Bread made of leavened wheat flour, raised by fermentation
familiarly known as light bread, is the niost healthful and conven-
ient for general use. When properly raised it keeps a reasonable
length of time, and is an easily digested and wholesome and nutri-
tious food. Lightness is not, however, th^ most important quality.
Bread unskillfully made loses much of its flavor and subptance,
and is unpalatable and less nutritious than when properly made.
When perfect, bread is not only light, porous and free from
taste or taint of any foreign element, but it possesses the fully
developed natural flavor of the grain, and is both pleasant to the
taste and satisfying to the appetite.
The most perfect mode of raising bread is by fermentation,
and the best fermentation is the alcoholic, through the use of
yeast, the alcohol and carbonic ^cid developed by its use, passing
off in vapor in the process of baking and cooling, provided the bak-
ing be thorough and the cooling take place in pure air. But if this
fermentation is allowed to proceed too far it takes other forms and
the bread loses materially in nutriment, as well as in sweetness and
delicacy. Even during the process of converting the starch and,
sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid by the alcoholic ferment-
ation, the action of the air is beginning to form acetic acid
from the alcohol and the longer the bread is exposed to the air, the
greater the quantity of aciBtio acid and the more liable the bread
will be to become sour. Good yeast, the action of which is prompt
and certain, is of the first importance in bread-making, and without
it, it is impossible to make good bread, even with the best of flour,
and often failures are charged to flour which are due to bad yeast.
The compressed yeast already mentioned, is when firesh, perfectly
reliable and is generally obtainable, but every housewife should mast-
er the best method of making yeast and should be prepared to
make it at home.
A proper temperature is important in bread-making. Yeast,
sponge and dough are all affected by contact of the air, and should
be mixed and kept in thick stone or earthem vessels and covered
14 BREAD-MAKING.
closely to exclude the air. The temperature of about 75^ during
the entire process should be kept up. If the temperature drops
below 30^ fermentation is arrested, it works slowly at 50% rapid-
ly at 70° and very rapidly at 90°, the rise or fall of the temperature
hastening or retarding its action. The objection to setting sponge
at night is, that it stands too long. Bread to be white, sweet, and
digestible, must be mixed immediately after the sponge has risen to
the proper point, which may he known by its puiFy appearance^
usually risinff higher in the middle than at the sides of the crock;
if it sinks in the center^ it has stood too long.
Page 7
Presented as published in 1890. 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
Bread made of leavened wheat flour, raised by fermentation familiarly known as light bread, is the niost healthful and convenient for general use. When properly raised it keeps a reasonable length of time, and is an easily digested and wholesome and nutritious food. Lightness is not, however, the most important quality. Bread unskillfully made loses much of its flavor and substance, and is unpalatable and less nutritious than when properly made.
When perfect, bread is not only light, porous and free from taste or taint of any foreign element, but it possesses the fully developed natural flavor of the grain, and is both pleasant to the taste and satisfying to the appetite.
The most perfect mode of raising bread is by fermentation, and the best fermentation is the alcoholic, through the use of yeast, the alcohol and carbonic acid developed by its use, passing off in vapor in the process of baking and cooling, provided the baking be thorough and the cooling take place in pure air. But if this fermentation is allowed to proceed too far it takes other forms and the bread loses materially in nutriment, as well as in sweetness and delicacy. Even during the process of converting the starch and, sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid by the alcoholic fermentation, the action of the air is beginning to form acetic acid from the alcohol and the longer the bread is exposed to the air, the greater the quantity of acetic acid and the more liable the bread will be to become sour. Good yeast, the action of which is prompt and certain, is of the first importance in bread-making, and without it, it is impossible to make good bread, even with the best of flour, and often failures are charged to flour which are due to bad yeast. The compressed yeast already mentioned, is when fresh, perfectly reliable and is generally obtainable, but every housewife should master the best method of making yeast and should be prepared to make it at home.
A proper temperature is important in bread-making. Yeast, sponge and dough are all affected by contact of the air, and should be mixed and kept in thick stone or earthen vessels and covered
closely to exclude the air. The temperature of about 75^ during the entire process should be kept up. If the temperature drops below 30° fermentation is arrested, it works slowly at 50° rapidly at 70° and very rapidly at 90°, the rise or fall of the temperature hastening or retarding its action. The objection to setting sponge at night is, that it stands too long. Bread to be white, sweet, and digestible, must be mixed immediately after the sponge has risen to the proper point, which may he known by its puffy appearance, usually rising higher in the middle than at the sides of the crock; if it sinks in the center, it has stood too long.