RAISED LOAF BREAD

There are no better rules for mixing, kneading, and raising bread, than those given in Breakfast No. 3 for raised biscuit. The measures there given can be doubled or trebled, to suit circum- stances.

LIGHT BREAD

is of great importance. The saliva and gastric juice penetrate it easily, and digestion is facili- tated. When dense and solid, these juices fail to act thoroughly, which is necessary to change bread into good blood. Undigested bread corrupts and decays, poisoning the blood as certainly as when eaten already spoiled.

raised bread is very important, making it evenly porous and easier of digestion. To be scientific, the thorough kneading should be done before the dough is raised, — before the gas is established; and it follows that as soon as mixed it should be thoroughly kneaded twenty-five or thirty minutes. If the thorouoh kneadins^ is done after the bread

70 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST.

is raised, much of the gas you have taken the trouble to produce is pressed out of it.

For raising dough, summer heat, or about seventy degrees, is most favorable. When the temperature is lower than this, the fermentation is so slow that there is danger of acidity before the gas has sufficiently formed.

In an emergency, or haste, a temperature of ninety degrees can be used by lessening the re- quirable time, which is six or eight hours. In this case, the process must be watched, or it will sour. If you find it rising too fast, it can be arrested by setting it on the ice, or in a cool place.

When sufficiently raised, it should be kneaded ten minutes only, using as little flour as possible ; then make it into loaves, put them into slightly- buttered pans, and raise the second time till nearly double their first size. If there is any danger of acidity, it is safer to bake a little sooner, for if the yeast has been thoroughly mixed with every part of the dough by kneading, the bread will be passably light, if the fermentation is a little less than the rule (doubling the dough).

It is a very nice point for a novice to decide, when the oven is the right temperature. An ex-

BEEFSTEAK BREAKFASTS. 71

perienced baker knows this without any rules. An inexperienced one can test the heat hy holdmg the hand in the oven long enough to count twenty. If the hand cannot bear the heat this lenoth of time, the oven is too hot, and the bread will bake outside before the heat has reached the centre, and it cannot rise. If not hot enough, your bread will lack s^veetness.

When right, put your bread into the oven, and let it stand at this figure eight or ten minutes, that the heat may penetrate the very centre before the outside bakes. This will heat the loaf all throu2:h alike, and raise it evenly before crust-bound. Then increase the heat, and bake from forty min- utes to an hour, the time depending on the size of the loaf. Generally, we do not bake bread thor- oughly. It should have a decided brown crust on each side.

Always take bread out of the pans as soon as done, and lean it against a pan, where the pure air can pass around it. Never lay it on the table, as it will absorb the odor of the table. If the crust gets too hard, wring out a bread cloth (which should be a fresh one) in cold water, and wrap the bread in it. Never put bread away till cold. When warm, it absorbs the air about it, wiiich should be pure as from the outside world, if possible.

72 WHAT TO GET FOR BREAKFAST.

An old-fashioned hanging shelf in a dry, clean, and well-ventilated cellar, is the nicest place to keep bread. It should be kept wrapped in a fresh and thick bread-cloth. If you cannot have this, or a similar convenience, the next best way is to keep it in a stone jar, which should be washed in hot water once or twice per week.

Never let failures discourage 3^ou. No part of cooking education is more useful, if turned to proper account, than the discipline of. failure. The success of bread-making depends on effort and experience. These will soon make you skil- ful, and you will feel as confident of success as in making a cup of tea. You may feel sure there is no luck about it. To be successful, care is re- quired, as in anything else.