Compressed Yeast Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sponge
Dissolve the yeast in 1 pint of lukewarm water and stir in enough flour to make a thick batter.
Cover the bowl with a thick cloth and set it in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes until foamy.
Make the dough
Stir in the salt dissolved in a little warm water, add the remaining flour, and enough warm water to make a stiff dough.
Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes, then divide it into loaves and knead each loaf again.
Shape and bake
Place the loaves in buttered baking tins, cover with a double cloth, and let them rise until doubled in size.
Bake the loaves as you would any bread.
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
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
- Compressed yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Warm water
- Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and activates the yeast.
- Salt
- Controls yeast activity and strengthens the dough's flavour and texture.
The step that matters
Letting the loaves rise until doubled. Rising in the tins sets the final crumb. Under-proofed loaves stay dense, while over-proofed loaves can collapse or bake up coarse, because the yeast gas and gluten structure run out of balance.
“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
Cornbread345 recipes
Bread Pudding336 recipes
Milk Bread Rolls242 recipes
Potato Bread124 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.