but heated to boiling over hot water--then set aside to cool before
mixing. Simple heating will not prevent bread from turning sour in the
rising, while boiling will act as a preventative. So the milk should
be thoroughly scalded, and should be used when it is just blood warm.
Too small a proportion of yeast, or insufficient time allowed for the
dough to rise, will cause the bread to be heavy.
The yeast must be good and fresh if the bread is to be digestible and
nice. Stale yeast produces, instead of vinous fermentation, an
acetous fermentation, which flavors the bread and makes it
disagreeable. A poor, thin yeast produces an imperfect fermentation,
the result being a heavy, unwholesome loaf.
If either the sponge or the dough be permitted to overwork
itself--that is to say, if the mixing and kneading be neglected when
it has reached the proper point for either--sour bread will probably
be the consequence in warm weather, and bad bread in any. The goodness
will also be endangered by placing it so near a fire as to make any
part of it hot, instead of maintaining the gentle and equal degree of
heat required for its due fermentation.
Heavy bread will also most likely be the result of making the dough
very hard and letting it become quite cold, particularly in winter.
An almost certain way of spoiling dough is to leave it half made, and
to allow it to become cold before it is finished. The other most
common causes of failure are using yeast which is no longer sweet, or
which has been frozen, or has had hot liquid poured over it.
As a general rule, the oven for baking bread should be rather quick
and the heat so regulated as to penetrate the dough without hardening
the outside. The oven door should not be opened after the bread is put
in until the dough is set or has become firm, as the cool air admitted
will have an unfavorable effect upon it.
The dough should rise and the bread begin to brown after about fifteen
minutes, but only slightly. Bake from fifty to sixty minutes and have
it brown, not black or whitey brown, but brown all over when well
baked.
When the bread is baked, remove the loaves immediately from the pans
and place them where the air will circulate freely around them, and
thus carry off the gas which has been formed, but is no longer needed.
Never leave the bread in the pan or on a pin table to absorb the odor
of the wood. If you like crusts that are crisp do not cover the
loaves; but to give the soft, tender, wafer-like consistency which
many prefer, wrap them while still hot in several thicknesses of
bread-cloth. When cold put them in a stone jar, removing the cloth, as
that absorbs the moisture and gives the bread an unpleasant taste and
odor. Keep the jar well covered and carefully cleansed from crumbs and
stale pieces. Scald and dry it thoroughly every two or three days. A
yard and a half square of coarse table linen makes the best
bread-cloth. Keep in good supply; use them for no other purpose.
Some people use scalding water in making wheat bread; in that case the
flour must be scalded and allowed to cool before the yeast is
added--then proceed as above. Bread made in this manner keeps moist in
summer much longer than when made in the usual mode.
Home-made yeast is generally preferred to any other. Compressed yeast,
as now sold in most grocery stores, makes fine light, sweet bread, and
is a much quicker process, and can always be had fresh, being made
fresh every day.
WHEAT BREAD.
Sift the flour into a large bread-pan or bowl; make a hole in the
middle of it, and pour in the yeast in the ratio of half a teacupful
of yeast to two quarts of flour; stir the yeast lightly, then pour in
your "wetting," either milk or water, as you choose,--which use warm
in winter and cold in summer; if you use water as "wetting," dissolve
in it a bit of butter of the size of an egg,--if you use milk, no
butter is necessary; stir in the "wetting" very lightly, but do not
mix all the flour into it; then cover the pan with a thick blanket or
towel, and set it, in winter, in a warm place to rise,--this is called
"_putting the bread in sponge_." In summer the bread should not be wet
over night. In the morning add a teaspoonful of salt and mix all the
flour in the pan with the sponge, kneading it well; then let it stand
two hours or more until it has risen quite light; then remove the
dough to the molding-board and mold it for a long time, cutting it in
pieces and molding them together again and again, until the dough is
elastic under the pressure of your hand, using as little flour as
possible; then make it into loaves, put the loaves into baking-tins.
The loaves should come half way up the pan, and they should be allowed
to rise until the bulk is doubled. When the loaves are ready to put
into the oven, the oven should be ready to receive them. It should be
hot enough to brown a teaspoonful of flour in five minutes. The heat
should be greater at the bottom than at the top of the oven, and the
fire so arranged as to give sufficient strength of heat through the
baking without being replenished. Let them stand ten or fifteen
minutes, prick them three or four times with a fork, bake in a quick
oven from forty-five to sixty minutes.
If these directions are followed, you will obtain sweet, tender and
wholesome bread. If by any mistake the dough becomes sour before you
are ready to bake it, you can rectify it by adding a little dry
super-carbonate of soda, molding the dough a long time to distribute
the soda equally throughout the mass. All bread is better, if
naturally sweet, without the soda; but _sour bread_ you should never
eat, if you desire good health.
Keep well covered in a tin box or large stone crock, which should be
wiped out every day or two, and scalded and dried thoroughly in the
sun once a week.
COMPRESSED YEAST BREAD.
Use for two loaves of bread three quarts of sifted flour, nearly a
quart of warm water, a level tablespoonful of salt and an ounce of
compressed yeast. Dissolve the yeast in a pint of lukewarm water; then
stir into it enough flour to make a thick batter. Cover the bowl
containing the batter or sponge with a thick folded cloth and set it
in a warm place to rise; if the temperature of heat is properly
attended to the sponge will be foamy and light in half an hour. Now
stir into this sponge the salt dissolved in a little warm water, add
the rest of the flour and sufficient warm water to make the dough
stiff enough to knead; then knead it from five to ten minutes, divide
it into loaves, knead again each loaf and put them into buttered
baking tins; cover them with a double thick cloth and set again in a
warm place to rise twice their height, then bake the same as any
bread. This bread has the advantage of that made of home-made yeast as
it is made inside of three hours, whereas the other requires from
twelve to fourteen hours.
HOME-MADE YEAST.
Boil six large potatoes in three pints of water. Tie a handful of hops
in a small muslin bag and boil with the potatoes; when thoroughly
cooked drain the water on enough flour to make a thin batter; set this
on the stove or range and scald it enough to cook the flour (this
makes the yeast keep longer); remove it from the fire and when cool
enough, add the potatoes mashed, also half a cup of sugar, half a
tablespoonful of ginger, two of salt and a teacupful of yeast. Let it
stand in a warm place, until it has thoroughly risen, then put it in
a large mouthed jug and cork tightly; set away in a cool place. The
jug should be scalded before putting in the yeast.
Two-thirds of a coffeecupful of this yeast will make four loaves.
UNRIVALED YEAST.
On one morning boil two ounces of the best hops in four quarts of
water half an hour; strain it, and let the liquor cool to the
consistency of new milk; then put it in an earthen bowl and add half a
cupful of salt and half a cupful of brown sugar; beat up one quart of
flour with some of the liquor; then mix all well together, and let it
stand till the third day after; then add six medium-sized potatoes,
boiled and mashed through a colander; let it stand a day, then strain
and bottle and it is fit for use. It must be stirred frequently while
it is making, and kept near a fire. One advantage of this yeast is its
spontaneous fermentation, requiring the help of no old yeast; if care
be taken to let it ferment well in the bowl, it may immediately be
corked tightly. Be careful to keep it in a cool place. Before using it
shake the bottle up well. It will keep in a cool place two months, and
is best the latter part of the time. Use about the same quantity as of
other yeast.
DRIED YEAST OR YEAST CAKES.
Make a pan of yeast the same as "Home-Made Yeast;" mix in with it corn
meal that has been sifted and dried, kneading it well until it is
thick enough to roll out, when it can be cut into cakes or crumble up.
Spread out and dry thoroughly in the shade; keep in a dry place.
When it is convenient to get compressed yeast, it is much better and
cheaper than to make your own, a saving of time and trouble. Almost
all groceries keep it, delivered to them fresh made daily.
SALT-RAISING BREAD.
While getting breakfast in the morning, as soon as the tea-kettle has
boiled, take a quart tin cup or an earthen quart milk pitcher, scald
it, then fill one-third full of water about as warm as the finger
could be held in; then to this add a teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of
brown sugar and coarse flour enough to make a batter of about the
right consistency for griddle-cakes. Set the cup, with the spoon in
it, in a closed vessel half-filled with water moderately hot, but not
scalding. Keep the temperature as nearly even as possible and add a
teaspoonful of flour once or twice during the process of fermentation.
The yeast ought to reach to the top of the bowl in about five hours.
Sift your flour into a pan, make an opening in the centre and pour in
your yeast. Have ready a pitcher of warm milk, salted, or milk and
water (not too hot, or you will scald the yeast germs), and stir
rapidly into a pulpy mass with a spoon. Cover this sponge closely and
keep warm for an hour, then knead into loaves, adding flour to make
the proper consistency. Place in warm, well-greased pans, cover
closely and leave till it is light. Bake in a steady oven, and when
done let all the hot steam escape. Wrap closely in damp towels and
keep in closed earthen jars until it is wanted.
This, in our grandmothers' time, used to be considered the prize
bread, on account of its being sweet and wholesome and required no
prepared yeast to make it. Nowadays yeast-bread is made with very
little trouble, as the yeast can be procured at almost any grocery.
BREAD FROM MILK YEAST.
At noon the day before baking, take half a cup of corn meal and pour
over it enough sweet milk boiling hot to make it the thickness of
batter-cakes. In the winter place it where it will keep warm. The next
morning before breakfast pour into a pitcher a pint of boiling water;
add one teaspoonful of soda and one of salt. When cool enough so that
it will not scald the flour, add enough to make a stiff batter; then
add the cup of meal set the day before. This will be full of little
bubbles. Then place the pitcher in a kettle of warm water, cover the
top with a folded towel and put it where it will keep warm, and you
will be surprised to find how soon the yeast will be at the top of the
pitcher. Then pour the yeast into a bread-pan; add a pint and a half
of warm water, or half water and half milk, and flour enough to knead
into loaves. Knead but little harder than for biscuit and bake as soon
as it rises to the top of the tin. This recipe makes five large
loaves. Do not allow it to get too light before baking, for it will
make the bread dry and crumbling. A cup of this milk yeast is
excellent to raise buckwheat cakes.
GRAHAM BREAD.
One teacupful of wheat flour, one-half teacupful of Porto Rico
molasses, one-half cupful of good yeast, one teaspoonful of salt, one
pint of warm water; add sufficient Graham flour to make the dough as
stiff as can be stirred with a strong spoon; this is to be mixed at
night; in the morning, add one teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a
little water; mix well, and pour into two medium-sized pans; they will
be about half full; let it stand in a warm place until it rises to the
top of the pans, then bake one hour in a pretty hot oven.
This should be covered about twenty minutes when first put into the
oven with a thick brown paper, or an old tin cover; it prevents the
upper crust hardening before the loaf is well-risen. If these
directions are correctly followed the bread will not be heavy or
sodden, as it has been tried for years and never failed.
GRAHAM BREAD. (Unfermented.)
Stir together three heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder, three cups
of Graham flour and one cup of white flour; then add a large
teaspoonful of salt and half a cup of sugar. Mix all thoroughly with
milk or water into as stiff a batter as can be stirred with a spoon.
If water is used, a lump of butter as large as a walnut may be melted
and stirred into it. Bake immediately in well-greased pans.
BOSTON BROWN BREAD.
One pint of rye flour, one quart of corn meal, one teacupful of Graham
flour, all fresh; half a teacupful of molasses or brown sugar, a
teaspoonful of salt, and two-thirds of a teacupful of home-made yeast.
Mix into as stiff a dough as can be stirred with a spoon, using warm
water for wetting. Let it rise several hours, or over night; in the
morning, or when light, add a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a
spoonful of warm water; beat it well and turn it into well-greased,
deep bread-pans, and let it rise again. Bake in a _moderate_ oven from
three to four hours.
_Palmer House, Chicago_.
BOSTON BROWN BREAD. (Unfermented.)
One cupful of rye flour, two cupfuls of corn meal, one cupful of white
flour, half a teacupful of molasses or sugar, a teaspoonful of salt.
Stir all together _thoroughly_, and wet up with sour milk; then add a
level teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a tablespoonful of water. The
same can be made of sweet milk by substituting baking powder for soda.
The batter to be stirred as thick as can be with a spoon, and turned
into well-greased pans.
VIRGINIA BROWN BREAD.
One pint of corn meal; pour over enough boiling water to thoroughly
scald it; when cool add one pint of light, white bread sponge, mix
well together, add one cupful of molasses, and Graham flour enough to
mold; this will make two loaves; when light, bake in a moderate oven
one and a half hours.
RHODE ISLAND BROWN BREAD.
Two and one-half cupfuls of corn meal, one and one-half cupfuls of rye
meal, one egg, one cup of molasses, two teaspoonfuls of cream of
tartar, one teaspoonful of soda, a little salt and one quart of milk.
Bake in a covered dish, either earthen or iron, in a moderately hot
oven three hours.
STEAMED BROWN BREAD.
One cup of white flour, two of Graham flour, two of Indian meal, one
teaspoonful of soda, one cup of molasses, three and a half cups of
milk, a little salt. Beat well and steam for four hours. This is for
sour milk; when sweet milk is used, use baking powder in place of
soda.
