BREAD.
BY MRS. EMMA P. EWING.
The first thing to be considered in bread making is the yeast. Without good yeast it is impossible to make good bread. A great deal depends upon the quality of flour used for making bread; but unless the yeast is good the best quality of bread can not be made from the most superior grade of flour, and much excellent flour is spoiled by conjunction with worthless yeast in the attempt to make it into bread.
The compressed yeast, so much used in cities, is, in all respects, the best commercial yeast yet discovered, and when fresh, is perfectly reliable, but can not be obtained conveniently at all times, and in all places. And the housewife who is ambitious to supply her family with good bread should acquaint herself with the best method of making yeast, and have it prepared at home.
To Make Yeast.—Steep an eighth of an ounce of pressed, or a small handful of loose hops in a quart of boiling water for about five minutes. Strain the boiling infusion upon half a pint of flour, stirred to a smooth paste with a little cold water. Mix well, boil a minute; then add one ounce of salt and two ounces of white sugar. When lukewarm stir in a gill of liquid yeast or an ounce cake of compressed yeast dissolved in warm water. Let stand twenty-four hours, stirring occasionally, then cover closely, and set in a cool place. Yeast made in this manner will keep sweet for two weeks in summer, and much longer in winter, and can be used at any time during that period for starting a fresh supply of yeast, as well as for making bread.
The first step in bread making is the preparation of the ferment.
Pour gradually, stirring meanwhile, a quart of boiling water upon half a pint of wheat flour. When the mixture has cooled to about lukewarmness (80°) add a gill of yeast, stir well, cover closely, and let stand till thoroughly light and a mass of white foam. Taste it, and it bites like beer; stir it, and it seems to dance and sparkle with exuberant life, while the odor it emits is strongly alcoholic. Ferment can be kept for several hours after it becomes light and foamy without growing sour, or appearing to deteriorate in any manner. But it is better to use it as soon as it reaches this stage, as it is then undoubtedly at its very best estate. The time required for ferment to grow light, varies from two to six hours, according to the strength of the yeast put in it and the temperature of the place where it stands. When due attention is given to these things, the custom of preparing or “setting” ferment in the evening to be used in bread making the next day is a convenient one; and, as it usually proves satisfactory, is in no way objectionable.
When the ferment is perfectly light, beat vigorously into it about half a pint of flour, cover, and leave to rise. By this addition of flour the ferment is transformed into sponge, which, under favorable conditions, will rise in from half an hour to an hour. As soon as the sponge rises, add more flour, and give it another beating; and so repeat each time it rises, until it gets too stiff to be easily stirred.
The mixture is then dough, and is ready for working or kneading. After it has been kneaded till flour is no longer required to keep it from sticking to the molding board, it is of the proper consistency for bread, and may be divided into four equal parts, molded, or shaped into loaves, and put in greased bread pans to rise for the last time, preparatory to baking; or it may be set to rise in a mass before being divided into loaves.
It is very difficult to decide whether it is better to let the dough rise in a mass or in separate loaves. Bread which rises in a mass appears to be a trifle more elastic and spongy than that which rises in separate loaves; but the latter seems to excel the former in sweetness and delicacy of flavor. In either case the bread will be good.
Two points in this mode of making bread deserve special attention:
1. The flour is added repeatedly after intervals of fermentation, and as it contains fresh food for the yeast, these frequent additions of flour keep the yeast in a vigorous and healthy condition during the entire period of bread making.
2. The fermentation is always arrested in the sponge and dough before it arrives at the exhaustive point; for whenever sponge or dough is allowed to reach its utmost limit of expansion and fall back or “tumble in,” as it invariably does at this crisis, it loses something of excellence that no after labor or attention can restore.
Another method of making bread is to mix the yeast with the wetting, and gradually add flour, working it meanwhile, until the dough is of the proper consistency, when it should be kneaded upon the molding board till smooth and elastic, and then put to rise. Dough may be mixed in this manner late in the evening, and, if not kept in too warm an atmosphere, will be in proper condition for making into loaves, rolls, etc., at an early hour the next morning.
Ferment, sponge and dough are all affected by atmospheric changes, and should be mixed and kept in thick stone or earthen vessels, and covered closely to exclude the air. And care should be taken to keep them at the proper temperature, which is about 75° during the entire process of bread making. Fermentation is arrested at a temperature below 30°, proceeds slowly at 50°, rapidly at 70°, very rapidly at 90°, and can be hastened or retarded, if necessary, by increasing or diminishing the temperature.
