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Bread

To Make Good Bread

A basic bread dough made with flour, water, and yeast, kneaded and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Make Good Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA good quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the sponge

  1. In a large pan, make a hole in the center of the flour.

  2. Dissolve the yeast in warm water and pour it into the hole.

  3. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until a soft batter forms.

  4. Sprinkle a little dry flour over the batter, cover with a cloth, and let it rise in a warm place.

  5. If using dry yeast, let it rise overnight; if using compressed yeast, let it rise for 3-4 hours.

Shape and bake

  1. Once risen, add enough lukewarm water to form a stiff dough and knead thoroughly.

  2. Cover and let it rise again for about 2 hours.

  3. Mold the dough into loaves and let it rise a third time.

  4. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and bake for 2 hours or until thoroughly done.

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 dough's structure once mixed with water and kneaded.
Warm water
Hydrates the flour so gluten can develop and the yeast can activate.
Yeast
Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise.

The step that matters

Knead the dough thoroughly after adding the lukewarm water. Kneading develops gluten, the stretchy network that traps the gas yeast produces. Without enough kneading, the dough rises poorly and bakes up dense.

“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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