Bread
FIRST in every household is demanded good bread. Not hit-andmiss bread-fair at one baking, poor at another-but a sweet, wholesome, nutty-flavored loaf, beautiful chestnut brown all over, and so perfectly baked as to be palatable when ten days old.
The very best flour is the cheapest; it makes the finest bread, it contains the largest amount of nutrition, and it produces twice the quantity of wholesome bread that cheap flour does. In nearly every pantry you find two brands of flour; usually we call them bread flour and pastry flour. It is possible to make fair pastry and good cake from bread flour, but it is hard to make good bread from pastry flour. You can apply three tests to flour to discover whether it will make good bread; first, it should be of a creamy color; second, it will cake slightly when gathered up into the hand, falling apart in a gritty sort of way when the fingers are released; third, its wetting capacity is very different from poor flour, one quart of firstclass bread flour absorbing about one and a half cupfuls of water. Before purchasing a barrel, or even a half-barrel, of flour, buy a bagful, try one sort after another, use the same yeast, and the same care with the mixing, raising, and baking. Presently you will discover with what flour you have the best success; then stick to that brand. As for yeast; none is better than compressed yeast, which can be found fresh every day even in the smallest village. If it has been kept too long, it will begin to show dark streaks, have a strong odor, and it will not break clean. Let us stop for a min ute to study the properties of yeast and its action when mixed with flour and liquid, then it will be much easier to understand what is happening during the process of bread making. If you could look at a drop of yeast under a microscope, you would see a mass of tiny, rounded cells.
You can imagine how tiny they are when I tell you there are fifty billion cells in a two-cent yeast cake.
Each cell is a minute sac filled with watery matter, and while you watch, you may see new cells budding out of the old ones. Yeast is the same fungus which finds its way into cans of fruit that have not been hermetically sealed, and into maple sirup or any sweet liquid which is not properly protected from the air.
Then, given a warm temperature and sugar for the creation of oxygen, it begins to work, as every housewife knows to her sorrow. The same working process is what we invite when we set bread with yeast. It will not begin its work until it has been given sugar, heat, and moisture. It thrives best at 78°; you can make it work more quickly by raising the temperature, but when it reaches 130° it is blighted, just as a plant dies in an overheated room. Now you know what happens when you set your bread near a hot stove or register-the "yeast has been killed."
It is almost impossible, however, to kill yeast with cold. I have thawed it very gradually more than once and made excellent bread from it. You know how slowly bread rises after it has been chilled by a cold night.
BREAD Still it will rise, for the growth of the yeast was simply brought to a standstill.
In chemistry a name which means sugar fungus has been given to yeast.
It needs, you remember, air as well as moisture to make it grow, and when sugar is at hand, it will supply itself with some of the oxygen contained in it. Oxygen is what is required to raise every dough or batter; so frequently bread recipes call for a tablespoonful of sugar.
Sugar is not a necessity, however, because yeast changes the starću in flour into sugar. It is needed only when the yeast is none too lively and requires a bit of help. Immediately when yeast goes into batter, which is the first step in bread making, a chemical change, which we call fermentation, begins to take place. We help the yeast to begin work by hard beating of the batter, then by kneading the dough, for both of these processes tend not only to mix the ingredients thoroughly, but also to inclose air; the longer the beating and kneading the more air is inclosed, and the spongier becomes your bread.
The first step in bread making, as in cookery, is to get together everything necessary in utensils and materials. The utensils we need are a bread pan with a close-fitting, ventilated cover, a measuring cup, a wire spoon for beating the batter, a slitted wooden spoon to stir with, and a molding cloth. The molding cloth is a square yard of heavy duck or sail cloth; it is much superior to the smooth surface of a wooden molding board, because considerable flour can be sifted into the rough surface of the fabric. It holds the flour and there is no sticking of soft dough. As the flour works into the dough, sift in more, rubbing it into the cloth with your hand. When you have finished work, shake it, fold the cloth, and lay it away until needed again. It can be used a number of times before being washed; when it has to go to the laundry, soak it for an hour in cold water, and rinse several times before putting in the suds; hot water would turn the flour into dough; then it would be no easy task to get it clean.
Sift into a pan four or five quarts of flour, and set it either over the register or in a moderate oven to warm, unless you are working in midsummer. Cold flour will always retard the raising of bread. Scald one pint of milk and pour it into the bread pan over two teaspoonfuls of salt. Add a pint of cold water, then one yeast cake dissolved in half a cupful of lukewarm water. To this liquid add seven or eight cupfuls of warm flour, and beat the batter thoroughly with a wire spoon. Do not stop beating until the batter is a mass of bubbles. Then take the slitted spoon and begin adding more flour till you have a soft dough.
