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YEAST CAKES (William Cobbet's recipe)

To make yeast cakes--Provide seven pounds of Indian corn meal, three and a half pounds of rye flour, three ounces of hops, and one gallon of boiling water. Separate the hops by the hand, strew and boil them in the water for half an hour, then strain the liquor into an earthen vessel, put in the rye flour while hot, stirring quickly as the fermentation commences. Next day, when it is working, put in the Indian meal, stirring it well Before all the meal is added, it will become a stiff dough. Knead it well, and roll it out as you would a pie-crust, to the thickness of half an inch. Cut it into cakes with a tumbler-glass, or anything else that will serve the purpose; place these cakes on a board, and set them in the sun to dry. Turn them every day, sheltering from wet, until they become quite hard. Keep them in a bag or box perfectly free from damp. When you bake, take a couple of these yeast cakes, break them, and put them in hot water over night. Let the vessel containing them stand near the fire: they will dissolve; use the liquid for setting your sponge (as it is called), just as you would the yeast of beer. White pea meal, or barley-flour, will do as well as Indian meal. Mr. Cobbett adds, that the very best bread he ever ate was lightened with these cakes.