The quantity of flour necessary to make dough of the proper consistency for bread depends considerably upon its quality, and varies from two and a half to three measures of flour to one measure of “wetting.” More flour can, however, be added, and the dough made considerably stiffer, without perceptible detriment. Dough for fancy bread and rolls should be quite stiff, so as to retain any desired shape or form. Soft, spongy bread possesses greater delicacy when freshly baked, but appears to lose its moisture and grow stale much sooner than that which is more compact.
The length of time required for kneading or working dough is materially affected by the quality of the flour. Flour exposed to the atmosphere deteriorates quite rapidly, and the moisture it absorbs so impairs the tenacity of its gluten, that bread of the best quality can not be made from it, in spite of all the working and kneading that may be given to the dough. Much less time is required kneading dough made from choice, than from inferior brands of flour.
It is an established fact that dough is rendered tough and elastic by working and kneading; but as the same result can be accomplished sooner and less laboriously by pulling and stretching, it is advisable, in making bread, to pull and stretch as well as to work and knead the dough.
Bread dough may perhaps be kneaded a good deal with advantage, but it is by no means certain that much kneading is absolutely necessary for the production of the best quality of bread. The fermentation, back of the kneading, gives life and force to dough. When this is perfect, dough, in a suitable condition for molding into loaves or rolls, shows a great deal of resisting force. It seems, in fact, to have a will of its own, and its determination to rise is almost irrepressible. You may knead it in the most resolute manner and mold it into a compact ball; but in a short time it will rise, and swell, and spread, until it has doubled in dimensions. You may thrust your fist fiercely into a batch of good dough, but the impression you make upon it is by no means a lasting one. Almost as soon as you draw back your hand it regains elasticity and resumes its original position. This irrepressible spirit in dough is the surest test of its goodness, and when perfectly developed you can do as you please with the dough. You may roll it, or twist it, or plait it, with the greatest ease. You can mold it into any form without trouble. It does not stick to the hands or the molding board. It is in its most amiable mood. It is perfectly docile and obedient except in one respect—it can not be put down and kept down; and any bread dough that can is poor stuff that will never rise to distinction or win admiration.
Dough after having perfectly risen should not be kneaded again. If in pans, it should be immediately baked. If in mass, it should be divided into loaves or rolls, and gently pulled, rolled or folded into shape, when it may also be put to bake. These loaves or rolls will, however, be lighter and more delicate if permitted to rise again before they are placed in the oven. Much of the superior excellence of the Vienna imperial roll is due to the peculiar manipulation the light dough is subjected to just before it is placed in the baking pan.
The final and perhaps most important point in bread making has been reached when the loaves are put in the pans to rise for the last time. To decide when dough is just light enough to bake is a very delicate and important matter. If it is put in the oven a moment too soon, you fail to obtain the supreme loaf to which you are entitled for your toil; and if permitted to pass the point of perfect lightness you lose the best results of your labor. The exact time required for loaves to rise after they have been placed in the pans can not be given, as it varies in different temperatures, at different seasons, and with different brands of flour. But it is seldom less than half an hour, or more than an hour and a half.
A loaf of bread should nearly double in size after it is put in the pan; or if a deep gash be cut in the top of it, the incision should disappear by the time the loaf has perfectly risen. Bread, when light enough for baking, feels aerated all through; and by lifting and weighing it in the hand one can generally recognize the condition of lightness quite as accurately as by sight.
The exercise of a little observation and judgment will soon enable one to decide when dough has reached its best and most perfect state of lightness. But where any doubt exists in regard to the matter it is better to put it in the oven while rising toward perfection than after it attains the altitude at which it begins to retrograde.
Potato Bread.—Potato added to flour is generally supposed to improve the quality of the bread. That it does is unquestionably true, where the flour used is of an inferior grade. “Of all starches,” says Dr. Graham, “the starch found in the potato is best adapted to the growth of yeast, and in using potato in bread, bakers made practical application of a fact long before chemists discovered it to be such.” Potatoes when used in bread should be well boiled and smoothly mashed, and equal portions of potato and flour be used in making the ferment. The bread is then made in the same manner as when flour alone is used.