When it becomes too stiff to stir, dust plenty of flour into the molding cloth, rubbing it into the fabric till it will hold no more. Gather the dough into a ball and drop it on the cloth. Now begin to knead, folding the edge of the dough farthest from you toward the center, pressing it away with the palms, gently yet quickly. The process of kneading has more to do with good bread than almost anything else. In a cooking school I have seen pieces of the same dough, raised in the same temperature, baked in the same oven, yield two entirely different qualities of bread. One loaf was molded by an energetic, strong-muscled girl whose kneading was so strenuous that all the life had been banged out of it. The other loaf was kneaded by a girl whose every movement was grace; she used her hands deftly, lightly, and briskly. Her bread was as fine as bread could be made, a spongy, delicious, well-shaped loaf. So remember that it is not brute force that tells in kneading; it is steady, light, springy, dexterous movements, which distribute the yeast plant evenly through the dough and inclose all the air it is possible to get. As you work you can see how the air is MRS. CURTIS'S COOKBOOK doing its duty, for the dough becomes full of little bubbles and blisters. When it is smooth as satin, elastic, does not stick, and is so spongy that it rises quickly after denting it with your finger, it is ready to set to rise. Wash the bread pan and grease it well, even inside the lid; this makes the dough slip out clean after the next raising. Put on the cover and set the pan in a warm place. When it has doubled in bulk, drop it again on the floured molding cloth, and shape into loaves.
As soon as the dough has doubled in bulk, turn it out on a slightly floured molding cloth and knead into loaves. This second kneading is a slight one, only enough to prepare it for the pans and get rid of any large air bubbles which, if left in, would mean holes in the bread. Have the pans greased, using a butter brush which penetrates to every corner.
Always make small loaves; generally the right size can be guessed at by having each pan half full of dough.
I like bread baked in the French or round bread pans. The crust of it is exceedingly good, the loaf cuts into neat slices, not a bit of the bread being wasted, and it bakes to a nicety without any danger of burning. In rectangular pans the dough in the corner does not have room to fully expand. When large brick-shaped loaves are made, it is almost impossible to bake them to the heart unless the crust gets very thick and hard. If heat does not penetrate to the center of a loaf, yeast may remain alive, and when it ferments in the stomach there is good cause for serious indigestion.
After the bread is in the pans we have to find a place for it to rise.
In the summer I set it in the window, which, of course, is closed, for a draught on rising bread hurts it.
During the winter the bread goes on a shelf close to the kitchen chimney, behind the stove. The shelf is covered with white oilcloth and just wide enough for four pans. When set to rise, the loaves are covered pends with cloths made from old table linen. These are kept laundered and never used except on baking days.
A question I am often asked is: "How do you know when bread is raised enough to be put in the oven?" This is one of the most important points about bread making. I might tell you to let it rise for an hour, only time depends so much upon temperature. I might suggest that it be allowed to become doubled in bulk, but even that is not a sure test. The only one I ever use is to keep "hefting" it, as a New England cook would say. The loaf will keep on for an hour or so being of quite good weight, then all of a sudden it feels light. Pop it in a hot oven. Strange as it may seem, a row of pans filled with bread at the same time, which have stood in the same temperature, will seldom "heft" light at the same minute. I have seen half an hour of difference between the time three or four pans were ready to go in the oven.
Nearly every cookbook gives a different test for the proper heat of the oven. It ought to register 360°, but as few cooks use a thermometer, you may go by this test: Sprinkle a teaspoonful of flour on the oven bottom, and if it browns in five minutes the oven is just right for the bread.
If it grows chestnut brown in that time, cool the oven or your bread will crust too quickly. When the loaves are in, watch them; if you see one throwing up an awkward ridge or hump anywhere, you may know that corner of the oven is too hot and the bread is rising faster than it ought to do. Do not let one loaf touch another; the dough will run together if they do. Then when they are pulled apart, there is not only an unsightly loaf, but a heavy streak in the bread. If the oven is just right, it will begin to brown in fifteen minutes; it will not rise farther. Then cool the oven slightly; if you are using a gas stove, turn out one of the burners, and let the baking go on moderately till the bread has been in BREAD for an hour. Take out the wellbrowned loaves, turn them immediately out of the pans, brush over the crust with a buttered brush, and set them to cool on a wire stand. If loaves are set flat, the bottom will become moist; if they are wrapped in a cloth, there is a soft, steamy crust. In summer if the steam is not allowed to evaporate from bread, there is danger of it molding, so it must never be put away until perfectly cool. The best place to store it is in a small, shelved closet of japanned ware, with a door that closes tight. This is a better and handier receptacle than the wooden tub or stone jar used in some households.
