Skip to main content
Bread

To Mare English Bread

A traditional English bread made with flour, yeast, water, and salt, baked at 400°F for 1.5 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

To Mare English Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and make a cavity in the center.

  2. Mix the yeast and lukewarm water together, then strain through a fine sieve.

  3. Add the yeast mixture to some of the flour and mix lightly to form a light paste.

  4. Cover and let it prove in a warm place for 1 hour.

  5. Mix the paste with the remaining flour, 2 quarts of lukewarm water, and a little salt.

  6. Knead the dough until it is stiff, then let it prove for another hour.

  7. Knead the dough again and let it prove for an additional hour.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into loaves or combine two pieces together.

  2. Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) for 1.5 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Best white flour
Forms the gluten network that traps gas and gives the bread its structure.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Lukewarm water
Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and activates the yeast.

The step that matters

Kneading until stiff. Kneading develops the gluten network that holds the gas produced by the yeast. Under-kneaded dough cannot trap gas well, so the loaves rise poorly and have a coarse, dense crumb.

“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.

More english bread recipes

Pudding 3 See all 4 →

You might also like

CornbreadCornbread345 recipesBread PuddingBread Pudding336 recipesMilk Bread RollsMilk Bread Rolls242 recipesPotato BreadPotato Bread124 recipes