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White Bread (Sponge Method cake compressed)
(Sponge Method) 1/2 cake compressed yeast 1 tablespoon sugar 1½ pints lukewarm water 4½ pints sifted flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 level tablespoon lard or butter Dissolve the yeast and sugar in one pint of lukewarm water, and add to it one and one half pints of sifted flour, or sufficient to made an ordinary sponge. Beat well; cover and set aside to rise for about one and one half hours in a warm place. When well risen add to it the half pint of lukewarm water, lard or butter, the remainder of the flour, or enough to make a moderately firm dough, and last, the salt. Knead thoroughly; place in greased bowl; cover and let rise for from one and one half to two hours. When light, mold into loaves and place in well-greased baking pans; cover and let rise again for about one hour. When light, bake forty to fifty minutes, reducing the heat after the first ten minutes. This recipe makes two large loaves.
The whole process takes from five and one half to six hours, and the recipe, if followed closely, will produce excellent results.
A straightforward sponge-and-dough white bread, written when flour was measured by the pint and yeast came in a moist cake. The proportions are sound; only the units and the missing oven temperature need translating.
- Compressed yeastA cake of compressed (fresh) yeast in this period was commonly about 0.6 oz, though sizes varied, so half a cake is roughly 1 teaspoon of active dry or instant yeast, or about 1/3 oz of fresh yeast.
- Flour and water in pintsMeasured dry, 4 1/2 pints of sifted flour is 9 cups, about 2 lb 4 oz; 1 1/2 pints of water is 3 cups. That is roughly 70 percent hydration, a normal soft sandwich dough. Treat the flour as approximate and hold back the last cup, as the recipe itself suggests.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given. For a modern oven, try about 425F for the first ten minutes, then drop to about 375F for the remaining thirty to forty, which follows the recipe's own instruction to reduce the heat. The initial heat sets the crust and finishes the rise.
- Salt goes in last, and it mattersSalt slows yeast, so it is withheld from the sponge and added at the end of mixing. Do not shortcut this by salting the sponge; the first rise will drag noticeably.
- Lukewarm means 100-110FLukewarm means roughly 100-110F for modern dry yeast. Much hotter than that risks harming the yeast, and cooler will stretch the already long timetable. 'A warm place' is usually taken to mean around 75-80F ambient.
- Pans and yieldTwo large loaves means two 9 x 5 inch pans. Divide the dough by weight rather than by eye if you want them to bake evenly.
- Testing for doneRather than relying on the clock, look for a hollow sound when the bottom is tapped and an internal temperature of 200-205F. Turn the loaves out of the pans immediately so the sides do not steam soft.
- TimetableFive and a half to six hours start to finish is accurate for a warm kitchen. In a cool one, expect longer, and the dough will be better for it.
The sponge method belongs to the era when yeast was less reliable than it is now: a slack batter of flour, water and yeast was set to ferment on its own first, which let the cook see that the yeast was alive and gave it a head start before the salt and fat went in. Compressed yeast, sold commercially in the United States from the late 1860s and 1870s onward, was still perishable enough that this insurance was worth taking, and the two-stage build also develops more flavor than a straight dough.