BREAD MAKING AND BAKING.
The ordinary method of bread-making in London is as follows: The first
process, when the bread is made with thick yeast, being to prepare
a mixture of potatoes, yeast, and flour, by which the process of
fermentation is to be produced in the dough.
Mr. George W. Austin, in his pamphlet on _Bread, Baking, and Bakers_,’
says about the ferment: ‘For each sack of flour (280 lbs.) about 8
lbs. or 10 lbs. of dry, mealy potatoes are taken, well boiled and
mashed and washed through a strainer to take away the skin; to this
is added 12 or 14 quarts of water, at a temperature varying from 80
deg. to 90 deg., and a quart of thick brewers’ yeast, or 1 lb. of
compressed yeast—which is equal. Having well dissolved the yeast, and
added 2 lbs. of flour, the mass is allowed to stand some three or four
hours, until the head falls in through the escape of gas.’ The next
process is the preparation of the sponge. The trough and flour being
ready, the ferment is taken, and, with the addition of 28 quarts of
clear water, at a temperature of 80 deg. to 90 deg., is passed into
the trough through a sieve or strainer, and the mass, being kept well
together, is made up into a nice dry sponge. It is allowed to remain
thus and ferment for another five or six hours, when it will have risen
and formed a head, which is allowed to break. As soon as this head is
broken it commences to rise again, and as soon as it has broken the
second time the remainder of the flour is added, and the dough made as
follows:
Two and a half pounds of salt dissolved in 28 quarts of clear water,
at a temperature of 80 deg., and mixed well into what is termed ‘the
sponge,’ with the remainder of the flour, the whole being broken up and
well and thoroughly mixed and kneaded until the dough is uniform in
material and consistency. It is then left to rise for another hour or
more, when the dough is weighed out in pieces of the requisite size and
speedily manipulated into the required shape. As the loaves are moulded
they are placed on trays, covered with a light cloth (to prevent the
dry and colder air forming a dry crust on the surface), and left to
dry sufficiently before being placed in the oven. Before this is done
the loaves are slightly brushed over with a small quantity of milk and
water to improve the appearance of the outside of the loaf when it
comes from the oven.
The oven is, for the purpose of baking bread, brought up to a heat
of 400 deg. Fahr., and the bread, although seemingly baked by dry
heat, is in reality boiled in the steam of the water which the bread
contains.[14]
Salt is added to make the bread more palatable; but it has also another
effect. With inferior flour dextrin is formed inside the loaf to some
extent as well as on the outside, consequently bread made from inferior
flour rises badly and is darker in colour. This inferior flour is made
sometimes from wheat that has been damp, the dampness causing the
soluble albumenoids which the grain contains to act on the insoluble
gluten, decomposing it into soluble bodies, and producing dextrin by
their action on the starch in the grain. The further decomposition
of these albumenoids is checked by the action of the salt during the
fermentation of the bread.
And now it will be well to say something about the leaven of bread. We
have already seen the modern method of making a ferment with flour,
potatoes, and brewer’s yeast; but there are other substances which
do not cause fermentation, and yet lighten the bread, such as the
different baking powders, and the American _sal eratus_, a mixture of
bi-carbonate of soda and salt. Carbonate of ammonia, which entirely
evaporates in baking, is used in confectionery to raise the paste by
the bubbles it forms in its volatilisation. The unfermented breads,
such as those made by the late Dr. Dauglish’s patent (of which more
anon), are rendered light upon the same principle, the usual method
being to mix soda with the flour, and hydrochloric acid with the water,
in the proportions in which they unite to form chloride of sodium, or
common salt. The effervescence, like that produced in mixing seidlitz
powders, converts the paste into a porous sponge, which, however,
requires to be very quickly placed in the oven. The salt formed by
the mixture replaces that ordinarily added to the dough in making
bread; but this method is seldom used by practical bakers. Whatever,
therefore, be the method by which bread is made light, the object to be
attained is to pervade the dough with numerous cavities, which keep the
particles of flour asunder, instead of forming a compact and unyielding
mass.
