CHAPTER XXXI.

=Bread.= [Illustration] REMARKS ON HOME-MADE BREAD. IT is surely a singular fact that the one article of our daily food on which health depends more than on any other, is precisely that which is obtained in England with the greatest difficulty—_good, light, and pure bread_—yet nothing can be more simple and easy than the process of making it, either in large quantities or in small. From constant failure, it is nevertheless considered so difficult in many families, that recourse is had to the nearest baker, both in town and country, as a means of escape from the heavy, or bitter, or ill-baked masses of dough which appear at table under the name of _household_ or _home-made_ bread; and which are well calculated to create the distaste which they often excite for everything which bears its name. Without wishing in the slightest degree to disparage the skill and labour of bread-makers by trade, truth compels us to assert our conviction of the superior wholesomeness of bread made in our own homes. When a miller can be depended on to supply flour of good quality, and the other ingredients used in preparing it are also fresh and good, and mingled with it in due proportions, and the kneading, fermentation, and baking, are conducted with care and intelligence, the result will uniformly be excellent bread. Every cook, therefore,—and we might almost say _every female servant_—ought to be perfectly acquainted with the proper mode of making it; and skill in preparing a variety of dishes, is poor compensation for ignorance on this one essential point.[186] Moreover, it presents no more real difficulty than boiling a dish of potatoes, or making a rice pudding; and the neglect with which it is treated is therefore the less to be comprehended or excused. Footnote 186: Only those persons who live habitually on good home-made bread, can form an idea of the extent to which health is affected by their being deprived of it. We have been appealed to on several occasions for household loaves—which we have sent to a considerable distance—by friends who complained of being rendered really _ill_ by the bread which they were compelled to eat in the sea-side towns and in other places of fashionable resort; and in London we have heard incessant complaints both from foreigners and habitual residents, of the impossibility of obtaining _really wholesome bread_. TO PURIFY YEAST FOR BREAD OR CAKES. The yeast procured from a public brewery is often so extremely bitter that it can only be rendered fit for use by frequent washings, and after these even it should be cautiously employed. Mix it, when first brought in, with a large quantity of cold water, and set it by until the following morning in a cool place; then drain off the water, and stir the yeast up well with as much more of fresh: it must again stand several hours before the water can be poured clear from it. By changing this daily in winter, and both night and morning in very hot weather, the yeast may be preserved fit for use much longer than it would otherwise be; and should it ferment rather less freely after a time, a _small_ portion of brown sugar and a little warm milk or other liquid, stirred to it a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes before it is required for bread-making, will restore its strength. The German yeast, of which we have spoken in detail in another part of this chapter, makes exceedingly light bread and buns, and is never bitter; it is therefore a valuable substitute for our own beer-yeast, but cannot be procured in all parts of the country, for the reasons which we have stated. THE OVEN. A brick oven, heated with wood, is far superior to any other for baking bread, as well as for most other purposes. The iron ovens, now commonly attached to kitchen-ranges—the construction of which has within these few years been wonderfully improved—though exceedingly convenient, from the facility which they afford for baking at all hours of the day, do not in general answer well for _bread_, unless it be made into very small loaves or rolls, as the surface becomes hardened and browned long before the heat has sufficiently penetrated to the centre of the dough. The same objection often exists to iron-ovens of larger size, which require care and management, to ensure the successful use of them. A brick oven should be well heated with faggot wood, or with a faggot, and two or three solid logs; and after it is cleared, the door should be closely shut for quite half an hour before the baking commences: the heat will then be well sustained for a succession of bread, pies, cakes, and small pastry. The servant who habitually attends at an oven will soon become acquainted with the precise quantity of fuel which it requires, and all other peculiarities which may be connected with it. A FEW RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN MAKING BREAD. Never use too large a proportion of yeast, as the bread will not only become dry very speedily when this is done, but it will be far less sweet and pleasant in flavour than that which is more slowly fermented, and the colour will not be so good: there will also be a great chance of its being bitter when brewer’s yeast is used for it. Remember that milk or water of _scalding_ heat poured to any kind of yeast will render the bread heavy. One pint of either added quite boiling to a pint and a half of cold, will bring it to about the degree of warmth required. In frosty weather the proportion of the heated liquid may be increased a little. When only porter-yeast—which is dark-coloured and bitter—can