BREAD MAKING.
This process is much the same whatever kind of meal or flour may be used, whether wheaten, barley, &c. A certain portion of the flour is mixed with warm water (in which a little salt is generally dissolved), some yeast or “barm” (the froth from the fermentation of beer) is added, and the whole worked together to a pasty consistence, this is put into a pan to keep warm, and is called “the sponge;” besides flour and water nearly every baker mixes his sponge with a certain proportion of potatoes boiled to a “squash,” and passed through a sieve to separate the rinds. In an hour or so it swells up to double its original size, from the fermentation which is going on producing a kind of gas called “carbonic acid,” which being formed in every part of the “sponge,” inflates it to a great extent. After a time it sinks down (most of the gas escaping), and begins to rise again; it is then mixed with the remainder of the flour (and some water if necessary), and the whole thoroughly kneaded together with the hands till it is all of an equal consistence—this should be neither too stiff, nor so soft as to stick to the hands. It is now to be cut up and weighed out into pieces to form each loaf. The oven in which the bread is baked is made of “fire-brick,” and so embedded in earth or brickwork that when heated it shall not readily cool; this is heated with coal or wood till it is nearly red-hot and the loaves are put in and left till baked.