The science which gave an insight into the cause of the ‘rising’ of
bread, and suggested substitutes for the ordinary fermenting materials,
is but of recent date. These ferments operate by generating an infinity
of gas bubbles, which honeycomb the dough. The earliest process was
to employ leaven, which is still largely used in the manufacture of
the black rye bread of the Continent, and consists of dough which
has become more or less sour by over-fermentation. This is kept from
one baking to another, to inoculate a fresh bulk of paste with its
fermenting influence. No sooner does it come into contact with the
fresh dough than it communicates its own properties, as by contagion.
Probably the discovery of leavening has, in many countries, been owing
to accident, through neglected paste having been attacked by the fungus
which is the cause of fermentation.
Many of my readers probably do not know that yeast is a plant. It
belongs to the class of _fungi_, and, in accordance with the general
habit of its kind, it differs from the green forms of vegetable life
by feeding upon organic substances. The yeast plant represents one
condition of a species of fungus remarkable for the diversity of
forms it exhibits, its wide, nay, universal distribution, and the
magnitude of the effects, sometimes beneficial, sometimes mischievous,
which it is capable of producing. The forms in which it is familiar to
most persons, although its nature may be unsuspected, are yeast, the
gelatinous vinegar plant, the ‘mother’ of vinegar, and many decomposing
vegetable infusions, and the common blue or green mould (_penicillium
glaucum_) which occurs everywhere on sour paste, decaying fruits, and,
in general, on all dead organic matters exposed to combined moisture
and moderate heat.
Yeast and the vinegar plant are the forms in which it vegetates under
various circumstances when well supplied with food. Mildew is its
fruit, formed on the surfaces exposed to air at certain epochs, like
the flowers and seeds of the higher plants, to enable it to diffuse
itself, which it does most effectually, for the microscopic germs,
invisible singly to the naked eye, are produced in myriads, and are so
diminutive that ordinary motes floating in the atmosphere are large in
comparison.
Yeast, when examined under the microscope, is found to consist of
globular vesicles about 1/2300th part of an inch in diameter when fully
grown. They are multiplied by little vesicles budding out from the
sides of the parent. These soon acquire an equal size, and repeat the
reproduction, either while attracted to the parent globule or after
separating from it. The multiplication goes on to an indefinite extent
with a fitting supply of food and at a moderately warm temperature
(70 deg.-90 deg. Fahr.). The vesicles are nourished by sucking in a
portion of the organic liquid in which they exist, decomposing this
chemically, and either actually giving off, or causing the separation
of their outer surface, of carbonic acid in the form of gas. To give
a familiar illustration of the action of the carbonic acid which is
evolved from yeast on the dough, I may say that it is analogous to the
froth formed on a tumbler of bottled ale or ginger-beer. The cavities
or bubbles in the dough are produced in an exactly similar manner; but
two circumstances occur in bread to render them permanent—first, the
fact that they are slowly formed; secondly, that they are generated
in a substance which, while it is soft enough to allow the bubbles to
expand, is tough enough to retain them.
There are several kinds of yeast besides barm, or brewer’s yeast,
which, in spite of its bitter taste, is generally used by bakers
because it is the least expensive. Next in consumption is what is
termed press yeast, in German _press hefe_ or _pfund hefe_, commonly
known in commerce as German yeast, so called because it originally
was a monopoly of that country, but it is now largely manufactured in
Scotland. Of these yeasts Mr. Austin says:
‘Press yeast is obtained partly by the brewing of beer or distillation
of spirits as a by-product, partly it is made artificially. In the
former case, the beer upper yeast is mixed with ten times its quantity
of water, to which one per cent. of carbonate of ammonia is added,
macerated and well washed for an hour, and then mixed with a compound
of two parts of finely-powdered malt and ten parts starch, so that
we have a firm mass, which is made into cakes half-an-inch thick.
This yeast must be made fresh every two or three days, and must be
kept in a cool place. A better press yeast is made from the yeast of
the distilleries. The pasty residue of the mash tub is passed through
a hair sieve to get rid of the grain husks. The filtrate is allowed
to settle, and the sediment is put into linen cloths and washed with
water, and the water squeezed out again under gentle pressure. The
yeast is thus obtained in the form of cakes.’
