It is the best way of making bread with milk in the summer, as it may be mixed early in the morning and baked by noon ; and as it may be easil}^ watched, it need not become sour. The question of mixing at night or in the morning is one which every housekeeper can best answer for herself. The Boston Cook Book. S3 Many old receipts read, ^' Make a hole in the flour, add the yeast, and then pour in the liquid." If the 3'east be added to the milk or water, and well mixed with it, and the flour then stirred thoroughly into this liquid mixture, the 3'east will be more evenl}^ distributed through the dough, and less kneading will be required than when made by the old method. The other ingredients added to the dough are salt and sugar ^ in the proportion of one even teaspoonful of salt and one even tahlespoonful of sugar to three pints of fiour✪ Bread with Milk^ using a little less salt if butter is added, and a little more with compressed yeast, as that is not as salt as home-made yeast, and doubling the amount of sugar when using whole- wheat flour. Sugar in Bread, — Man}^ object to the use of sugar in bread. Flour in its natural state contains sugar ; this sugar is changed in fermentation. Just enough sugar to restore the natural sweetness, but not enough to give a reall}^ sweet taste, is necessary' in fermented bread. Potatoes. — Potatoes are sometimes added to bread dough. Where the flour is of an inferior quality, the bread is very much improved by their use ; but with good flour they are unnecessarj^, and the use of them increases the labor of making bread. Shortening, — Whether bread shall be ' ' shortened or not shortened,'' is another question on which there is great diversity of opinion. Those who disapprove of fat of any kind in bread claim that we eat fat enough in other forms of food, and also that the same crisp tenderness of tex- ture ma}^ be produced by skilful kneading. Bread made witli new or unskimmed milk, and kneaded well, requires no other shortening ; but water bread, when shortened, is made more tender, and therefore is more easil}^ pene- trated by the digestive fluids. The latest decision of the best phj'sicians is that fat is absolutely necessary as an element of food, and it is often given as a remedj^ for some diseases. The proportion which one person would receive from one tahlespoonful of butter, or drippings, or 54 The Boston Cook Book. lard, in two loaves of bread would not harm the most deli- cate stomach. Butter tastes best ; drippings are cheap- est. Lard has for its chief merit that of making whiter bread than either of the others. The shortening m^y be rubbed into the flour, or, better still, melted in the warm liquid. Too much shortening clogs the glutinous cell- walls, and therefore checks the rising. Eolls, rusks, and buns, which are usually shortened more than loaf bread, should have the butter added at the. last kneadino:. The bread should be mixed in a deep stone-china or granite bowl ; wooden bowls are difficult to keep sweet and clean. Brown earthenware is awkward in shape and clumsy to handle, while tinware, being a better conductor than china, lets the heat within the mass escape, and the tin rubs off from the constant friction. Use a wooden spoon, or a wooden-handled iron spoon, or a broad-bladed knife.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

It is the best way of making bread with milk in the summer, as it may be mixed early in the morning and baked by noon ; and as it may be easily watched, it need not become sour. The question of mixing at night or in the morning is one which every housekeeper can best answer for herself. The Boston Cook Book. S3 Many old receipts read, ^' Make a hole in the flour, add the yeast, and then pour in the liquid." If the yeast be added to the milk or water, and well mixed with it, and the flour then stirred thoroughly into this liquid mixture, the yeast will be more evenly distributed through the dough, and less kneading will be required than when made by the old method. The other ingredients added to the dough are salt and sugar ^ in the proportion of one even teaspoonful of salt and one even tablespoonful of sugar to three pints of flour, using a little less salt if butter is added, and a little more with compressed yeast, as that is not as salt as home-made yeast, and doubling the amount of sugar when using wholewheat flour. Sugar in Bread, — Many object to the use of sugar in bread. Flour in its natural state contains sugar ; this sugar is changed in fermentation. Just enough sugar to restore the natural sweetness, but not enough to give a reall}^ sweet taste, is necessary' in fermented bread. Potatoes. — Potatoes are sometimes added to bread dough. Where the flour is of an inferior quality, the bread is very much improved by their use ; but with good flour they are ununnecessary, and the use of them increases the labor of making bread. Shortening, — Whether bread shall be ' ' shortened or not shortened,'' is another question on which there is great diversity of opinion. Those who disapprove of fat of any kind in bread claim that we eat fat enough in other forms of food, and also that the same crisp tenderness of texture may be produced by skilful kneading. Bread made witli new or unskimmed milk, and kneaded well, requires no other shortening ; but water bread, when shortened, is made more tender, and therefore is more easil}^ penetrated by the digestive fluids. The latest decision of the best physicians is that fat is absolutely necessary as an element of food, and it is often given as a remedj^ for some diseases. The proportion which one person would receive from one tablespoonful of butter, or drippings, or The Boston Cook Book. lard, in two loaves of bread would not harm the most delicate stomach. Butter tastes best ; drippings are cheapest. Lard has for its chief merit that of making whiter bread than either of the others. The shortening may be rubbed into the flour, or, better still, melted in the warm liquid. Too much shortening clogs the glutinous cellwalls, and therefore checks the rising. Eolls, rusks, and buns, which are usually shortened more than loaf bread, should have the butter added at the. last kneading.. The bread should be mixed in a deep stone-china or granite bowl ; wooden bowls are difficult to keep sweet and clean. Brown earthenware is awkward in shape and clumsy to handle, while tinware, being a better conductor than china, lets the heat within the mass escape, and the tin rubs off from the constant friction. Use a wooden spoon, or a wooden-handled iron spoon, or a broad-bladed knife.

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Bread with Milk

Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book