Never keep bread in a cellar; it is a horribly unwholesome custom.
LITTLE NOTES ABOUT BREAD MAKING Some cooks prefer to set a sponge when making bread, allowing it to rise in the shape of a well-beaten batter before adding flour enough to do the kneading. "Sponging" makes a fine-grained bread, but it lengthens the time required for making, as two risings are needed after the sponge is light.
Bread may be made from water alone instead of "half and half," as milk and water bread is called.
Water bread is tougher and sweeter and keeps better than that made from all milk.
A good test of whether bread has been kneaded enough is to leave it on the board or molding cloth for a few minutes. When you take it up again, if it does not stick it is ready to put in the bread pan.
If you want to make bread in a hurry, simply double the amount of yeast, that is, if you are using compressed yeast. It gives no yeasty flavor, although brewers' and homemade yeast do leave a slight taste when more than the prescribed quantity is used. Should the oven be too hot, set a pan of cold water in it for a few minutes.
Don't use potatoes or potato water in bread. The liquid in which potatoes have been boiled contains a poisonous alkaloid and it tends to darken the bread as well as giving it a Cake on a Wire Cooler. allllll peculiar flavor. Years ago, before milling had been brought to perfection, there might have been reason for adding mashed potatoes to bread; now, with our fine flour, there is no necessity for it.
The best way to care for a bread box is to wash it in hot water, then close it, and dry it on the cool end of a stove. This ought to be done between each baking to keep it fresh and sweet. a Milk bread browns more quickly than water bread; so do not imagine because your loaf is a nice chestnut brown that it is baked.
Give it time enough, which is from fifty to sixty minutes for brick loaves four inches thick.
If you are detained from getting bread into the pans when it has risen sufficiently, take a knife and cut down the dough till you are ready to attend to it. This allows the gas to escape and there is no danger of souring if you cannot return to it for half an hour.
It is best to have your fire in such condition that it will need no replenishing while bread baking is in progress. Yeast may be kept perfectly fresh for at least a week or ten days by immersing the cake in cold water.
The particles of yeast settle at the bottom and water acts as a seal from the air. Cover the glass in which yeast is dissolved and keep it MRS. CURTIS'S COOKBOOK in a cellar or refrigerator. Occasionally pour off the water that covers it and add fresh water. If you do not own a covered bread pan, raise the dough in a large, clean bowl or basin, only keep it well covered with a towel. A paper tightly tied down is better still, for it prevents air from entering. When a recipe calls for one compressed yeast cake and nothing can be obtained but liquid yeast, use one cupful of it instead.
If you don't have a wire stand for cooling bread, simply turn up a couple of bread tins and stand the loaves against their edges. The idea is to let the steam escape, so that your bread will neither be heavy nor moist.
If you want to hurry bread slightly, add one tablespoonful of sugar to four quarts of flour. The yeast plant begins to grow quicker when there is sugar to feed on. When there is no sugar, the yeast has to change some of the starch to sugar, and, of course, this takes time.
Pricking the top of a loaf with a fork before it is put in the oven tends to make it rise and bake evenly.
Do not try setting bread over night either in midsummer or midwinter. In cold weather bread is likely to be chilled, in summer it may sour. There is plenty of time to raise and bake bread in the daytime, when one can watch it and give the careful consideration it requires above any other cooking.
If you live in a region where the water is very hard, boil it, and let it grow lukewarm before mixing with flour, for soft water is better than hard in the bread - making process.
Flour is almost as sensitive to odors as is milk; therefore it should be kept in a perfectly clean, wholesome, dry place. Always raise the barrel off the floor, either on two strips of wood or on one of the handy little contrivances which will swing it out and in to a cupboard. Never use flour for anything without sifting it first-it may be perfectly free from any foreign substance and it may not.
Water Bread. 4 cupfuls boiling water, 4 tablespoonfuls lard, 1 tablespoonful sugar, 1½ teaspoonfuls salt, 1 yeast cake dissolved in cupful lukewarm water, 3 quarts sifted flour.
Put the lard, sugar, and salt in a bread raiser; pour on boiling water; when lukewarm, add dissolved yeast cake and 5 cupfuls flour; then stir until thoroughly mixed. Add remaining flour, mix, and knead. Return to bowl; let rise over night. In the morning cut down, knead, shape into loaves or biscuits, place in greased pans, having pans nearly half full. Cover, let raise again, and bake.
Entire-Wheat Bread. 4 cupfuls scalded milk, cupful brown sugar, 1½ teaspoonfuls salt, 1 yeast cake, 9 cupfuls entire-wheat flour.