Very many people prefer to make their own bread instead of buying
it from the baker; not that there is a great saving, but there is a
certain satisfaction in knowing by whom it is made, and as, doubtless,
many of my readers have never attempted to make and bake their own
bread, I venture to give Miss Acton’s ‘very plain directions to a quite
inexperienced learner for making bread.’[15]
‘If you have never yet attempted to make bread, and wish to try to do
it well, and have nobody to show you the proper manner of setting about
it, you may yet succeed perfectly by attending with great exactness to
the directions which are given here; but, as a large baking is less
easily managed than a small one quite at first, and as the loss would
be greater if the bread were spoiled, I would advise you to begin with
merely a loaf or two.
‘Take, then, let us say, half a gallon of flour, or a quartern, as it
is called in some places. This will weigh three pounds and a half, and
will make two loaves of nearly two pounds and a quarter each. There
are two ways of making the dough, either of which, in experienced
hands, will generally be attended with success. The most common mode
of proceeding is to mix the yeast carefully with part of the liquid
required for the whole of the bread, and to stir it into the centre
of the flour; then to add by degrees what more of the liquid may be
necessary, and to convert the whole with thorough, steady kneading
into a firm but flexible paste, which, after standing in a suitable
place until it has swollen to nearly double its original size, is again
thoroughly kneaded, and once more left to “rise” or become porous
before it is moulded into loaves and despatched to the oven.
‘_To Make Dough by Setting a Sponge._—This method of making dough is
usually followed when there is any doubt either of the goodness or of
the sufficient quantity of the yeast which is used for it, because if
it should not become light after standing a certain time, more yeast,
mixed with a little warm liquid, can easily be added to it, and the
chance of having heavy bread be thus avoided.
‘If you are sure of the goodness of the yeast you use it will not much
matter which of them you follow. The quickest and easiest mode is to
wet it up at once; the safest to guard against failure is to set a
sponge thus: Put the flour into a large earthenware bowl or deep pan,
then with a strong metal or wooden spoon hollow out the middle, but
do not clear it entirely away from the bottom of the pan, as in that
case the sponge (or leaven as it was formerly termed) would stick to
it, which it ought not to do. Next take either a large tablespoonful
of brewer’s yeast, which has been rendered solid by mixing it with
cold water and letting it afterwards stand to settle for a day and a
night, or nearly an ounce of fresh German yeast. Put it into a large
basin and then proceed to mix it, so that it shall be as smooth as
cream, with three-quarters of a pint or even a whole pint of just warm
milk and water or water only, though even a very little milk will much
improve the bread. To have it quite free from lumps you must pour
in the liquid by spoonfuls just at the beginning, and stir and work
it round well to mix it perfectly with the yeast before you add the
remainder, otherwise it would probably cause the bread to be full of
large holes, which ought never to be seen in it. Pour the yeast into
the hole in the middle of the flour, and stir into it as much of that
which lies around it as will make a thick batter, in which, remember,
there must be no lumps. If there should seem to be any you must beat
them out with the spoon. Strew plenty of flour on the top, throw a
thick clean cloth over, and set it where the air is warm; but if there
is a large fire do not place it upon the kitchen fender in front of it,
as servants often do, for it will become too much heated there; but
let it always be raised from the floor, and protected from constant
draughts of air passing over it. Look at it from time to time when it
has been laid for nearly an hour, and when you perceive that the yeast
has risen and broken through the flour, and that bubbles appear in it,
you will know that it is ready to be made up into dough. Then place
the pan on a strong chair or dresser, or table of convenient height;
pour into the sponge a little warm milk and water (about a pint and a
quarter will be required altogether for the quartern of bread), so that
if three-quarters of a pint was mixed with the yeast at first there
will be half a pint to add. Sometimes a little more will be needed;
but be always careful not to make the dough too moist; stir into it as
much flour as you can with the spoon, then wipe it out clean with your
fingers and lay it aside.
