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 con-
sequence 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.
Heavy bread will also most likely be the result of making the dough
very hard and letting it become quite cold, particularly in winter.
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.
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 unfavorable effect on it.
The dough should rise and the bread begin to brown after about fifteen
minutes, but only slightly. Bake from fifty to sixty minutes and have it
brown, not black or whitey brown, but brown all over when well baked.
When the bread is baked, remove the loaves immediately from the
pans and place them where the air will circulate freely around them, and
thus carry off the gas which has been formed, but is no longer needed.
Never leave the bread in the pan or on a pine table to absorb the odor
of the wood. If you like crusts that are crisp do not cover the loaves; but
to give the soft, tender, wafer-like consistency which many prefer, wrap
them while still hot in several thicknesses of bread-cloth. When cold put
them in a stone jar, removing the cloth, as that absorbs the moisture and
gives the bread an unpleasant taste and odor. Keep the jar well covered
and carefully cleansed from crumbs and stale pieces. Scald and dry it
thoroughly every two or three days. A yard and a half square of coarse
table linen makes the best bread-cloth. Keep in good supply ; use them
for no other purpose.
Some people use scalding water in making wheat bread ; in that case
the flour must be scalded and allowed to cool before the yeast is added —
then proceed as above. Bread made in this manner keeps moist in sum-
mer much longer than when made in the usual mode.
228
BREAD.
Home-made yeast is generally preferred to any other. Compressed
yeast, as now sold in most grocery stores, makes fine light, sweet bread,
and is a much quicker process, and can always be had fresh, being made
fresh every day.
WHEAT BREAD. ✪ Wheat Bread
Page 151 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1887. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
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.
Heavy bread will also most likely be the result of making the dough very hard and letting it become quite cold, particularly in winter.
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.
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 unfavorable effect on it.
The dough should rise and the bread begin to brown after about fifteen minutes, but only slightly. Bake from fifty to sixty minutes and have it brown, not black or whitey brown, but brown all over when well baked.
When the bread is baked, remove the loaves immediately from the pans and place them where the air will circulate freely around them, and thus carry off the gas which has been formed, but is no longer needed.
Never leave the bread in the pan or on a pine table to absorb the odor of the wood. If you like crusts that are crisp do not cover the loaves; but to give the soft, tender, wafer-like consistency which many prefer, wrap them while still hot in several thicknesses of bread-cloth. When cold put them in a stone jar, removing the cloth, as that absorbs the moisture and gives the bread an unpleasant taste and odor. Keep the jar well covered and carefully cleansed from crumbs and stale pieces. Scald and dry it thoroughly every two or three days. A yard and a half square of coarse table linen makes the best bread-cloth. Keep in good supply ; use them for no other purpose.
Some people use scalding water in making wheat bread ; in that case the flour must be scalded and allowed to cool before the yeast is added — then proceed as above. Bread made in this manner keeps moist in summer much longer than when made in the usual mode.
Home-made yeast is generally preferred to any other. Compressed yeast, as now sold in most grocery stores, makes fine light, sweet bread, and is a much quicker process, and can always be had fresh, being made fresh every day.
WHEAT BREAD.
Records on this page
Wheat BreadHome-Made Yeast