Skip to main content
Main

German Yeast

Bread made with German yeast, light and good, suitable for cakes and biscuits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 2 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

German Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Mix and knead

  1. Combine 3.5 pounds of flour with 1 ounce of German yeast, some salt, and nearly a quart of milk (or milk and water) in a bowl; gradually moisten and blend the yeast with the warm liquid until the mixture is smooth as cream.

  2. Mix the dough firmly and knead well at once.

First rise

  1. Leave the dough to rise for about an hour.

Knead again and rise

  1. Knead the dough thoroughly again.

  2. Leave the dough to rise again for three‑quarters of an hour to an hour.

Shape and bake

  1. Divide the dough, shape into loaves, place into round slightly buttered earthen pans, and send immediately to the oven.

  2. Optionally, lay a leaven with the yeast and part of the liquid before kneading; otherwise, knead all at once.

  3. For Professor Liebig’s Bavarian Brown Bread, mix wheat flour with salt before adding yeast.

  4. Add yeast with water or a portion of milk; knead the dough until light.

  5. Bake the loaves until well baked.

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Flour (in the method)
Forms the structure of the dough as kneading develops its gluten network.
German yeast (in the method)
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Milk
Adds moisture to the dough and softens the crumb while keeping it tender.

The step that matters

Blending the yeast with the warm liquid. Yeast must be moistened gradually and blended until smooth so it spreads evenly through the flour. Lumps of undissolved yeast leave unevenly fermented pockets, and liquid that is too hot can kill the yeast, so the dough may fail to rise evenly.

“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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes