The Book of Household Management Part 205

1693. The first thing required for making wholesome bread is the utmost cleanliness; the next is the soundness and sweetness of all the ingredients used for it; and, in addition to these, there must be attention and care through the whole process.

1694. 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.

1695. Too small a proportion of yeast, or insufficient time allowed for the dough to rise, will cause the bread to be heavy.

1696. Heavy bread will also most likely be the result of making the dough very hard, and letting it become quite, cold, particularly in winter.

1697. 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.

1698. MILK OR b.u.t.tER.--Milk which is not perfectly sweet will not only injure the flavour of the bread, but, in sultry weather, will often cause it to be quite uneatable; yet either of them, if fresh and good, will materially improve its quality.

1699. To keep bread sweet and fresh, as soon as it is cold it should be put into a clean earthen pan, with a cover to it: this pan should be placed at a little distance from the ground, to allow a current of air to pa.s.s underneath. Some persons prefer keeping bread on clean wooden shelves, without being covered, that the crust may not soften. Stale bread may be freshened by warming it through in a gentle oven. Stale pastry, cakes, &c., may also be improved by this method.

1700. The utensils required for making bread, on a moderate scale, are a kneading-trough or pan, sufficiently large that the dough may be kneaded freely without throwing the flour over the edges, and also to allow for its rising; a hair sieve for straining yeast, and one or two strong spoons.

1701. Yeast must always be good of its kind, and in a fitting state to produce ready and proper fermentation. Yeast of strong beer or ale produces more effect than that of milder kinds; and the fresher the yeast, the smaller the quant.i.ty will be required to raise the dough.

1702. 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 unfavourable effect on it.

1703. Brick ovens are generally considered the best adapted for baking bread: these should be heated with wood f.a.ggots, and then swept and mopped out, to cleanse them for the reception of the bread. Iron ovens are more difficult to manage, being apt to burn the surface of the bread before the middle is baked. To remedy this, a few clean bricks should be set at the bottom of the oven, close together, to receive the tins of bread. In many modern stoves the ovens are so much improved that they bake admirably; and they can always be brought to the required temperature, when it is higher than is needed, by leaving the door open for a time.

A FEW HINTS respecting the Making and Baking of CAKES.

1704. _Eggs_ should always be broken into a cup, the whites and yolks separated, and they should always be strained. Breaking the eggs thus, the bad ones may be easily rejected without spoiling the others, and so cause no waste. As eggs are used instead of yeast, they should be very thoroughly whisked; they are generally sufficiently beaten when thick enough to carry the drop that falls from the whisk.

1705. _Loaf Sugar_ should be well pounded, and then sifted through a fine sieve.

1706. _Currants_ should be nicely washed, picked, dried in a cloth, and then carefully examined, that no pieces of grit or stone may be left amongst them. They should then be laid on a dish before the fire, to become thoroughly dry; as, if added damp to the other ingredients, cakes will be liable to be heavy.

1707. _Good b.u.t.ter_ should always be used in the manufacture of cakes; and if beaten to a cream, it saves much time and labour to warm, but not melt, it before beating.

1708. Less b.u.t.ter and eggs are required for cakes when yeast is mixed with the other ingredients.

1709. The heat of the oven is of great importance, especially for large cakes. If the heat be not tolerably fierce, the batter will not rise. If the oven is too quick, and there is any danger of the cake burning or catching, put a sheet of clean paper over the top. Newspaper, or paper that has been printed on, should never be used for this purpose.

1710. To know when a cake is sufficiently baked, plunge a clean knife into the middle of it; draw it quickly out, and if it looks in the least sticky, put the cake back, and close the oven door until the cake is done.

1711. Cakes should be kept in closed tin canisters or jars, and in a dry place. Those made with yeast do not keep so long as those made without it.

BISCUITS.

1712. Since the establishment of the large modern biscuit manufactories, biscuits have been produced both cheap and wholesome, in, comparatively speaking, endless variety. Their actual component parts are, perhaps, known only to the various makers; but there are several kinds of biscuits which have long been in use, that may here be advantageously described.

1713. Biscuits belong to the cla.s.s of unfermented bread, and are, perhaps, the most wholesome of that cla.s.s. In cases where fermented bread does not agree with the human stomach, they may be recommended: in many instances they are considered lighter, and less liable to create acidity and flatulence. The name is derived from the French _bis cuit_, "twice-baked," because, originally, that was the mode of entirely depriving them of all moisture, to insure their keeping; but, although that process is no longer employed, the name is retained. The use of this kind of bread on land is pretty general, and some varieties are luxuries; but, at sea, biscuits are articles of the first necessity.

1714. SEA, or SHIP BISCUITS, are made of wheat-flour from which only the coa.r.s.est bran has been separated. The dough is made up as stiff as it can be worked, and is then formed into shapes, and baked in an oven; after which, the biscuits are exposed in lofts over the oven until perfectly dry, to prevent them from becoming mouldy when stored.

