|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 71
Flour made by the new process swells more than that by the old, and a
little less quantity--about an eighth less--is therefore required in
mixing and kneading. As definite rules as possible are given for the whole
operation; but experience alone can insure perfect bread, changes of
temperature affecting it at once, and baking being also a critical point.
Pans made of thick tin, or, better still, of Russia iron, ten inches long,
four or five wide, and four deep, make the best-shaped loaf, and one
requiring a reasonably short time to bake.
YEAST.
Ingredients: One teacupful of lightly broken hops; one pint of sifted
flour; one cupful of sugar; one tablespoonful of salt; four large or six
medium-sized potatoes; and two quarts of boiling water.
Boil the potatoes, and mash them fine. At the same time, having tied the
hops in a little bag, boil them for half an hour in the two quarts of
water, but in another saucepan. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt well
together in a large mixing-bowl, and pour on the boiling hop-water,
stirring constantly. Now add enough of this to the mashed potato to thin
it till it can be poured, and mix all together, straining it through a
sieve to avoid any possible lumps. Add to this, when cool, either a cupful
of yeast left from the last, or of baker's yeast, or a Twin Brothers'
yeast cake dissolved in a little warm water. Let it stand till partly
light, and then stir down two or three times in the course of five or six
hours, as this makes it stronger. At the end of that time it will be
light. Keep in a covered stone jar, or in glass cans. By stirring in
corn-meal till a dough is made, and then forming it in small cakes and
drying in the sun, _dry yeast_ is made, which keeps better than the liquid
in hot weather. Crumb, and soak in warm water half an hour before using.
_Potato yeast_ is made by omitting hops and flour, but mashing the
potatoes fine with the same proportion of other ingredients, and adding
the old yeast, when cool, as before. It is very nice, but must be made
fresh every week; while the other, kept in a cool place, will be good a
month.
BREAD.
For four loaves of bread of the pan-size given above, allow as follows:
Four quarts of flour; one large cup of yeast; one tablespoonful of salt,
one of sugar, and one of butter or lard; one pint of milk mixed with one
of warm water, or one quart of water alone for the "wetting."
Sift the flour into a large pan or bowl. Put the sugar, salt, and butter
in the bottom of the bread pan or bowl, and pour on a spoonful or two of
boiling water, enough to dissolve all. Add the quart of wetting, and the
yeast. Now stir in slowly two quarts of the flour; cover with a cloth,
and set in a temperature of about 75� to rise until morning. Bread mixed
at nine in the evening will be ready to mould into loaves or rolls by six
the next morning. In summer it would be necessary to find a cool place; in
winter a warm one,--the chief point being to keep the temperature _even_.
If mixed early in the morning, it is ready to mold and bake in the
afternoon, from seven to eight hours being all it should stand.
This first mixture is called a _sponge_; and, if only a loaf of graham or
rye bread is wanted, one quart of it can be measured, and thickened with
other flour as in the rules given hereafter.
To finish as _wheat bread_, stir in enough flour from the two quarts
remaining to make a dough. Flour the molding-board very thickly, and turn
out. Now begin kneading, flouring the hands, but after the dough is
gathered into a smooth lump, using as little flour as may be. Knead with
the palm of the hand as much as possible. The dough quickly becomes a flat
cake. Fold it over, and keep on, kneading not less than twenty minutes;
half an hour being better.
Make into loaves; put into the pans; set them in a warm place, and let
them rise from thirty to forty-five minutes, or till they have become
nearly double in size. Bake in an oven hot enough to brown a teaspoonful
of flour in one minute; spreading the flour on a bit of broken plate, that
it may have an even heat. Loaves of this size will bake in from forty-five
to sixty minutes. Then take them from the pans; wrap in thick cloths kept
for the purpose and stand them, tilted up against the pans till cold.
Never lay hot bread on a pine table, as it will sweat, and absorb the
pitchy odor and taste; but tilt, so that air may pass around it freely.
Keep well covered in a tin box or large stone pot, which should be wiped
out every day or two, and scalded and dried thoroughly now and then. Pans
for wheat bread should be greased very lightly; for graham or rye, much
more, as the dough sticks and clings.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|