Paul Richards' book of breads, cakes, pastries, ices and sweetmeats

Before setting the sponge, dissolve the yeast in the pail with one pint of water at 85 degrees Fahr.; add some flour to make a soft batter; beat up well and set aside in a warm place for twenty minutes. Add to this batter the rest of the two gallons of water at 75 degrees Fahr., and with more flour make a slack sponge. When it falls in the centre, add milk and the other ingredients and make a medium firm dough. Let the dough double in size, and work over; let come up, and work over again. Scale and mold into loaves. Set in cloth-lined boxes, smooth-side down; pinch up the cloth between and keep well covered during proving. Give good three-quarter proof, turn onto the peel by means of a thin board, smooth-side up, give three slanting cuts and bake on the hearth. If the oven holds steam, no washing is required; but if baked without steam, it is cut and washed with water before it goes into the oven, and washed again with a thin cornstarch wash, when it is baked. If a thin egg-wash is used going into the oven, no washing is required after baking. PASTRIES, ICES AND SWEETMEATS. 903.— VIENNA BREAD. STRAIGHT DOUGH. 1% gallon water, % gallon milk, 6 ozs. salt, 12 ozs. sugar, 12 ozs. lard, 4 ozs. compressed yeast. Make a dough with all the ingredients at 80 to 85 degrees Fahr. Let rest for four hours and work down; let come up, and work over once more; let it get another start and mold into loaves. 904.— VIENNA CREAM BREADS. Take from doughs No. 902 or No. 903. When ready to mold, scale into twenty-four-ounce loaves; mold and put in round corrugated pans of four inches in diameter, from ten to twelve inches long; give three-quarter proof, and bake in medium heat. This makes nice round slices for sandwiches, which require no trimming. 905.— MILK BREAD. 1 gallon water, 1 gallon milk, 4 ozs. yeast, 8 ozs. sugar, 12 ozs. lard, 5 ozs. salt. Make a straight dough, as usual; or set a sponge with the water and yeast at 75 degrees Fahr. When it falls in the centre make the dough, adding milk, sugar, salt and lard. Work over twice, give another start and mold into loaves. Set in pans with sliding cover, or set the loaves with the smooth side up on flat baking pans some distance apart, and cover with the regular baking tins. The loaves may be cut crosswise or in ribs, or proved up plain, without cutting. Give the loaves three-quarters proof, and bake in medium heat. If more color is required, the tins may be taken off when almost done and the baking finished without them. 906.— PULLMAN BREAD. This bread is used to a large extent on the dining cars, and at many depots for sandwiches. The Pullman pans are made in single and double pans, with sliding covers. The size of the pans ten inches long and four and one-half inches square. This size of pan makes a large square slice of bread which is especially suited for sandwiches. A good Vienna or Milk Bread dough may be used for this bread. The dough should be medium firm and go through the rollers from ten to twelve times before molding. Bakers who have no machinery, use handrollers, which are not very expensive. They can be fastened to the bench with clamps, and can be taken off after using. The rolling makes this bread close and fine grained. Make and bake like the Milk Bread No. 905. 907.— COLUMBIA BREAD. 2 gallons water, 6 ozs. yeast, 7 ozs. salt, 12 ozs. sugar, 1 lb. lard. Set a firm sponge with two-thirds of the water and a strong flour. Let the sponge come