Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Yeast, Bread without.— " Some years since," says Miss Acton, in her Bread-book, " when unfermented bread was first becoming known, I had it tried very successfully in the following manner, and I have since been told that an almost similar method of preparing it is common in many parts both of England and Ireland, where it is almost impossible to procure a constant supply of yeast. Blend well together a tea-spoonful of pounded sugar and fifty grains of the purest carbonate of soda ; mix a salt-spoonful of salt with a pound of flour, and rub the soda and sugar through a hair sieve into it. Stir and mingle them well, and make them quickly into a firm but not hard dough with some buttermilk. Bake the loaf well in a thoroughly-heated but not fierce oven. In a brick or in a good iron oven a few minutes less than an hour would be sufiicient to bake a loaf of similar weight. The buttermilk should be kept till it is quite acid, but it must never be in the slightest degree rancid or otherwise bad. All unfermented bread should be placed in the oven directly it is made, or it will be heavy. For a large baking allow rather less than an ounce of soda to the gallon (7 lbs.) of flour." Yeast, Brewer's, To prepare for use. — Taste the yeast, and if it is very bitter, pour over it a considerable quantity of cold water. Let it stand for twenty-four hours, then pour off the water, when the yeast will be found at the bottom of the vessel quite thick. Taste it again. If it still continues bitter, pour more water over it, and let it stand an hour or two longer. Yeast may be kept covered with cold water for several days. When brewer's yeast does, not appear sufficiently strong, honey or brown sugar may be mixed with it, in the proportion of a tea-spoonful to half a pint. Sufiicient, half a pint of solid brewer's yeast will raise fourteen pounds of flour. If it is thin, a few spoonfuls more will be required. Yeast Cake. — Put three-quarters of a pound of flour into a bowl, and mix with it a pinch, of salt. Dissolve quarter of a pound of butter in quarter of a pint of hot milk. Let the mixture cool a little, and when it is new milk-warm, stir it into the flour. Add a small table-spoonful of fresh yeast and two wellbeaten eggs, and knead the preparation till it forms a smooth dough. Make two or three gashes across the surface with a knife, cover the bowl with a cloth, and set the dough in a wann place to rise. When sufficiently light, knead it again with six ounces of currants picked and dried, four ounces of powdered white sugar, one ounce of candied peel cut into thin strips, and a little grated nutmeg. Line a good- sized cake-tin with buttered paper, and let the paper rise four or six inches above the tin. Pour the mixture into it, let the cake rise half an hour longer, and bake in a wellheated oven. Protect the surface of the cake with a sheet of paper whilst it is being baked. Time to bake the cake, about an hour and a half. Probable cost. Is. Sufficient to make a moderate-sized cake.