upon the perfection with which the little air-cells, formed during the
fermenting process, have become fixed by the heat during the baking. The
heat expands the carbonic acid gas contained within the open spaces in
the dough, and at the same time checks further development of gas by
destroying the yeast plant. The sooner, then, that the cells can be made
permanent after the arrest of fermentation, the more light and porous
the bread will be. Although this fixing of the cells is largely
dependent upon the degree of heat maintained, it likewise in a measure
depends upon the size of the loaf, as the heat will penetrate and fix
the cells of a small loaf throughout much sooner than, those of a large
one. Therefore, bake in small loaves, and have a separate pan for each,
as that admits of an equal degree of heat to all sides. This aids in a
more rapid fixing of the air-cells and likewise gives more crust, which
is the sweetest and most digestible part of the bread.
Sheet-iron pans, about eight inches in length, four in width, and five
in depth, are the most satisfactory. After the dough is molded, divide
it into loaves which will fill such pans to the depth of two inches. Let
them rise until double their first volume, and then put them in the
oven. In baking, the loaves will rise still higher, and if about five
inches high when done, will have expanded to about the right
proportions.
[Illustration: Bread Pan]
PROPER TEMPERATURE OF THE OVEN.--The objects to be attained in the
baking of bread are to break up the starch and gluten cells of the Sour
so as to make them easily digestible, to destroy the yeast plant, and
render permanent the cells formed by the action of the carbonic acid
gas. To accomplish well these ends, the loaf must be surrounded by a
temperature ranging from 400° to 600°. The oven should be one in which
the heat is equal in all parts, and which can be kept at a steady,
uniform heat. Old-fashioned brick ovens were superior in this respect to
most modern ranges. The fire for baking bread should be of sufficient
strength to keep the oven heated for at least an hour. If the oven has
tendency to become too hot upon the bottom, a thin, open grate, broiler,
or toasting rack, should be placed underneath the tins to allow a
circulation of air and avoid danger of burning. If the heat be
insufficient, fermentation will not cease until the bread has become
sour; the cells will be imperfectly fixed or entirely collapsed; too
little of the moisture will have evaporated, and the result will be a
soft, wet, and pasty or sour loaf. If the heat be too great, the bread
will be baked before it has perfectly risen, or a thick, burned crust
will be produced, forming a non-conducting covering to the loaf, which
will prevent the heat from permeating the interior, and thus the loaf
will have an overdone exterior, but will be raw and doughy within. If,
however, the temperature of the oven be just right, the loaf will
continue for a little time to enlarge, owing to the expansion of the
carbonic acid gas, the conversion of the water into steam, and the
vaporizing of the alcohol, which rises in a gaseous form and is driven
off by the heat; a nicely browned crust will be formed over the surface,
the result of the rapid evaporation of water from the surface and
consequent consolidation of the dough of this portion of the loaf, and a
chemical change caused by the action of the heat upon the starch by
which is converted into dextrine, finally assuming a brown color due to
the production of a substance known to the chemist as _assama_.
Bread is often spoiled in the baking. The dough may be made of the best
of flour and yeast, mixed and kneaded in the most perfect manner, and
may have risen to the proper degree of lightness' before going to the
oven, yet if the oven is either too hot or not hot enough, the bread
will be of an inferior quality.
Without an oven thermometer, there is no accurate means of determining
the temperature of the oven; but housekeepers resort to various means to
form a judgment about it. The baker's old-fashioned method is to throw a
handful of flour on the oven bottom. If it blackens without igniting,
the heat is deemed sufficient. Since the object for which the heat is
desired is to cook the flour, not to burn it, it might be supposed that
this would indicate too high a temperature; but the flour within the
loaf to be baked is combined with a certain amount of moisture, the
evaporation of which lowers the temperature of the bread considerably
below that of the surrounding heated atmosphere. The temperature of the
inner portion of the loaf cannot exceed 212° so long as it continues
moist. Bread might be perfectly cooked at this temperature by steam, but
it would lack that most digestible portion of the loaf, the crust.
A common way of ascertaining if the heat of the oven is sufficient, is
to hold the bare arm inside it for a few seconds. If the arm cannot be
held within while thirty is counted, it is too hot to begin with. The
following test is more accurate: For rolls, the oven should be hot
enough to brown a teaspoonful of flour in _one_ minute, and for loaves
in _five_ minutes.
