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The Making of Bread (Editor's Note)

IN BREAD-MAKING there is no such thing as "luck." It is merely the effect that follows the use of the best flour, the best yeast and the proper method. The making of bread can now be made a simple, sanitary process involving little, if any, physical effort and very little time.

A chief purpose of the Five Roses Cook Book is to save the housewife baking worries, to indicate the proper methods, because nobody works so hard as the person who works badly.

Over two thousand of the very finest cooks in Canada have contributed their baking secrets to this book, and it is from these contributions that the following bread rules have been selected. Since it is a well-known fact that we have not all the same success with the same recipes, the wisdom of securing different methods for the same purpose is evident.

Each separate recipe having received careful checking at the hands of the Five Roses expert, there need be no fear of wasted material or disappointment, if the rules be closely followed.

The following pages reflect the various methods of bread-making in favour among users of Five Roses flour in every province of Canada. There is a sufficient variety at hand to suit all conditions which can possibly arise due to weather, convenience, economy, time, or object in view.

While each rule carries its own particular directions, yet a few general suggestions will prove worthy of attention. In cold weather, warm the flour. Put the dish on top of the stove and stir constantly with the hand from the bottom till the chill is off. Or, warm the jar or crock very hot, put the flour in and let stand some time before using. Besides making the flour more susceptible to yeast action, this dries it out and makes it a readier absorber of the liquid.

It is best, at all times, to have the flour at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit before mixing into either sponge or dough.

In fact, keep everything connected with bread-making at an even temperature.

YEAST Due to varying conditions, housewives have different yeast preferences. Potato, home-made, dry or compressed yeast, whichever used should be fresh, lively and the best obtainable. It has a tremendous influence on the finished loaf.

All dry yeast should break brittle. If it crumbles in handling, do not use it.

All compressed or fresh yeast should break apart. If soft and spongy, do not use it. The sweet, characteristic odour of sound yeast is a good sign. If it smells sour or musty, its use should be avoided.

If you make your own yeast, surgical cleanliness of materials and exact quantities should be observed, because the slightest impurity is multiplied to an incredible extent in the various stages of fermentation and baking.

Yeast is a cellular plant which grows and multiplies best at between 80 and 90 degrees Fahr., preferably 85 to 86 degrees.

The ordinary dairy thermometer is very useful to insure right temperature, and costs very little. Over-heating the yeast is as fatal as chilling it.

Half a compressed yeast cake is equivalent to 1 cup liquid yeast or 1 whole dry yeast cake.

MIXING Use tepid water, and warm mixing bowl.

Never mix a sponge in a cold kitchen, for it will at once take on the temperature of the room, especially if a bread mixer be used which circulates air through the dough.

The best cooks use a wooden spoon.

Make your dough rather slack, just as soft as can be conveniently handled.

Unlike weaker flours, Five Roses has a tendency to tighten up during the mixing and kneading. Less flour should be used, which means quite a saving.

A soft dough makes bread more tender and appetizing, and it keeps fresh longer than if made from a stiff dough. Of course, also avoid too light a dough, which is apt to make a coarse texture and spoil the appearance of the cut loaf.

KNEADING Kneading is done to thoroughly mix the ingredients, to aerate the dough and supply air (its best food) to the yeast.

It also softens the gluten and makes it elastic. Kneading distributes the gas bubbles evenly throughout the dough.

The more thorough the kneading, the better these objects are attained.

After taking from mixing pan, knead the dough with the upper part of the palm near the wrist (the heel of the hand), not with the fingers. This should be done without flouring the hands or boardadding raw flour at this stage is poor policy. The more you work the sponge or dough the whiter it gets, due to the action of the oxygen of the air. Lightness and whiteness depend a lot on the proper performance of this process.

Knead the dough to a smooth, velvety mass that does not stick to the board or fingers, and which, when cut with a sharp knife, shows the inside full of fine, even bubbles, without lumps or unmixed portions.

When sufficiently worked, return to well-greased earthen bowl which has previously been warmed. Let rise.

RISING Always try to set your sponge at night (when the overnight process is used) at between 80 and 90 degrees Fahr.

Wrap up carefully in a warm bread cloth, put in a warm place free from draughts and where it will not be disturbed. Try to maintain a continuous even temperature.

Never expose a dough to an uncertain kitchen on a cold night. A good way to protect it is to simply place the bowl (or mixer) in a light paper box, insulated, and shut the lid. To chill the yeast cells at this stage may mean sour bread or other ills.

To keep bread dough from forming a crust or skin while rising, grease lightly bottom and sides of pan and roll dough over in it until outside is covered. Moistening with warm milk and water also checks a crust-forming tendency. A crust at this stage should be avoided, as it may leave a streak in the bread and also cause an unsightly crust in the baked loaf.

Dough is properly risen when it has doubled its original bulk. It is then ready to mould into loaves. Some housewives knock down the light dough and let it rise a second time, claiming thereby a finer texture; but one rising is sufficient for ordinary purposes.

An empty Five Roses flour barrel lined with 3 or 4 layers of newspaper pasted on makes an excellent place to set bread to rise overnight.

MOULDING The less you handle the dough when shaping into loaves the better.

The less flour used at this stage the nicer the bread. In fact, particular housewives absolutely refuse to use dry, raw flour in moulding. To work in dry, unfermented flour after fermenting the dough for hours is really to court streaky bread, lumps of hard dough, holes, etc.

They prefer to grease both board and fingers and, in this way, avoid using raw flour in moulding their bread.

After shaping and placing in warm well-greased pans, cover with clean warm cloth and let rise again until twice original size. Avoid making loaves too large, as it makes bread unwieldy and difficult to bake properly.

BAKING To get a golden crust sweet as a nut, with a tender elastic crumb, a steady moderate oven is required.

Too hot an oven prevents proper expansion of the loaves by forming a premature crust or even burning it, while at the same time leaving the crumb underbaked, resulting in a doughy centre. Bread should continue rising in the oven at least fifteen minutes before beginning to brown.

If you have an oven indicator, set the heat at about 350 degrees. The oven is right when the hand can be held in from 35 to 45 seconds. Burning flour is another test.

If you value light bread, never bang the oven door. Always close it gently.

If the oven is too hot, putting in a pan of boiling water will prevent burning and also improve the loaves.

Bread is done when the loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom. Another sign is when it freely leaves the sides of the pan.