be procured, use a much smaller proportion than usual, and allow _much_ longer time for it to rise. Never let it be sent to the oven until it is evidently _light_. Bitter bread is unpalatable, but not really unwholesome; but heavy bread is _particularly_ so. Let the leaven be kneaded up quickly with the remainder of the flour when once it is well risen, as it should on no account be allowed to sink again before this is done, when it has reached the proper point; and in making the dough, be particularly careful not to render it too lithe by adding more liquid than is requisite. It should be quite firm, and entirely free from lumps and crumbs throughout the mass, and on the surface also, which ought to be _perfectly smooth_. In winter, place the bread while it is rising sufficiently close to the fire to prevent its becoming cold, but never so near as to render it _hot_. A warm thick cloth should be thrown over the pan in which it is made immediately after the leaven is mixed, and kept on it until the bread is ready for the oven. HOUSEHOLD BREAD. Put half a bushel (more or less, according to the consumption of the family) of flour into the kneading tub or trough, and hollow it well in the middle; dilute a pint of yeast as it is brought from the brewery or half the quantity if it has been washed and rendered solid, with four quarts or more of lukewarm milk or water, or a mixture of the two; stir into it, from the surrounding part, with a wooden spoon, as much flour as will make a thick batter; throw a handful or two over it, and leave this, which is called the leaven, to rise before proceeding further. In about an hour it will have swollen considerably, and have burst through the coating of flour on the top; then pour in as much more warm liquid as will convert the whole, with _good kneading_, and this should not be spared, into a firm dough, of which the surface should be entirely free from lumps or crumbs. Throw a cloth over, and let it remain until it has risen very much a second time, which will be in an hour, or something more, if the batch be large. Then work it lightly up, and mould it into loaves of from two to three pounds weight; send them directly to a well heated oven, and bake them from an hour and a half to an hour and three-quarters. Flour, 1/2 bushel; salt (when it is liked), 4 to 6 oz.; yeast, 1 pint unwashed, or 1/2 pint if purified; milk, or water, 2 quarts: 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Additional liquid as needed. _Obs._—Brown bread can be made exactly as above, either with half meal and half flour mixed, or with meal only. This will absorb more moisture than fine flour, and will retain it rather longer. Brown bread should always be _thoroughly baked_. _Remark._—We have seen it very erroneously asserted in one or two works, that bread made with milk speedily becomes sour. This is never the case when it is properly baked and kept, and when the milk used for it is _perfectly sweet_. The experience of many years, enables us to speak positively on this point. BORDYKE BREAD. (_Author’s Receipt._) Mix with a gallon of flour a large teaspoonful of fine salt, make a hollow in the centre, and pour in two tablespoonsful of solid, well purified yeast, gradually diluted with about two pints and a half of milk, and work it into a thick batter with the surrounding flour, strew a thick layer over and leave it to rise from an hour to an hour and a half; then knead it up with as much more warm skimmed milk, or half new milk and half water, as will render it quite firm and smooth without being very stiff; let it rise another hour, and divide it into three loaves; put them into square tins slightly buttered, or into round baking pans, and bake them about an hour and a quarter in a well-heated oven. The dough can be formed into household loaves if preferred, and sent to the oven in the usual way. When a finer and more spongy kind of bread is required for immediate eating, substitute new milk for skimmed, dissolve in it about an ounce of butter, leave it more liquid when the sponge is set, and let the whole be lightly kneaded into a lithe dough: the bread thus made will be excellent when new, and for a day or so after it is baked, but it will become dry sooner than the other. Flour, 1 gallon; salt, 1 teaspoonful; skimmed milk, 2-1/2 pints, to rise from 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Additional milk, 1 to 2 pints: to rise 1 hour. 3 loaves, baked 1-1/4 hour. _Obs. 1._—A few spoonsful of cream will wonderfully improve either of the above receipts, and sweet buttermilk, substituted for the other, will give to the bread the shortness of a cake: we would particularly recommend it for trial when it can be procured. _Obs. 2._—Shallow round earthen pans answer much better, we think, than tins for baking bread; they should be _slightly_ rubbed with butter before the dough is put into them. GERMAN YEAST. (_And Bread made with German Yeast._) This has very generally superseded the use of English beer-yeast in London, and other places conveniently situated for receiving quickly and regularly the supplies of it which are imported from abroad; but as it speedily becomes putrid in sultry weather, and does not in any season remain good long after its arrival here, it is unsuited for transmission to remote parts of the country. Bread made with it while it is perfectly sweet, is extremely light and good, and it answers remarkably well for light cakes and biscuits. An ounce is the proportion which we have always had used for a quartern (half a gallon or three pounds and a half) of flour, and this, with the addition of some salt and nearly a quart of milk, or milk and water, has produced _excellent_ bread when it has been made with care. The yeast should be very gradually and perfectly moistened and blended with the warm liquid; for unless this be done, and the whole rendered smooth as cream, the dough will not be of the uniform texture which it ought, but will be full of large hollow spaces, which are never seen in well-made bread. The mass should be mixed up firmly and _well kneaded_ at once, then left to rise for about an hour; again kneaded thoroughly, and again left to rise from three-quarters of an hour to an hour; then divided, and lightly worked up into loaves, put into round slightly buttered earthen pans, and sent immediately to the oven.