The temperature should be high enough to arrest the fermentation, which
it will do at a point considerably below the boiling point of water, and
at the same time to form a shell or crust, which will so support the
dough as to prevent it from sinking or collapsing when the evolution of
carbonic acid gas shall cease; but it should not be hot enough to brown
the crust within ten or fifteen minutes. The heat should increase for
the first fifteen minutes, remain steady for the next fifteen minutes,
and may then gradually decrease during the remainder of the baking. If
by any mischance the oven be so hot as to brown the crust too soon,
cover the loaf with a clean paper for a few minutes. Be careful that no
draught reaches the bread while baking; open the oven door very seldom,
and not at all for the first ten minutes. If it is necessary to turn the
loaf, try to do so without bringing it to the air. From three fourths of
an hour to an hour is usually a sufficient length of time to bake an
ordinary sized loaf. Be careful not to remove the bread from the oven
until perfectly done. It is better to allow it to bake ten minutes too
long than not long enough. The crust of bread, when done, should be
equally browned all over.
The common test for well-baked bread is to tap it on the bottom with the
finger; if it is light and well done, it will sound hollow; heavy bread
will have a dull sound. A thoroughly baked loaf will not burn the hand
when lifted upon it from the pan.
CARE OF BREAD AFTER BAKING.--When done, remove the loaves from the
tins, and tilt them upon edge so that the air may circulate freely on
all sides of them to prevent "sweating." Do not, however, lay them on a
pine shelf or table to absorb the odor of the wood. A large tin dripping
pan turned over upon the table does very well to tilt them on. If they
are turned often, so that they will not soften on one side, but a fine
wire bread cooler is the best thing. If this is not obtainable, a fair
substitute can be easily improvised by tacking window-screen wire to a
light frame of sufficient size to hold the requisite number of loaves.
If the bread is left exposed to the air until cold, the crust will be
crisp; if a soft crust is desired, it can be secured by brushing the top
of the loaf while hot, with tepid water, and covering with several
thicknesses of a clean bread cloth.
If by accident any portion of the crust is burnt, grate it away as soon
as cold; this is preferable to cutting or clipping it off.
BEST METHOD OF KEEPING BREAD.--When the bread is quite cold, put it
away in a bread box, which should be of tin, or of wood lined with tin,
convenient in form and supplied with a well-fitting cover. Never use an
unlined wooden box of any kind, as it cannot easily be kept fresh and
free from musty odors, which bread so readily absorbs.
Stone and earthen ware are not open to this objection, but they are
likely to collect moisture, and hence are not equal to a tin receptacle.
Do not keep bread in the cellar or any other damp place, nor in a close
closet, where there are other foods from which it can absorb odors. The
bread box should be kept well covered, and free from crumbs and stale
bits. It should be carefully washed in boiling soapsuds, scalded, and
dried, every two or three days. If cloths are used to wrap or cover the
bread, they too should be washed and scalded every week, and oftener if
at any time the loaf about which they are wrapped becomes moldy or
musty.
TEST OF GOOD FERMENTED BREAD.--A loaf of good bread, well risen and
perfectly baked, may be taken in the hands, and, with the thumb on the
top crust and fingers upon the bottom of the loaf, pressed to less than
half its thickness, and when the pressure is removed, it will
immediately expand like a sponge, to its former proportions.
Good yeast bread, while it should be firm and preserve a certain amount
of moisture, will, when cold, crumble easily when rubbed between the
fingers. If, instead, it forms a close, soggy mass, it may be regarded
as indigestible. This is one reason why hot, new yeast bread and biscuit
are so indigestible. In demonstration of this, take a small lump of new
bread, gently roll it into a ball, and put into a glass of water, adding
a similar quantity of stale bread of the same kind also. The latter will
crumble away very soon, while the former will retain its form for hours,
reminding one of its condition in the stomach, "as hard as a bullet,"
for a long time resisting the action of the gastric juice, although,
meanwhile, the yeast germs which have not been killed in the oven are
converting the mass into a lump of yeast, by which the whole contents of
the stomach are soured. A soluble article like salt or sugar in fine
powdered form is much more easily and quickly dissolved than the same
article in solid lumps, and so it is with food. The apparent dryness of
stale bread is not caused by its loss of moisture; for if carefully
weighed, stale bread will be found to contain almost exactly the same
proportion of water as new bread that has become cold. The moisture has
only passed into a state of concealment, as may be demonstrated by
subjecting a stale loaf inclosed in a tightly-sealed receptacle to a
temperature equal to boiling heat in an oven for half an hour, when it
will again have the appearance of new bread.
