Dry Yeast

1 cup loose hops 2 qts. water 1 qt. pared potatoes in small pieces flour 1 cup corn meal

Boil potatoes with hops tied in cheese cloth until tender; remove hops (squeezing bag when cool), put potatoes and water through colander, and stir into the liquid while scalding hot, enough flour to make a rather stiff batter. Beat well, add ½ cup of yeast or 2 dry yeast cakes dissolved in water. When light, add the cup of corn meal or enough to make a dough stiff enough to roll; roll ⅓-½ in. thick, cut into small square or round cakes, dry in the sun or in a slightly warm oven (they are sometimes dried between two boards covered with corn meal) until so much of the moisture is expelled that they cannot ferment.

If kept dry the cakes will retain their strength for a long time. The small pieces of dough may be crumbled and dried.

White, graham and whole wheat are the flours most commonly used in making bread. White _bread_ flour is made from spring wheat, which is richer in gluten than winter wheat and is of a rich cream color.

Winter wheat flour is more suitable for cakes and pastry, and for that reason is called _pastry_ flour.

A blended flour, spring and winter wheat combined, is considered by some the most nearly perfect bread flour.

Graham flour is composed of the whole kernel of the wheat, its bran overcoat and all, ground up together. The bran contains no nutriment and is irritating to some stomachs. Graham flour is nearly always made from winter wheat.

In making whole wheat or entire wheat flour, the bran or fibrous covering of the kernel is removed and the entire nourishing part of the grain is ground. Whole wheat flour is usually made from spring wheat.

Some so-called “whole wheat” flours are simply very fine graham; that is, the bran is all there, but ground very fine.

The best grades of flour are the cheapest as a smaller quantity is required for the same amount of liquid. Good flour also requires less kneading.

Perhaps the greatest deception has been practised in “gluten” flours. Some which have been advertised as pure gluten have been found to contain as high as 63 and 75 per cent. of starch. A pure gluten flour for making yeast bread is out of the question.

Flour made from new wheat will for a time improve with age, but after a certain period it begins to deteriorate; so it is not best to lay in a too large supply at once.

Keep flour in a warm, dry place, as all bread, cakes and pastry are lighter made from dry flour.

“For use in bread-making the superfine white flour is not the best. Its use is neither healthful nor economical. Fine flour bread is lacking in nutritive elements to be found in bread made from the whole wheat. It is a frequent cause of constipation and other unhealthful conditions.”

BREAD--YEAST

Suggestions

Bread should not be set over night when there is the least possibility of its becoming light enough to fall before it can be attended to in the morning.

Dough mixed stiff at first requires double the quantity of yeast of that started with a sponge, but as this method has several advantages it is becoming the favorite. Beat the batter very thoroughly for either method, as that has much to do with the lightness of the bread.

Keep bread at all stages at as even a temperature as possible and away from draughts of air. A large pasteboard box is an excellent thing to set it into.

A moist atmosphere is most favorable for raising bread.

Keep bread covered close to prevent a crust from forming over the top. Paper is better than cloth to exclude the air.

To hasten the rising of bread, use a larger quantity of yeast rather than a higher temperature. Above 90 degrees the bacteria which were in the flour or yeast may begin to grow and the bread will be sour. Given more time and raised at a lower temperature, bread will be sweeter and of a finer texture.

Attend to bread at every stage as soon as light, before it begins to fall; exercise especial care in this respect with compressed yeast as it loses its life very quickly after becoming light.

Bread will rise better in a deep vessel, such as a pail or a stone crock, than in a broad flat pan. Always oil the dishes used for raising it in.

Each time that bread rises it loses some of its sweetness and nutritive value, so the fewer times it is allowed to rise the better, if light enough to be digestible.

Some cooks prefer flour that has been delicately browned for setting the sponge for bread.

A good bread kneader is one of the best investments in cooking utensils. It saves time and strength and makes better bread.

“In the making of raised or yeast bread, milk should not be used in place of water. The use of milk is an additional expense and it makes the bread much less wholesome. Milk bread does not keep sweet so long after baking as does that made with water and it ferments more readily in the stomach.”

In cakes and crusts where milk is used with yeast, sour milk may be substituted for sweet with the same results.

To aid fermentation, a little sugar may be used in starting bread, but not enough to cover the sweet taste of the flour.

At a great altitude, bread rises very quickly; and requires less yeast.

Do not allow bread to get over light, even if it does not become sour; for the sweet taste will be destroyed, and if in the loaf, it will fall in the oven.

Whole wheat and graham bread will be lighter if ⅓ white flour is used; and if white flour alone is used for the sponge the bread will not be so apt to sour.

Whole wheat and graham bread need to be mixed stiffer than white and must not be allowed to become very light or they will fall in the oven and have a hollow place in the loaf.

Bread from whole wheat and graham flour requires slower and longer baking.

Whole wheat, graham or rye bread may be steamed 3 hours and baked slowly ½ hr., sometimes.

Salt delays fermentation, so when bread is started with a sponge the salt should not be added until the sponge is light, and it may be worked in at the end of the first rising of the mass of dough.

When a large quantity of bread is made at a time, a smaller proportion of yeast is required. Stir soft yeast well before using from it. Do not let the jar of yeast stand in a warm kitchen for a few minutes even.

It is impossible to give an exact rule for the proportion of flour to liquid in bread as different brands of flour vary and the same brand may be dryer or more moist at different times; but usually not less than three times as much flour as of liquid is required, and not much more.

Near the sea level bread dough may be mixed as soft as it can be well handled; but as the altitude increases the stiffness of the dough should increase.

Flour must be warm when added to bread at any stage.

Do not add any flour to bread after the last rising before putting it into the tins, “as all the flour in it is, in a fermentative sense, cooked and the addition of raw flour injures its quality.”--_Charles Cristodoro._ Oil the board and your hands instead.

“Bread should be light and sweet, not the least taint of sourness should be tolerated. The loaves should be small and so thoroughly baked that so far as possible, the yeast germs shall be destroyed. When hot or new, raised bread of any kind is difficult of digestion. _It should never appear on the table._”

The loaves should be baked in separate tins, brick shaped ones being best. If the loaf feels soft on the sides when removed from the tin, return it to the oven for it is not done. When done, leave loaves where the air can circulate around them until cool.

Keep bread in tin or stone receptacles, never in wood; wash them often in warm soapsuds and scald thoroughly.

Never cover bread in the box with a cloth, if anything is required, use paper. Cloth causes a musty taste and smell.

Do not allow crumbs or bits of bread to collect in the box or jar.

To freshen stale bread or buns, place them in a hot oven above a pan of boiling water; or put into one tin and cover with another and leave 10-30 m. according to size of loaf and heat of oven.

Rolls are sometimes dipped in milk or water and heated in the oven; or, put into a paper sack and left in the oven for 10 m.