Cassell's dictionary of cookery

in the evening, when three-quarters of a stone (a gallon and a half) more of flour is kneaded into it, and it is left to rise until the morning, when the remaining half-gallon of flour will fit it for the oven. It should be put into large tins, and allowed to rise to their tops before it is set into the oven. We divide it into ten loaves, which are baked for two hours. We consider that the rice renders the bread lighter, and prevents the crust of it from becoming hard, and it materially increases the weight. The four gallons of flour, two pounds of rice, and sixteen gallons of water, produce forty-two pounds of excellent bread. " To improve the yeast and ensure its being good, I would recommend that three or four well-boiled potatoes should be smoothly mashed and mixed with as much hot water as will bring them to the consistence of batter, and that a small plateful of wann flour and the yeast should be gradually added and well beaten to them. This done, the mixture must be placed before the fire, and in two hours, or less, the whole bowl will be in a state of fermentation. Then is the time to lay the bread with it. It is a little additional trouble, but is a certain improvement also. Servants, however, will not often take all this trouble, and mistresses cannot always attend to such matters themselves. "To give the essence, then, of this recipe: Two pounds of rice soaked in three quarts of water, and afterwards swollen in it for two hours in a moderately hot oven ; to be cooled down a little, then worked into a stone (two gallons) of flour; two small handfuls of salt; a quarter of a pint of yeast of home-brewed beer (or three-quarters of a pint of baker's yeast), and five quarts of warm water to be added to them, and well mixed into a little dough. To stand near the fire, or on the top of the stove oven, from four o'clock in the afternoon till nine in the evening; a gallon and a half more of flour worked into it, left until the morning; the remaining half-gallon of flour used in kneading and making it ready for the oven. This dough is divided into ten loaves, put into large square tins, left until it has risen to their tops, put immediately into a well-heated oven, and baked for two hours. The product of this recipe — forty-two pounds of bread. Rice Bread (another way). — Wash a pound and a half of rice in plenty of water till it is soft. Drain it, mash it well or rub it through a sieve, and mix it whilst still warm with seven pounds of flour. Put the flour into a bowl, sprinkle an ounce of salt round it and make a hole in the centre. Mix four table-spoonfuls of yeast with three-quarters of a pint of milk and water a Httle more than new milk warm. Pour three-quarters of a pint of milk and water of the same warmth into the bottom of the hole, stir into this, gradually, as much of the flour as will make a thin batter, add the yeast, stir all together, and sprinkle a little flour over the top. Cover the bowl with a cloth, and let it stand for an horn- and a half, or until the yeast rises in bubbles. Knead it up well till the dough ceases to stick to the fingers, and let RIG (741) RIC