Unfermented Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the dough
Take 1 lb flour, add 40 grains sesquicarbonate of soda, mix with sugar and flour.
Rub the soda, sugar, and a small portion of flour through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon into the remainder of the flour, stirring until fully mixed, before adding the liquid.
Add 50 drops muriatic acid diluted with 1/2 pint water (or as needed), stirring constantly into a smooth mass.
Shape and bake
Divide dough into two loaves.
Put loaves immediately into a quick oven.
Bake thoroughly.
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 that holds the dough together and sets as the loaves bake.
- Sesquicarbonate of soda (in the method)
- Releases carbon dioxide when acid is added, which lifts the dough and makes it rise.
- Muriatic acid (in the method)
- Reacts with the soda to release carbon dioxide, so the dough rises without fermentation.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Shape and bake immediately after adding the acid. The acid and soda react as soon as the liquid is added, releasing carbon dioxide that leavens the dough. The gas escapes over time, so the loaves should go into a hot oven without delay to rise well.
“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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