Hot bread eaten with butter is still more unwholesome, for the reason
that the melted grease fills up the pores of the bread, and further
interferes with the action of the digestive fluids.
WHOLE-WHEAT AND GRAHAM BREADS.--The same general principles are
involved in the making of bread with whole-wheat and Graham flours as in
the production of bread from white flour. Good material and good care
are absolutely essential.
Whole-wheat flour ferments more readily and rises more quickly than does
white flour, hence bread made with it needs more careful management, as
it is more liable to sour. The novice in bread-making should not
undertake the preparation of bread with whole-wheat flour, until she has
thoroughly mastered all the details of the art by practical experience,
and can produce a perfect loaf from white flour.
Breads from whole-wheat and Graham flours require less yeast and less
flour than bread prepared from white flour. A slower process of
fermentation is also advantageous.
Such breads will be lighter if at least one third white flour be
employed in their manufacture. When the bread is made with a sponge,
this white flour may be utilised for the purpose. Thus the length of
time the whole-wheat flour will be undergoing fermentation will be
somewhat lessened, and its liability to become sour diminished. This
plan is a preferable one for beginners in bread-making.
Graham and whole-wheat flour breads must be kneaded longer than
white-flour bread, and require a hotter oven at first and a longer time
for baking. Much Graham and whole-wheat bread is served insufficiently
baked, probably owing to the fact that, being dark in color, the crust
appears brown very soon, thus deluding the cook into supposing that the
loaf is well baked. For thorough baking, from one to one and a half
hours are needed, according to the size of the loaf and the heat of the
oven.
TOAST.--Toasting, if properly done, renders bread more digestible,
the starch being converted into dextrine by the toasting process; but by
the ordinary method of preparing toast, that of simply browning each
side, only the surfaces of the slices are really toasted, while the
action of the heat upon the interior of the slice, it is rendered
exactly in the condition of new bread, and consequently quite as
indigestible. If butter is added while the toast is hot, we have all the
dyspepsia-producing elements of new bread and butter combined. Although
considered to be the dish _par excellence_ for invalids, nothing could
be more unwholesome than such toast. To properly toast the bread, the
drying and browning should extend throughout the entire thickness of the
slice. Bread may be thus toasted before an open fire, but the process
would be such a lengthy and troublesome one, it is far better to secure
the same results by browning the bread in a moderate oven.
Such toast is sometimes called _zwieback_ (twice baked), and when
prepared from good whole-wheat bread, is one of the most nourishing and
digestible of foods. Directions for its preparation and use will be
found in the chapter on "Breakfast Dishes."
STEAMED BREAD.--Steaming stale bread is as open to objection as the
surface toasting of bread, if steamed so as to be yielding and adhesive.
It is not, perhaps, as unwholesome as new bread, but bread is best eaten
in a condition dry and hard enough to require chewing, that its starch
may be so changed by the action of the saliva as to be easily digested.
LIQUID YEAST.
_RECIPES._
RAW POTATO YEAST.--Mix one fourth of a cup of flour, the same of
white sugar, and a teaspoonful of salt to a paste with a little water.
Pare three medium-size, fresh, and sound potatoes, and grate them as
rapidly as possible into the paste; mix all quickly together with a
silver spoon, then pour three pints of boiling water slowly over the
mixture, stirring well at the same time. If this does not rupture the
starch cells of the flour and potatoes so that the mixture becomes
thickened to the consistency of starch, turn it into a granite-ware
kettle and boil up for a minute, stirring well to keep it from sticking
and burning. If it becomes too much thickened, add a little more boiling
water. It is impossible to give the exact amount of water, since the
quality of the flour will vary, and likewise the size of the potatoes;
but three pints is an approximate proportion. Strain the mixture through
a fine colander into an earthen bread bowl, and let it cool. When
lukewarm, add one cup of good, lively yeast. Cover with a napkin, and
keep in a moderately warm place for several hours, or until it ceases to
ferment. As it begins to ferment, stir it well occasionally, and when
well fermented, turn into a clean glass or earthen jar. The next morning
cover closely, and put in the cellar or refrigerator, not, however, in
contact with the ice. It is best to reserve enough for the first baking
in some smaller jar, so that the larger portion need not be opened so
soon. Always shake the yeast before using.
