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Flour Mixtures Continued: Bread and Other Yeast Mixtures: Soften
ZWIEBACK 1 cake of compressed yeast less) 1/4 cup of lukewarm water 1/2 teaspoonful of salt 1 cup of scalded milk (cooled) 1/4 cup of sugar (or less) 1 egg and yolk of another Flour for a soft dough 1/4 cup of melted butter (or 1 white of egg for glazing Soften the yeast cake in the water, add flour and mix to a dough of a consistency to knead; knead the little ball of dough until elastic, then make two cuts across the top, one-fourth an inch deep, one at right angles to the other. Have the milk cooled to a lukewarm temperature; drop in the little ball of dough and let stand until the ball floats on the top of the milk, a light porous mass or "sponge," then add the other ingredients and mix to a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, cover and set aside to double in bulk, then shape in the hands into oval rolls. Set these close together in a bread pan. When nearly doubled in bulk, bake in an oven hotter than for bread. When nearly baked brush the top with beaten white of egg and return to the oven to dry off. When baked and cold, cut in half inch slices and dry in a moderately heated oven; when well dried out increase the heat and let the slices color a little.
SQUASH BISCUIT 1/3 cake of compressed yeast 1/4 cup of brown sugar 1/2 cup of lukewarm water 1/2 teaspoonful of salt 1/2 cup of scalded milk 1/4 cup of melted butter 1/2 cup of cooked squash About 3 cups of bread flour Soften the yeast in the water, add the other ingredients and mix to a soft dough. Knead nearly ten minutes, using no more flour than is necessary. Cover and let stand over night. In the morning the mixture should have doubled in bulk. Turn upside down on a floured board, then pat and roll into a sheet nearly an inch thick. Dip a cutter in flour and cut into rounds. Set these close together in a baking pan, first brushing the surfaces that will come in contact with melted butter. When very light (double in bulk) bake about half an hour. Glaze with starch and sugar just before removing from the oven. ONE LOAF OF BREAD AND A SHEET OF COFFEE CAKE MADE WITH ONE YEAST CAKE ONE LOAF OF BREAD 1/3 cake of compressed yeast other shortening 1/4 cup of lukewarm water 1/2 teaspoonful of salt 1 cup of scalded milk 1 tablespoonful of sugar 1 tablespoonful of butter or About 4 cups of flour Mix the bread at night in the usual manner. Let the bowl of dough stand in a temperature of about 68 deg F. about two hours; if after that time the temperature falls to 50 deg or even 40 deg F., no harm will be done. In the morning the dough should be about twice its original size. Cut it in halves, knead these into rounds and set them side by side in a "brick loaf" bread pan. When the pan is rather more than three-fourths full, bake one hour. SHEET OF COFFEE CAKE 2/3 cake of compressed yeast 1 egg 1/4 cup of lukewarm water About three cups of flour 1 cup of scalded milk Cornstarch paste 1/4 cup of butter or other short- 1 dozen blanched almonds ening 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar 1/4 cup of sugar 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon 1/2 teaspoonful of salt Melt the shortening in the milk, add the sugar and salt, and when lukewarm the yeast, mixed with the lukewarm water and the egg, and stir in the flour. Enough flour should be added to make a thick batter. The mixture should be almost stiff enough to knead. Cut through and turn it over and over with a knife, then cover closely and set aside with the bread dough. In the morning the mixture should be doubled in bulk. Cut through and through it, with a knife, and turn it over and over. Spread it smoothly in a buttered pan (about 10 by 5 inches) and when light (but not quite doubled in bulk) bake about half an hour. Make a cooked paste with a teaspoonful of cornstarch and half a cup of boiling water; spread the top of the cake with the paste, putting it on generously; sprinkle with the almonds, cut in thin slices, and dredge with the sugar, mixed with the cinnamon, and return to the oven grate, to melt the sugar and brown the almonds. With care this may be reheated. RYE MEAL BISCUIT 1 cup of milk, scalded and 1 1/2 cups of sifted bread flour cooled 1/4 cup (scant measure) of 1/2 or a whole cake of com- melted shortening pressed yeast, according as 1/4 cup of molasses to time of mixing 1/2 teaspoonful of salt 1/4 cup of scalded-and-cooled 1 1/4 cups of sifted rye meal milk Make a sponge of the milk, yeast and bread flour. When light add the other ingredients and beat thoroughly for some minutes. When light, with buttered fingers, shape into about fifteen balls; set these close together in a buttered pan; when light and fluffy bake about twenty-five minutes. Glaze with cornstarch paste before removing from the oven.
Four yeast recipes scaled for a small household, all built around a single cake of compressed yeast divided among them. The measurements are sound; it is the yeast, the oven language and the glazes that need translating.
- The yeast cakeA cake of compressed (fresh) yeast in this period was about 0.6 oz, equivalent to roughly 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry or instant yeast. So 1/3 cake is about 3/4 teaspoon dry, 2/3 cake about 1 1/2 teaspoons. Fresh yeast is still sold in some markets in 0.6 oz cubes if you want to follow the original literally.
- Oven temperaturesThe book gives no oven temperatures, only relative language. In modern terms a loaf of this kind bakes around 375F, and "an oven hotter than for bread" for the zwieback rolls means somewhat above that. The cut slices are then dried in what the recipe calls a "moderately heated oven," with the heat increased at the end to color them.
- The floating spongeThe little ball of dough scored with a cross and dropped into lukewarm milk is a genuine technique, not a curiosity. It is ready when it rises and floats on the surface as a light porous sponge; the recipe gives no timing. Let the scalded milk cool to lukewarm as directed -- hot milk will kill the yeast.
- Rye mealRye meal is coarsely ground whole rye, closer to today's pumpernickel or dark rye flour than to light rye. It absorbs liquid slowly, so let the dough rest a few minutes before judging whether it needs more bread flour.
- Cooked squashWell-drained mashed winter squash or pumpkin, plain and unsweetened. Canned pumpkin purée works, but if it is wet, drain it or the dough will need considerably more than the three cups of flour given.
- Cornstarch paste glazeOne teaspoon cornstarch whisked into half a cup of boiling water and cooked until clear and thin. Brushed on hot rolls or cake it dries to a soft shine and helps sugar and nuts adhere. It is not sweet on its own; the sugar is dredged over the top.
- Overnight riseThe instruction to hold the dough at 68F and let it drift down to 40-50F is a cool, slow ferment, and it is consistent with how little yeast is called for. A refrigerator overnight after two hours at room temperature is a reasonable modern approximation.
- YieldEach of these is sized for a small household: the loaf fills one small brick-loaf pan, the coffee cake a 10 by 5 inch pan, and the rye biscuits make about fifteen small rolls. Thoroughly dried zwieback slices keep well in a tin.
Cooking for Two came out of the Boston Cooking School circle, and this section shows its central problem plainly: yeast was sold in cakes sized for a family loaf, so a two-person household had to find work for the remainder. Hence the deliberate pairing of one loaf with a sheet of coffee cake from a single cake of yeast. The German inheritance is evident here. Zwieback means simply "twice baked," the same idea as Italian biscotti or ship's rusk, and in American households it was familiar partly as a food for invalids and teething children. The coffee cake with its almonds, cinnamon sugar and glaze resembles the German Blechkuchen, baked in a shallow pan rather than a mold. Squash biscuit and rye meal biscuit are more at home in New England, where both cooked squash and coarse rye were ordinary bread ingredients long before they were quaint ones.