[187] Footnote 187: We give the proportions used and the exact manner of making this bread, which we have had followed for more than twelve months, with entire success. A leaven may be first laid with the yeast, and part of the liquid when it is preferred, as directed for bread made with beer-yeast, but the result will be equally good if the whole be kneaded up at once, if it be made _quite firm_. PROFESSOR LIEBIG’S BAVARIAN BROWN BREAD. (_Very nutritious and wholesome._) Baron Liebig pronounces this bread to be very superior to that which is made with fine flour solely, both in consequence of the greater amount of nutriment which it contains, and from its slight medicinal effect, which renders it valuable to many persons accustomed to have frequent recourse to drugs, of which it supersedes the necessity. It is made with the wheat exactly as it is ground, no part being subtracted, nor any additional flour mingled with it. He directs that the wheat should not be _damped_ before it is prepared: but few millers can be found who will depart from their ordinary practice to oblige private customers; and this determined adherence to established usage intervenes constantly between us, and all improvement in our modes of preparing food. The bread is made in the usual way, with water only, or with a portion of milk added to the yeast, as taste or convenience may dictate. The loaves should be well baked at all times; and the dough should of course be perfectly light when it is placed in the oven. Salt should be mixed with the meal before the yeast is added. ENGLISH BROWN BREAD. This is often made with a portion only of the unbolted meal recommended in the preceding receipt, mixed with more or less of fine flour, according to the quality of bread required; and in many families the coarse bran is always sifted from the meal, as an impression exists that it is irritating to the stomach. If one gallon of meal as it comes from the mill, be well mixed with an equal measure of flour, and made into a dough in the manner directed for white household bread, the loaves will still be sufficiently brown for the general taste in this country, and they will be good and wholesome, though not, perhaps, so entirely easy of digestion as Baron Liebig’s Bavarian bread. UNFERMENTED BREAD. This bread, in which carbonate of soda and muriatic acid are substituted for yeast or other leaven, has within these few years been highly recommended, and much eaten. It may possibly suit many persons better than that which is fermented in the usual way, but it is not in general by any means so pleasant in flavour; and there is much more chance of failure in preparing it in private families, as it requires some skill to mix the ingredients with exactness and _despatch_; and it is absolutely necessary that the dough should be set into the oven the instant it is ready. In some hydropathic and other large establishments, where it is always supplied to the table in lieu of the more common kinds, it is, we have been informed by patients who had partaken of it there for many months together, exceedingly and uniformly good. More detailed information with regard to it, will be found in our “Cookery for Invalids,” a work for which our want of space in the present volume compels us to reserve it. “For each pound of flour (or meal) take forty grains of sesquicarbonate of soda, mix it intimately with the sugar and flour, then add fifty drops of muriatic acid of the shops, diluted with half a pint of water, or with as much as may be requisite to form the dough, stirring it constantly into a smooth mass. Divide it into a couple of loaves, and put them immediately into a quick oven.” Bake them thoroughly. Author’s note.—Dr. Pereira, from whose book on diet the substance of the above receipt is taken, says that delicious bread was made by it in his presence by the cook of Mr. John Savory, of Bond Street, equal to any bread fermented by the usual process. We would suggest that the soda, mixed with the sugar, and a small portion of the flour, should be rubbed through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon into the remainder of the flour, and stirred up with it until the whole is perfectly mingled, before the liquid is added. Should lighter bread be desired, the soda may be increased to fifty or even sixty grains, if the quantity of acid be proportionately augmented. As common salt is formed by the combination of these two agents, none beside is needed in the bread. Flour, 1 lb.; sesquicarbonate of soda, 40 grains; sugar, 1 teaspoonful; muriatic acid of the shops, 50 drops; water, 1/2 pint (or as needed). POTATO BREAD. One pound of good mealy potatoes, steamed or boiled very dry, in the ordinary way, or prepared by Captain Kater’s receipt (see Chapter XVII.), and rubbed quite