1715. CAPTAINS' BISCUITS are made in a similar manner, only of fine flour.

RECIPES.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

TO MAKE YEAST FOR BREAD.

1716. INGREDIENTS.--1-1/2 oz. of hops, 3 quarts of water, 1 lb. of bruised malt, 1/2 pint of yeast.

_Mode_.--Boil the hops in the water for 20 minutes; let it stand for about 5 minutes, then add it to 1 lb. of bruised malt prepared as for brewing. Let the mixture stand covered till about lukewarm; then put in not quite 1/2 pint of yeast; keep it warm, and let it work 3 or 4 hours; then put it into small 1/2-pint bottles (ginger-beer bottles are the best for the purpose), cork them well, and tie them down. The yeast is now ready for use; it will keep good for a few weeks, and 1 bottle will be found sufficient for 18 lbs. of flour. When required for use, boil 3 lbs. of potatoes without salt, mash them in the same water in which they were boiled, and rub them through a colander. Stir in about 1/2 lb. of flour; then put in the yeast, pour it in the middle of the flour, and let it stand warm on the hearth all night, and in the morning let it be quite warm when it is kneaded. The bottles of yeast require very careful opening, as it is generally exceedingly ripe.

_Time_.--20 minutes to boil the hops and water, the yeast to work 3 or 4 hours.

_Sufficient._--1/2 pint sufficient for 18 lbs. of flour.

KIRKLEATHAM YEAST.

1717. INGREDIENTS.--2 oz. of hops, 4 quarts of water, 1/2 lb. of flour, 1/2 pint of yeast.

_Mode_.--Boil the hops and water for 20 minutes; strain, and mix with the liquid 1/2 lb. of flour and not quite 1/2 pint of yeast. Bottle it up, and tie the corks down. When wanted for use, boil potatoes according to the quant.i.ty of bread to be made (about 3 lbs. are sufficient for about a peck of flour); mash them, add to them 1/2 lb. of flour, and mix about 1/2 pint of the yeast with them; let this mixture stand all day, and lay the bread to rise the night before it is wanted.

_Time_.--20 minutes to boil the hops and water.

_Sufficient_.--1/2 pint of this yeast sufficient for a peck of flour, or rather more.

TO MAKE GOOD HOME-MADE BREAD.

(_Miss Acton's Recipe_.)

1718. INGREDIENTS.--1 quartern of flour, 1 large tablespoonful of solid brewer's yeast, or nearly 1 oz. of fresh German yeast, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pint of warm milk-and-water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COTTAGE LOAF.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: TIN BREAD.]

_Mode_.--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 plenty of cold water, and letting it afterwards stand to settle for a day and night; or nearly an ounce of German yeast; put it into a large basin, and proceed to mix it, so that it shall be as smooth as cream, with 3/4 pint of warm milk-and-water, or with water only; though even a very little milk will much improve the bread. Pour the yeast into the hole made in the flour, and stir into it as much of that which lies round it as will make a thick batter, in which there must be no lumps. Strew plenty of flour on the top; throw a thick clean cloth over, and set it where the air is warm; but do not place it upon the kitchen fender, for it will become too much heated there. Look at it from time to time: when it has been laid for nearly an hour, and when the yeast has risen and broken through the flour, so 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 the remainder of the warm milk-and-water; stir into it as much of the 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. 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 when it is free from flour and lumps and crumbs, and does not stick to the hands when touched, it will be done, and may again be covered with the cloth, and left to rise a second time. In 3/4 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 in two; make it up quickly into loaves, and dispatch it to the oven: make one or two incisions across the tops of the loaves, as they will rise more easily if this be done. If baked in tins or pans, rub them with a tiny piece of b.u.t.ter laid on a piece of clean paper, to prevent the dough from sticking to them. 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. _To make the dough without setting a sponge_, merely mix the yeast with the greater part of the warm milk-and-water, and wet up the whole of the flour at once after a little salt has been stirred in, proceeding exactly, in every other respect, as in the directions just given. As the dough will _soften_ in the rising, it should be made quite firm at first, or it will be too lithe by the time it is ready for the oven.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ITALIAN MILLET.]

_Time_.--To be left to rise an hour the first time, 3/4 hour the second time; to be baked from 1 to 1-1/4 hour, or baked in one loaf from 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

ITALIAN MILLET, or Great Indian Millet, is cultivated in Egypt and Nubia, where it is called _dhourra_, and is used as human food, as well as for the fermentation of beer. It will grow on poor soils, and is extremely productive. It has been introduced into Italy, where they make a coa.r.s.e bread from it; and it is also employed in pastry and puddings: they also use it for feeding horses and domestic fowls. It is the largest variety, growing to the height of six feet; but it requires a warm climate, and will not ripen in this country. A yellow variety, called Golden Millet, is sold in the grocers' shops, for making puddings, and is very delicate and wholesome.