughly wet; Indian meal absorbs a greater quantity of water. When it is about milk-warm, work in two quarts of rye meal, half a pint of lively yeast, mixed with a pint of warm water; add more warm water if needed. Work the mixture well with your hands; it should be stiff, but not firm as flour dough. Have ready a large, deep, well buttered pan; put in the dough, and smooth the top by putting your hand in warm water, and then patting down the loaf. Set this to rise in a warm place in the winter ; in the summer it should not be put by the fire. When it begins to crack on the top, which will usually be in about an hour or an hour and a half, put it into a well heated oven, and bake it three or four hours. It is better to let it stand in the oven all night, unless the weather is warm. Indian meal requires to be well cooked. The loaf will weigh between seven and eight pounds.

There is another mode which many persons think prefera- ble. Scald a quart of rye and another rt Indian meal with a small quantity of boiling water. Boil & tea-spoonful of salt in a pint and a half of milk, mix the rye mid Indian together, and pour the milk over them — add half a pint of fresh yeast; but not before the meal is cooling. The mixture must be well kneaded and placed in a deep pan by the fire to rise. When it has risen sufficiently, take it out of the pan, make it into any shape you like, and put H into an oven well heated. If the fire is too brisk the crust will brown and the inside remain heavy.

I should bake from two to three hours.

To MAKE EXCELLENT BEE AD WITHOUT YEAST. — Scald about two handfuls of Indian meal, into which put a little salt, and as much cold water as will make it rather warmer than new milk ; then stir in wheat flour till it is as thick as a family pudding, and set it down by the fire to rise. In about half an hour it generally grows thin ; you may sprinkle a little fresh flour on the top, and mind to turn the pot round, that it may not bake to the side of it. In three or four hours, if you mind the above di- rections, it will rise and ferment a-s if you had set it with hop

112 PREPARATIONS FOR THK SICK.

yeast ; when it does, make it up in soft dongh, flour a pan, put in your bread, set it before the fire, covered up, turn it round to make it equally warm, and in about half an hour it will be light enough to bake. It suits best to bake it in a Dutch oven, as it should be put into the oven as soon as it is light.

COMMON YEAST. — Thicken two quarts of water with fine floui, about three spoonfuls; boil it half an hour, sweeten it with half a spoonful of brown sugar ; when nearly cold, put into it four spoonfuls of fresh yeast and pour it into a jug, shake it well to- gether, and let it stand one day to ferment near the fire without being covered. There will be a thin liquor on the top, which must be poured off; shake the remainder and cork it up for use. Take always four spoonfuls of the old mixture to ferment the next quantity, keeping it always in succession. A half-peck loaf will require about a gill.

The bottles should be closely corked until the fermentation is over. After twenty-four hours the bottles may be well corked. They should be kept in a cold place. Yeast will not keep good over ten days unless it is made into little biscuits. For that purpose the process is the same as above, except that the yeast is taken from the bottles after it ferments, flour enough added to make it a thick dough — it is then cut into biscuits and dried in the sun. Before the biscuits are used, they should be soaked all night — the water from them is mixed with tli«> bread. One biscuit to a large loaf or two small ones.