Have a quart of good milk boiling; grate a piece of chocolate three inches square; mix it with a little cold milk; then stir it gradually into the milk on the fire. If preferred thinner, use less chocolate. It should boil at least half an hour.
YEAST.
Pare six good-sized potatoes; put them on to boil with three pints of water and a handful of hops; pour the water through a sieve on a pint of flour; stir it until perfectly smooth; mash your potatoes through a cullender into the yeast; stir all well together, and let it stand till nearly cold; then stir into it a pint bowl half full of dry yeast, dissolved in water; put the water on the dry yeast as soon as you mix your flour and potatoes, and when it has sufficiently cooled, your yeast will be ready to go in. Set it in a warm place to rise. When it is light enough, keep it in a cool place; cover it close. Yeast should be made the day before you bake; then it is good and fresh.
TO MAKE DRY YEAST.
Make as directed above. When perfectly light, stir in corn meal till it is quite dry; spread it on dishes to dry. Be careful not to let it be in the sun, as this would sour it. When dry, put it in a bag, in a dry, cool place. In summer time, when the flies are numerous, spread a thin piece of gauze over to keep them off when it is drying.
BREAD.
Sift the flour; put it in an earthen vessel; the quantity of flour you take will depend upon the number of loaves you want. Four loaves of bread will require two quarts of water; pour the water, which may be as warm as milk just from the cow, upon the flour, enough to make a thick batter; put in two tablespoonsful of salt, and a pint of home-made yeast; do not beat it after the yeast goes in. Set it in a warm place to rise; when it is light, work it very well with flour. The more you knead it, the better. If the flour is running, the bread will require to be made stiffer than when it is superfine flour. Let it rise again, covering it, and set it in a warm place. When it is broken on top, make it into loaves, with as little flour as possible. Put each loaf into a basket: cover it over, and set it to rise again. When quite light, bake it in a brick oven, from three quarters to one hour.
TO BAKE IN A BRICK OVEN.
A brick oven will require one hour to heat. The wood should be split fine; make a little fire at first, then add more wood; when the oven is white at the top, it is sufficiently hot. Spread the coals over the bottom of the oven, and let them remain a quarter of an hour.
Rusk or biscuit, if they are very light, will bake in from ten to fifteen minutes. Bread requires one hour.