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Plain Bread

A simple yeast bread made with flour, salt, water, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Plain Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. Dissolve the yeast cake in ½ cup lukewarm water for about 10 minutes.

  2. Put salt into a mixing pan, add water, and enough flour to make a batter (about the consistency of pancake mixture).

  3. Add the yeast and beat for 2-3 minutes.

  4. Place the batter in a warm place to rise overnight.

  5. In the morning, the sponge should be twice its size.

Knead and shape

  1. Add enough flour to make a dough that doesn't stick to your hands or the board.

  2. Turn the dough out onto a bread board and knead for 2-3 minutes.

  3. Let the dough rise again until it is about 2.5 times its size.

  4. Mould the dough lightly into pans.

  5. Cover the pans well.

  6. Let the dough rise until it is about 2.5 times its size.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C) until the loaf is nicely browned and feels light when taken out of the pan.

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

Flour
Forms the batter and dough structure that traps gas and sets into the loaf.
Dried yeast
Ferments the sugars in the sponge and dough, producing gas that makes the loaf rise.
Salt
Controls yeast activity and adds flavor to the bread.

The step that matters

Judging the overnight sponge and the dough rises. Yeast needs time and warmth to build gas and develop flavor. Underproofed dough stays dense, while overproofed dough can collapse, so the rise should be judged by size rather than by the clock alone.

“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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