This is improved by setting it into the oven fifteen minutes after it
is slipped from the mold. To be eaten warm with butter. Most
excellent.
RYE BREAD.
To a quart of warm water stir as much wheat flour as will make a
smooth batter; stir into it half a gill of home-made yeast, and set it
in a warm place to rise; this is called setting a sponge; let it be
mixed in some vessel which will contain twice the quantity; in the
morning, put three pounds and a half of rye flour into a bowl or tray,
make a hollow in the centre, pour in the sponge, add a dessertspoonful
of salt, and half a small teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a little
water; make the whole into a smooth dough, with as much warm water as
may be necessary; knead it well, cover it, and let it set in a warm
place for three hours; then knead it again, and make it into two or
three loaves; bake in a quick oven one hour, if made in two loaves, or
less if the loaves are smaller.
RYE AND CORN BREAD.
One quart of rye meal or rye flour, two quarts of Indian meal, scalded
(by placing in a pan and pouring over it just enough _boiling_ water
to merely wet it, but not enough to make it into a batter, stirring
constantly with a spoon), one-half cup of molasses, two teaspoonfuls
salt, one teacup yeast, make it as stiff as can be stirred with a
spoon, mixing with warm water and let rise all night. In the morning
add a level teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little water; then put
it in a large pan, smooth the top with the hand dipped in cold water;
let it stand a short time and bake five or six hours. If put in the
oven late in the day, let it remain all night.
Graham may be used instead of rye, and baked as above.
This is similar to the "Rye and Injun" of our grandmothers' days, but
that was placed in a kettle, allowed to rise, then placed in a covered
iron pan upon the hearth before the fire, with coals heaped upon the
lid, to bake all night.
FRENCH BREAD.
Beat together one pint of milk, four tablespoonfuls of melted butter,
or half butter and half lard, half a cupful of yeast, one teaspoonful
of salt and two eggs. Stir into this two quarts of flour. When this
dough is risen, make into two large rolls and bake as any bread. Cut
across the top diagonal gashes just before putting into the oven.
TWIST BREAD.
Let the bread be made as directed for wheat bread, then take three
pieces as large as a pint bowl each; strew a little flour over the
paste-board or table, roll each piece under your hands to twelve
inches length, making it smaller in circumference at the ends than in
the middle; having rolled the three in this way, take a baking-tin,
lay one part on it, joint one end of each of the other two to it, and
braid them together the length of the rolls and join the ends by
pressing them together; dip a brush in milk and pass it over the top
of the loaf; after ten minutes or so, set it in a quick oven and bake
for nearly an hour.
NEW ENGLAND CORN CAKE.
One quart of milk, one pint of corn meal, one teacupful of wheat
flour, a teaspoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter.
Scald the milk and gradually pour it on the meal; when cool add the
butter and salt, also a half cup of yeast. Do this at night; in the
morning beat thoroughly and add two well-beaten eggs, and a half
teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a spoonful of water. Pour the
mixture into buttered deep earthen plates, let it stand fifteen
minutes to rise again, then bake from twenty to thirty minutes.
GERMAN BREAD.
One pint of milk well boiled, one teacupful of sugar, two
tablespoonfuls of nice lard or butter, two-thirds of a teacupful of
baker's yeast. Make a rising with the milk and yeast; when light, mix
in the sugar and shortening, with flour enough to make as soft a dough
as can be handled. Flour the paste-board well, roll out about one-half
inch thick; put this quantity into two large pans; make about a dozen
indentures with the finger on the top; put a small piece of butter in
each, and sift over the whole one tablespoonful of sugar mixed with
one teaspoonful of cinnamon. Let this stand for a second rising; when
perfectly light, bake in a quick oven fifteen or twenty minutes.
CORN BREAD.
Two cups of sifted meal, half a cup of flour, two cups of sour milk,
two well-beaten eggs, half a cup of molasses or sugar, a teaspoonful
of salt, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Mix the meal and flour
smoothly and gradually with the milk, then the butter, molasses and
salt, then the beaten eggs, and lastly dissolve a level teaspoonful of
baking soda in a little milk and beat thoroughly altogether. Bake
nearly an hour in well-buttered tins, not very shallow. This recipe
can be made with sweet milk by using baking powder in place of soda.
_St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans._
VIRGINIA CORN BREAD.