RAW POTATO YEAST NO. 2.--This is made in the same manner as the
preceding, with this exception, that one fourth of a cup of loose hops
tied in a clean muslin bag, is boiled in the water for five minutes
before pouring it into the potato and flour mixture. Many think the
addition of the hops aids in keeping the yeast sweet for a longer
period. But potato yeast may be kept sweet for two weeks without hops,
if cared for, and is preferred by those who dislike the peculiar flavor
of the bread made from hop yeast.
HOP YEAST.--Put half a cup of loose hops, or an eighth of an ounce
of the pressed hops (put up by the Shakers and sold by druggists), into
a granite-ware kettle; pour over it a quart of boiling water, and simmer
about five minutes. Meanwhile stir to a smooth paste in a tin basin or
another saucepan, a cup of flour, and a little cold water. Line a
colander with a thin cloth, and strain the boiling infusion of hops
through it onto the flour paste, stirring continually. Boil this thin
starch a few minutes, until it thickens, stirring constantly that no
lumps be formed. Turn it into a large earthen bowl, add a tablespoonful
of salt and two of white sugar, and when it has cooled to blood heat,
add one half cup of lively yeast, stirring all well together. Cover the
bowl with a napkin, and let it stand in some moderately warm place
twenty-four hours, or until it ceases to ferment or send up bubbles,
beating back occasionally as it rises; then put into a wide-mouthed
glass or earthen jar, which has been previously scalded and dried, cover
closely, and set in a cool place. Yeast made in this manner will keep
sweet for two weeks in summer and longer in winter.
BOILED POTATO YEAST.--Peel four large potatoes, and put them to
boil in two quarts of cold water. Tie two loose handfuls of hops
securely in a piece of muslin, and place in the water to boil with the
potatoes. When the potatoes are tender, remove them with a perforated
skimmer, leaving the water still boiling. Mash them, and work in four
tablespoons of flour and two of sugar. Over this mixture pour gradually
the boiling hop infusion, stirring constantly, that it may form a smooth
paste, and set it aside to cool. When lukewarm, add a gill of lively
yeast, and proceed as in the preceding recipe.
BOILED POTATO YEAST NO. 2.--To one teacupful of very smoothly
mashed, mealy potato, add three teaspoonfuls of white sugar, one
teaspoonful of salt, and one cup of lively yeast, or one cake of Yeast
Foam, dissolved in a very little water. The potatoes should be warm, but
not hot enough to destroy the yeast. Allow this to stand until light,
when it is ready for use.
FERMENTED BREADS.
In the preparation of breads after the following recipes, the measure of
flour should be heaping.
_RECIPES._
MILK BREAD WITH WHITE FLOUR.--Scald and cool on pint of unskimmed
milk. Add to the milk when lukewarm, one fourth of a cup, or three
tablespoonfuls, of liquid yeast, and three cups of flour. Give the
batter a vigorous beating, turn it into a clean bread bowl or a small
earthen crock, cover, and let it rise over night. In the morning, when
well risen, add two or three cupfuls of warm flour, or sufficient to
knead. Knead well until the dough is sufficiently elastic to rebound
when struck forcibly with the fist. Allow it to rise again in mass; then
shape into loaves; place in pans; let it stand until light, and bake. If
undesirable to set the bread over night, and additional tablespoonfuls
or two of cheese may be used, to facilitate the rising.
VIENNA BREAD.--Into a pint of milk sterilized by scalding, turn a
cup and a half of boiling water. When lukewarm, add one half cup of warm
water, in which has been dissolved a cake of compressed yeast, and a
quart of white flour. Beat the batter thus made very thoroughly, and
allow it to rise for one hour; then add white flour until the dough is
of a consistency to knead. Knead well, and allow it to rise again for
about three hours, or until very light. Shape into four loaves, handling
lightly. Let it rise again in the pans, and bake. During the baking,
wash the tops of the loaves with a sponge dipped in milk, to glaze them.
WATER BREAD.--Dissolve a tablespoonful of sugar in a pint of
boiling water. When lukewarm, add one fourth of a cup full of liquid
yeast, and sufficient flour to make a batter thick enough to drop from
the spoon. Beat vigorously for ten minutes, turn into a clean,
well-scalded bread bowl, cover (wrapping in a blanket if in cold
weather), and let it rise over night. In the morning, when well risen,
add flour to knead. Knead well for half an hour, cover, and let it
become light in mass. When light, shape into loaves, allow it to rise
again, and bake.