Whole Wheat Flour.—It is claimed that bran in Graham flour often proves an irritant to delicate digestive organs. In whole wheat flour we have the entire food principle of the grain without the hull. The cold blast process of milling gives us this flour of a very superior quality.
Whole Wheat Flour Bread should be made in every particular like patent or new process flour bread, and baked in loaves, twists, or fancy rolls. It is very delicious baked in the form of muffins and eaten warm.
Graham Bread.—The ferment for Graham bread should be of white flour, and prepared in the same manner as the ferment for white flour bread. When light add sugar and salt to taste, and work in Graham flour until the dough becomes elastic and clinging and is sufficiently stiff. Let stand till perfectly risen; then shape into loaves by rolling gently under the hand on a well floured molding-board, and place in greased baking pans. Less flour is required in proportion to the “wetting” for Graham than for white bread. And unless Graham dough is of the proper consistency, the bread when baked will be moist, sticky and insipid, or dry, rough and unpalatable. The correct proportions are a little more than two measures of Graham flour to one measure of “wetting.”
Oat, Corn and Barley Bread.—Fermented bread can be made of oat, corn, or barley meal, or flour; care being taken to add wetting in proportion to the demands of the grain. When corn or oat meal is used, boiling water should be poured upon it and it be permitted to swell for at least an hour before the yeast is added. These grains make delicious muffins and bread to be eaten warm.
Pinhead oat meal, pearled barley, and corn grits, well cooked and made into bread by adding whole wheat flour, can be baked in muffin pans, or rolled thin and baked in crisp rolls.
Rye Bread.—The method of making rye bread is almost identical with that for making wheat bread—from three to three and a half measures of flour to one measure of “wetting” being required. More time is necessary for it to ferment or rise, and it will not become so light, spongy and elastic as wheat.
Boston Brown Bread.—Scald a pint of corn meal with a pint of boiling water. When sufficiently cool add a pint and a half of rye meal, a gill of yeast, a gill of molasses, and a teaspoonful of salt. Mix well, and when perfectly risen steam five hours, then put in the oven half an hour to dry and harden the crust.
Vienna Bread.—To a pint of new milk, add a pint of water, an ounce of compressed yeast, a teaspoonful of salt, and flour sufficient to make a thin batter. Stir well and let stand for an hour to rise, then work in flour until the dough is the proper consistency for bread. When very light, which will be in about three hours, divide and mold into loaves, and set to rise in the bread pans; or shape into imperial rolls and set to rise.
Imperial Rolls.—Separate one of the Vienna loaves, detached from the mass of dough, into ten or twelve irregular pieces of the thickness of about half an inch. Take separately each of these pieces in the left hand, and slightly stretch with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand one of the irregular points over the left thumb toward the center of the roll. Repeat this operation, turning the piece of dough as it proceeds, each time lifting the thumb and gently pressing it upon the last fold until all the points have been drawn in, when the roll can be placed to rise. If the folding has been properly done, the roll when baked will be composed of a succession of sheets or layers of delicate, tenacious crumb surrounded with a thin crisp crust. The fingers can be slightly greased to keep the dough from sticking to them while shaping these rolls; but if it is of the proper consistency, it will not stick to the hands.
Baking Bread.—When bread is ready for baking, it is desirable to fix the air cells as soon as possible by heat; but it does not follow that to do this it should be put in a very hot oven and a crust immediately formed on the loaves.
Temperature of the Oven.—The heat of the oven should not be greatest when bread is put to bake; it should slightly increase in intensity for about ten minutes, and after remaining at a firm, steady temperature for that length of time should gradually decrease till the baking is finished. The principal change to be effected by the baking, which is the coagulation of the albumen of the air cells, takes place at a temperature somewhere near 212°, and as the temperature within the loaf can not rise above that point, no changes go on there except those produced by the watery vapor or steam. Flour, however, is not browned except at a much higher temperature; hence a greater degree of heat is necessary to properly bake the outside of the loaf. During the period of baking bread the heat of the oven should not rise above 570° nor fall below 240°.
An ordinary sized loaf of bread, with the oven at the proper temperature, will bake thoroughly in an hour; a loaf the size of one of the pans recommended, in about half an hour. But as there are several hygienic and philosophical reasons why bread should be well baked, it is better to err by leaving it in the oven a little too long than not quite long enough.—Bread and Bread Making.
End of Required Reading for November.