Three cups of white corn meal, one cup of flour, one tablespoonful of
sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking
powder, one tablespoonful of lard, three cups of milk and three eggs.
Sift together the flour, corn meal, sugar, salt and baking powder; rub
in the lard cold, add the eggs well beaten and then the milk. Mix into
a moderately stiff batter; pour it into well-greased, shallow baking
pans (pie-tins are suitable). Bake from thirty to forty minutes.
BOSTON CORN BREAD.
One cup of sweet milk, two of sour milk, two-thirds of a cup of
molasses, one of wheat flour, four of corn meal and one teaspoonful of
soda; steam for three hours, and brown a few minutes in the oven. The
same made of sweet milk and baking powder is equally as good.
INDIAN LOAF CAKE.
Mix a teacupful of powdered white sugar with a quart of rich milk, and
cut up in the milk two ounces of butter, adding a saltspoonful of
salt. Put this mixture into a covered pan or skillet, and set it on
the fire till it is scalding hot. Then take it off, and scald with it
as much yellow Indian meal (previously sifted) as will make it of the
consistency of thick boiled mush. Beat the whole very hard for a
quarter of an hour, and then set it away to cool.
While it is cooling, beat three eggs very light, and stir them
gradually into the mixture when it is about as warm as new milk. Add a
teacupful of good strong yeast and beat the whole another quarter of
an hour, for much of the goodness of this cake depends on its being
long and well beaten. Then have ready a tin mold or earthen pan with a
pipe in the centre (to diffuse the heat through the middle of the
cake). The pan must be very well-buttered as Indian meal is apt to
stick. Put in the mixture, cover it and set it in a warm place to
rise. It should be light in about four hours. Then bake it two hours
in a moderate oven. When done, turn it out with the broad surface
downwards and send it to table hot and whole. Cut it into slices and
eat it with butter.
This will be found an excellent cake. If wanted for breakfast, mix it
and set it to rise the night before. If properly made, standing all
night will not injure it. Like all Indian cakes (of which this is one
of the best), it should be eaten warm.
_St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans._
JOHNNIE CAKE.
Sift one quart of Indian meal into a pan; make a hole in the middle
and pour in a pint of warm water, adding one teaspoonful of salt; with
a spoon mix the meal and water gradually into a soft dough; stir it
very briskly for a quarter of an hour or more, till it becomes light
and spongy; then spread the dough smoothly and evenly on a straight,
flat board (a piece of the head of a flour-barrel will serve for this
purpose); place the board nearly upright before an open fire and put
an iron against the back to support it; bake it well; when done, cut
it in squares; send it hot to table, split and buttered.
_Old Plantation Style_.
SPIDER CORN-CAKE.
Beat two eggs and one-fourth cup sugar together. Then add one cup
sweet milk and one cup of sour milk in which you have dissolved one
teaspoonful soda. Add a teaspoonful of salt. Then mix one and
two-thirds cups of granulated corn meal and one-third cup flour with
this. Put a spider or skillet on the range and when it is hot melt in
two tablespoonfuls of butter. Turn the spider so that the butter can
run up on the sides of the pan. Pour in the corn-cake mixture and add
one more cup of sweet milk, but do not stir afterwards. Put this in
the oven and bake from twenty to thirty-five minutes. When done, there
should be a streak of custard through it.
SOUTHERN CORN MEAL PONE OR CORN DODGERS.
Mix with cold water into a soft dough one quart of southern corn meal,
sifted, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of butter or lard
melted. Mold into oval cakes with the hands and bake in a very hot
oven, in well-greased pans. To be eaten hot. The crust should be
brown.
RAISED POTATO-CAKE.
Potato-cakes, to be served with roast lamb or with game, are made of
equal quantities of mashed potatoes and of flour, say one quart of
each, two tablespoonfuls of butter, a little salt and milk enough to
make a batter as for griddle-cakes; to this allow half a teacupful of
fresh yeast; let it rise till it is light and bubbles of air form;
then dissolve half a teaspoonful of soda in a spoonful of warm water
and add to the batter; bake in muffin tins. These are good also with
fricasseed chicken; take them from the tins and drop in the gravy just
before sending to the table.
BISCUITS, ROLLS, MUFFINS, ETC.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.
In making batter-cakes, the ingredients should be put together over
night to rise, and the eggs and butter added in the morning; the
butter melted and eggs well beaten. If the batter appears sour in the
least, dissolve a little soda and stir into it; this should be done
early enough to rise some time before baking.