FRUIT ROLL.--Take some bread dough prepared as for Milk Bread,
which has been sufficiently kneaded and is ready to mold, and roll to
about one inch in thickness. Spread over it some dates which have been
washed, dried, and stoned, raisins, currants, or chopped figs. Roll it
up tightly into a loaf. Let and it rise until very light, and bake.
FRUIT LOAF.--Set a sponge with one pint of rich milk, one fourth
cup of yeast, and a pint of flour, over night. In the morning, add two
cups of Zante currents, one cup of sugar, and three cups of flour, or
enough to make a rather stiff dough. Knead well, and set to rise; when
light, mold into loaves; let it rise again, and bake.
POTATO BREAD.--Cook and mash perfectly smooth, potatoes to make a
cupful. Add a teaspoonful of best white sugar, one cup and a half of
warm water, and when the mixture is lukewarm, one half cup of yeast,
prepared as directed for Boiled Potato Yeast No. 2, and flour to make a
very thick batter. Allow it to rise over night. In the morning, add a
pint of warm water and flour enough to knead. The dough will need to be
considerably stiffer than when no potato is used, or the result will be
a bread too moist for easy digestion. Knead well. Let it rise, mold into
four loaves, and when again light, bake.
PULLED BREAD.--Remove a loaf from the oven when about half baked,
and lightly pull the partially set dough into pieces of irregular shape,
about half the size of one's fist. Do not smooth or mold the pieces;
bake in a slow oven until browned and crisp throughout.
WHOLE WHEAT BREAD.--The materials needed for the bread are: one
pint of milk, scalded and cooled, one quart of wheat berry flour, one
pint Minnesota spring wheat flour, one third cup of a soft yeast, or one
fourth cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in one third cup of cold
water. Stir enough flour into the milk to make a stiff batter, put in
the yeast, and let it rise until foamy. Have the milk so warm that, when
the flour is put in, the batter will be of a lukewarm temperature. Wrap
in a thick blanket, and keep at an equable temperature. When light, stir
in, slowly, warm flour to make a soft dough. Knead for fifteen minutes,
and return to the bowl (which has been washed and oiled) to rise again.
When risen to double its size, form into two loaves, place in separate
pans, let rise again, and bake from three fourths to one and one half
hours, according to the heat of the oven.
WHOLE-WHEAT BREAD NO. 2.--Scald one pint of unskimmed milk; when
lukewarm, add one half cup of liquid yeast, or one fourth cake of
compressed yeast, dissolved in one half cup of warm water, and a pint of
Pillsbury's best white flour. Beat this batter thoroughly, and allow it
to rise. When well risen, add three and two thirds cups of wheat berry
flour. Knead thoroughly, and allow it to become light in mass; then
shape into two loaves, allow it to rise again, and bake.
MISS. B'S ONE-RISING BREAD.--Sift and measure three and three
fourths cups of wheat berry flour. Scald and cool a pint of unskimmed
milk. When lukewarm, add one tablespoonful of lively liquid yeast. By
slow degrees add the flour, beating vigorously until too stiff to use a
spoon, then knead thoroughly for half an hour, shape into a loaf, place
in a bread pan, cover with a napkin in warm weather, wrap well with
blankets in cold weather, and let rise over night. In the morning, when
perfectly light, pat in a well heated oven, and bake.
POTATO BREAD WITH WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR.--Take a half gill of liquid
yeast made as for Boiled Potato Yeast No. 2, and add milk, sterilised
and cooled to lukewarm, to make a pint. And one cup of well-mashed,
mealy potato and one cup of white flour, or enough to make a rather
thick batter Beat thoroughly, cover, and set to rise. When well risen,
add sufficient whole-wheat flour to knead. The quantity will vary
somewhat with the brand of flour used, but about four and one fourth
cupfuls will in general be needed. Knead well, let it rise in mass and
again in the loaf, and bake.
RYE BREAD.--Prepare a sponge over night with white flour as for
Water Bread. In the morning, when light, add another tablespoonful of
sugar, and rye flour to knead. Proceed as directed for the Water Bread,
taking care to use only enough rye flour to make the dough Just stiff
enough to mold. Use white flour for dusting than kneading board, as the
rye flour is sticky.