hot, through a coarse sieve, into a couple of pounds of flour, with which they should be well mixed, will produce excellent bread, which will remain moist much longer than wheaten bread made as usual. The yeast should be added immediately after the potatoes. An ounce or two of butter, an egg and some new milk, will convert this bread into superior rolls. DINNER OR BREAKFAST ROLLS. Crumble down very small indeed, an ounce of butter into a couple of pounds of the best flour, and mix with them a large saltspoonful of salt. Put into a basin a dessertspoonful of solid, well-purified yeast, and half a teaspoonful of pounded sugar; mix these with half a pint of warm new milk; hollow the centre of the flour, pour in the yeast gradually, stirring to it sufficient of the surrounding flour to make a thick batter; strew more flour on the top, cover a thick double cloth over the pan, and let it stand in a warm kitchen to rise. In winter it must be placed within a few feet of the fire. In about an hour, should the leaven have broken through the flour on the top, and have risen considerably in height, mix one lightly-whisked egg, or the yolks of two, with nearly half a pint more of quite warm new milk, and wet up the mass into a very smooth dough. Cover it as before, and in from half to three-quarters of an hour turn it on to a paste-board, and divide it into twenty-four portions of equal size. Knead these up as lightly as possible into small round, or olive-shaped rolls; make a slight incision round them, and cut them once or twice across the top, placing them as they are done on slightly floured baking sheets an inch or two apart. Let them remain for fifteen or twenty minutes to _prove_; then wash the tops with yolk of egg, mixed with a little milk, and bake them in a rather brisk oven from ten to fifteen minutes. Turn them upside down upon a dish to cool after they are taken from the tins. An additional ounce of butter and another egg can be used for these rolls when richer bread is liked; but it is so much less wholesome than a more simple kind, that it is not to be recommended. A cup of good cream would be an admirable substitute for butter altogether, rendering the rolls exceedingly delicate both in appearance and in flavour. The yeast used for them should be stirred up with plenty of cold water the day before it is wanted; and it will be found very thick indeed when it is poured off, which should be gently done. Rather less than an ounce of good fresh German yeast may be used for them instead of brewer’s yeast, with advantage. GENEVA ROLLS, OR BUNS. Break down into very small crumbs three ounces of butter with two pounds of flour; add a little salt, and set the sponge with a large tablespoonful of solid yeast, mixed with a pint of new milk, and a tablespoonful or more of strong saffron water; let it rise for a full hour, then stir to a couple of well-beaten eggs as much hot milk as will render them lukewarm, and wet the rolls with them to a light, lithe dough; leave it from half to three-quarters of an hour longer, mould it into small rolls, brush them with beaten yolk of egg, and bake them from twenty minutes to half an hour. The addition of six ounces of good sugar, three of butter, half a pound or more of currants, the grated rind of a large lemon, and a couple of ounces of candied orange-rind, will convert these into excellent buns. When the flavour of the saffron is not liked, omit it altogether. Only so much should be used at any time as will give a rich colour to the bread. Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 3 oz.; solid yeast, 1 large tablespoonful (saffron, 1 teaspoonful; water, less than a quarter pint); new milk, 1 pint: 1 hour, or more. 2 eggs, more milk: 3/4 hour: baked 20 to 30 minutes. RUSKS. Work quite into crumbs six ounces of butter with a couple of pounds of fine dry flour, and mix them into a lithe paste, with two tablespoonsful of mild beer yeast, three well-beaten eggs, and nearly half a pint of warm new milk. When it has risen to its full height knead it smooth, and make it into very small loaves or thick cakes cut with a round cake-cutter; place them on a floured tin, and let them stand in a warm place to _prove_ from ten to twenty minutes before they are set into the oven. Bake them about a quarter of an hour; divide them while they are still warm, and put them into a very slow oven to dry. When they are crisp quite through they are done. Four teaspoonsful of sifted sugar must be added when sweet-rusks are preferred. Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 6 oz.; yeast, 2 tablespoonsful; eggs, 3; new milk nearly half a pint: baked 1/4 hour. For either of the preceding receipts substitute rather more than an ounce of German yeast, when it can be procured quite fresh; or should an ounce of it only be used (which we should consider an ample proportion), let the dough—especially that of the rusks—become extremely light before it is kneaded down, and also previously to its being sent to the oven. A somewhat smaller quantity of yeast is required in warm weather than in cold. -------------- [REMARK.