THE OVEN.
A brick oven, heated with wood, is far superior to any other for baking bread, as well as for most other purposes. The iron ovens, now commonly attached to kitchen-ranges—the construction of which has within these few years been wonderfully improved—though exceedingly convenient, from the facility which they afford for baking at all hours of the day, do not in general answer well for bread, unless it be made into very small loaves or rolls, as the surface becomes hardened and browned long before the heat has sufficiently penetrated to the centre of the dough. The same objection often exists to iron-ovens of larger size, which require care and management, to ensure the successful use of them. A brick oven should be well heated with faggot wood, or with a faggot, and two or three solid logs; and after it is cleared, the door should be closely shut for quite half an hour before the baking commences: the heat will then be well sustained for a succession of bread, pies, cakes, and small pastry. The servant who habitually attends at an oven will soon become acquainted with the precise quantity of fuel which it requires, and all other peculiarities which may be connected with it.
A FEW RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN MAKING BREAD.
Never use too large a proportion of yeast, as the bread will not only become dry very speedily when this is done, but it will be far less sweet and pleasant in flavour than that which is more slowly fermented, and the colour will not be so good: there will also be a great chance of its being bitter when brewer’s yeast is used for it. Remember that milk or water of scalding heat poured to any kind of yeast will render the bread heavy. One pint of either added quite boiling to a pint and a half of cold, will bring it to about the degree of warmth required. In frosty weather the proportion of the heated liquid may be increased a little.
When only porter-yeast—which is dark-coloured and bitter—can be procured, use a much smaller proportion than usual, and allow much longer time for it to rise. Never let it be sent to the oven until it is evidently light. Bitter bread is unpalatable, but not really unwholesome; but heavy bread is particularly so.
Let the leaven be kneaded up quickly with the remainder of the flour when once it is well risen, as it should on no account be allowed to sink again before this is done, when it has reached the proper point; and in making the dough, be particularly careful not to render it too lithe by adding more liquid than is requisite. It should be quite firm, and entirely free from lumps and crumbs throughout the mass, and on the surface also, which ought to be perfectly smooth.
In winter, place the bread while it is rising sufficiently close to the fire to prevent its becoming cold, but never so near as to render it hot. A warm thick cloth should be thrown over the pan in which it is made immediately after the leaven is mixed, and kept on it until the bread is ready for the oven.
HOUSEHOLD BREAD.
Put half a bushel (more or less, according to the consumption of the family) of flour into the kneading tub or trough, and hollow it well in the middle; dilute a pint of yeast as it is brought from the brewery or half the quantity if it has been washed and rendered solid, with four quarts or more of lukewarm milk or water, or a mixture of the two; stir into it, from the surrounding part, with a wooden spoon, as much flour as will make a thick batter; throw a handful or two over it, and leave this, which is called the leaven, to rise before proceeding further. In about an hour it will have swollen considerably, and have burst through the coating of flour on the top; then pour in as much more warm liquid as will convert the whole, with good kneading, and this should not be spared, into a firm dough, of which the surface should be entirely free from lumps or crumbs. Throw a cloth over, and let it remain until it has risen very much a second time, which will be in an hour, or something more, if the batch be large. Then work it lightly up, and mould it into loaves of from two to three pounds weight; send them directly to a well heated oven, and bake them from an hour and a half to an hour and three-quarters.
Flour, 1/2 bushel; salt (when it is liked), 4 to 6 oz.; yeast, 1 pint unwashed, or 1/2 pint if purified; milk, or water, 2 quarts: 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Additional liquid as needed.