‘Next take plenty of the remaining flour, throw it on the top of the
leaven, and begin with the knuckles of both hands to knead it well.
Quick movement in this will do no good. It is strong, steady kneading
which is required. Keep throwing up the flour which lies under and
round the dough on to the top of it, that it may not stick to your
fingers. You should always try to prevent its doing this, for you will
soon discover that attention to these small particulars will make a
great difference in the quality of your bread and in the time required
to make it. When the flour is nearly all kneaded in begin to draw
the edges of the dough towards the middle, in order to mix the whole
thoroughly, and continue to knead it in every part spreading it out,
and then turning it constantly from the side of the pan to the middle,
and pressing the knuckles of your closed hands well into and over it.
When the whole of the flour is worked in, and the outside of the dough
is free from it and from all lumps and crumbs, and does not stick to
the hands when touched, it will be done, and may be again covered with
the cloth and left to rise a second time.
‘In three-quarters of an hour look at it, and should it have swollen
very much, and begin to crack, it will be light enough to bake. Turn
it then on to a paste-board, or very clean dresser, and, with a large
sharp knife, divide it into two, when, if it has been carefully and
properly made, you will find it full throughout of small holes like a
fine sponge. When it is thus far ready make it up quickly into loaves,
and despatch it to the oven. If it is to be baked in a flat tin or on
the oven floor, dust a little flour on the board, and make them up
lightly in the form of dumplings, drawing together the parts which are
cut, and turning them downwards. Give them a good shape by working them
round quickly between your hands without raising them from the board,
and pressing them slightly as you do so; then take a knife in the right
hand, and, turning each loaf quickly with the left, just draw the edge
of it round the middle of the dough, but do not cut deeply into it;
make also two or three slight incisions across the tops of the loaves,
as they will rise more easily when this is done.
‘Should it be put into earthen pans, the dough must be cut with the
_point_ of the knife just below the edge of the dishes after it is
laid into them. To prevent it sticking to them, and being turned out
with difficulty after it is baked, the pans should be rubbed in every
part with a morsel of butter laid on a bit of clean paper. When they
are only floured, the loaves cannot sometimes be loosened from these
without being broken. All bread should be turned upside down or on its
side as soon as it is drawn from the oven; if this be neglected, the
under part of the loaves will become wet and blistered from the steam,
which cannot then escape from them. They should remain until they are
perfectly cold before they are put away and covered down.
‘The only difference between this and the other way of making dough,
mentioned at the beginning of these directions, is the mixing all the
flour at first with the yeast and liquid into a firm smooth paste,
which must be thoroughly kneaded down when it has become quite light,
and then left to rise a second time before it is prepared for baking. A
pint of warm milk and water, or of water only, may be stirred gradually
to the yeast, which should then be poured into the middle of the flour,
and worked with it into a stiff batter with a spoon, which should then
be withdrawn, and the kneading with the hands commenced. Until a little
experience has been gained, the mass of dough which will be formed
with the pint of liquid, may be lifted from the pan into a dish, while
sufficient warm water is added to wet up the remainder of the flour.
This should afterwards be perfectly mingled with that which contains
the yeast. A better plan is to use at once from a pint and a quarter
to a pint and a half of liquid; but learners are very apt to pour in
heedlessly more than is required, or to be inexact in the measure,
and then more flour has to be used to make the bread of a proper
consistence than is allowed for by the proportion of yeast named in the
receipt. It is a great fault in bread-making to have the dough so moist
that it sticks to the fingers when touched, and cannot be formed into
loaves which will retain their shape without much flour being kneaded
into them when they are made up for the oven.
‘When it is to be _home baked_ as well as home made, you must endeavour
to calculate correctly the time at which it will be ready, and have the
oven in a fit state for it when it is so. Should it have to be carried
to the baker’s, let a thick cloth or two be thrown over it before it is
sent.’
In these very plain directions I do not find that Miss Acton specifies
the quantity of salt to be used. Some, however, is absolutely
necessary, to make good bread—say half an ounce to a quartern of flour.