—The remainder of this chapter is extracted from a little treatise on _domestic_ bread-making, which we hope shortly to lay before the public, as it appears to us to be greatly needed; but, as we have already more than once repeated, we are unwilling to withhold from the present volume any information which may be generally useful.] EXCELLENT DAIRY-BREAD MADE WITHOUT YEAST. (_Author’s Receipt._) When we first heard unfermented bread vaguely spoken of, we had it tried very successfully in the following manner; and we have since been told that an almost similar method of preparing it is common in many remote parts both of England and Ireland, where it is almost impossible to procure a constant supply of yeast. Blend well together a teaspoonful of pounded sugar and fifty grains of the purest carbonate of soda; mix a saltspoonful of salt with a pound of flour, and rub the soda and sugar through a hair-sieve into it. Stir and mingle them well, and make them quickly into a firm but not _hard_ dough with sour buttermilk. Bake the loaf well in a thoroughly heated, but not _fierce_ oven. In a brick, or good iron oven a few minutes less than an hour would be sufficient to bake a loaf of similar weight. The buttermilk should be kept until it is quite acid, but it must never be in the slightest degree rancid, or otherwise bad. _All_ unfermented bread should be placed in the oven directly it is made, or it will be heavy. For a larger baking allow rather less than an ounce of soda to the gallon (seven pounds) of flour. _Obs._—There are cases in which a knowledge of this, or of any other equally easy mode of bread-making would be invaluable. For example:—We learn from the wife of an officer who has for a long time been stationed off the Isle of Skye, in which his family have their abode, that the inhabitants depend entirely for bread on supplies brought to them from Glasgow; and that they are often entirely without, when the steamer which ought to arrive at intervals of eight days, is delayed by stress of weather. The residents are then compelled to have recourse to _scones_—as a mixture of flour and water and a little soda (cooked on a flat iron plate), are called—or to ship’s biscuit; and these are often found unsuitable for young children and invalids. There are no ovens in the houses, though there are grates for coal fires, in front of which small loaves of unfermented bread could be baked extremely well in good American ovens. Buttermilk can always be procured; and if not, a provision of carbonate of soda and muriatic acid might be kept at hand to ensure the means of making wholesome bread. In many other localities the same plan might prove of equal benefit. TO KEEP BREAD. Bread requires almost as much care as milk to preserve it wholesome and fresh. It should be laid, as soon as it is perfectly cold, into a large earthen pan with a cover, which should be kept free from crumbs, and be frequently scalded, and then wiped very dry for use. Loaves which have been cut should have a smaller pan appropriated to them, and this also should have the loose crumbs wiped from it daily. It is a good plan to raise the bread-pans from the floor of the larder, when there is no proper stand or frame for the purpose, by means of two flat wedges of wood, so as to allow a current of air to pass under them. TO FRESHEN STALE BREAD (AND PASTRY, ETC.), AND PRESERVE IT FROM MOULD. If entire loaves be placed in a gentle oven and heated quite through, _without_ being previously dipped into cold water, according to the old-fashioned plan, they will eat almost like bread newly baked: they should not remain in it long enough to become hard and dry, but they should be made hot throughout. In very damp localities, when large household bakings take place but once in eight or ten days, it is sometimes necessary to use precautions against the attack of mould, though the bread may have been exceedingly well made; and the method recommended above will be the best for warding it off, and for preserving the bread eatable for several days longer than it would otherwise be. If _large_ loaves be just dipped into cold water and then placed in a quick oven until they are again thoroughly dried, they will resemble _new_ bread altogether. Pastry, cakes, and biscuits, may all be greatly improved when stale, by heating them in a gentle oven. TO KNOW WHEN BREAD IS SUFFICIENTLY BAKED. When the surface is uniformly browned, and it is everywhere _firm to the touch_, and the bottom crust of a loaf is hard, it is generally certain that it is thoroughly baked. To test bread that has been cut (or yeast-cakes), press down the crumb lightly in the centre with the thumb; when it is elastic and rises again to its place, it is proof that it is perfectly done; but if the indentation remains, the heat has not sufficiently penetrated the dough to convert it into wholesome eating. ON THE PROPER FERMENTATION OF DOUGH. As we have previously said, too large a proportion of yeast, which is very commonly used by persons not well skilled in bread-making, although it produces quickly a light spongy dough, has a very bad effect on bread, which it renders much less easy of digestion than that which is more slowly fermented, and far less sweet and pleasant in flavour: it also prevents its remaining eatable the same length of time, as it speedily becomes dry. It is likewise very disadvantageous to make the dough so lithe that it spreads about in the oven; and if it be _excessively_ stiff, and its management not thoroughly understood, it will sometimes be heavy,. To prevent this, it should be kept quite warm (never _heated_), and left a much longer time to rise. It will frequently then prove excellent. It will ferment rather more quickly if, when it gives symptoms of becoming light it is made up into loaves with the least possible kneading, and a slight incision is made round them and across the tops, and they are then placed in a warm air, and kept secure from cold currents passing over them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------