The History of Bread: From Pre-historic to Modern Times

by John Ashton

‘Press yeast is obtained partly by the brewing of beer or distillation of spirits as a by-product, partly it is made artificially. In the former case, the beer upper yeast is mixed with ten times its quantity of water, to which one per cent. of carbonate of ammonia is added, macerated and well washed for an hour, and then mixed with a compound of two parts of finely-powdered malt and ten parts starch, so that we have a firm mass, which is made into cakes half-an-inch thick. This yeast must be made fresh every two or three days, and must be kept in a cool place. A better press yeast is made from the yeast of the distilleries. The pasty residue of the mash tub is passed through a hair sieve to get rid of the grain husks. The filtrate is allowed to settle, and the sediment is put into linen cloths and washed with water, and the water squeezed out again under gentle pressure. The yeast is thus obtained in the form of cakes.’

Very many people prefer to make their own bread instead of buying it from the baker; not that there is a great saving, but there is a certain satisfaction in knowing by whom it is made, and as, doubtless, many of my readers have never attempted to make and bake their own bread, I venture to give Miss Acton’s ‘very plain directions to a quite inexperienced learner for making bread.’[15]

‘If you have never yet attempted to make bread, and wish to try to do it well, and have nobody to show you the proper manner of setting about it, you may yet succeed perfectly by attending with great exactness to the directions which are given here; but, as a large baking is less easily managed than a small one quite at first, and as the loss would be greater if the bread were spoiled, I would advise you to begin with merely a loaf or two.

‘Take, then, let us say, half a gallon of flour, or a quartern, as it is called in some places. This will weigh three pounds and a half, and will make two loaves of nearly two pounds and a quarter each. There are two ways of making the dough, either of which, in experienced hands, will generally be attended with success. The most common mode of proceeding is to mix the yeast carefully with part of the liquid required for the whole of the bread, and to stir it into the centre of the flour; then to add by degrees what more of the liquid may be necessary, and to convert the whole with thorough, steady kneading into a firm but flexible paste, which, after standing in a suitable place until it has swollen to nearly double its original size, is again thoroughly kneaded, and once more left to “rise” or become porous before it is moulded into loaves and despatched to the oven.

‘To Make Dough by Setting a Sponge.—This method of making dough is usually followed when there is any doubt either of the goodness or of the sufficient quantity of the yeast which is used for it, because if it should not become light after standing a certain time, more yeast, mixed with a little warm liquid, can easily be added to it, and the chance of having heavy bread be thus avoided.

‘If you are sure of the goodness of the yeast you use it will not much matter which of them you follow. The quickest and easiest mode is to wet it up at once; the safest to guard against failure is to set a sponge thus: Put the flour into a large earthenware bowl or deep pan, then with a strong metal or wooden spoon hollow out the middle, but do not clear it entirely away from the bottom of the pan, as in that case the sponge (or leaven as it was formerly termed) would stick to it, which it ought not to do. Next take either a large tablespoonful of brewer’s yeast, which has been rendered solid by mixing it with cold water and letting it afterwards stand to settle for a day and a night, or nearly an ounce of fresh German yeast. Put it into a large basin and then proceed to mix it, so that it shall be as smooth as cream, with three-quarters of a pint or even a whole pint of just warm milk and water or water only, though even a very little milk will much improve the bread. To have it quite free from lumps you must pour in the liquid by spoonfuls just at the beginning, and stir and work it round well to mix it perfectly with the yeast before you add the remainder, otherwise it would probably cause the bread to be full of large holes, which ought never to be seen in it. Pour the yeast into the hole in the middle of the flour, and stir into it as much of that which lies around it as will make a thick batter, in which, remember, there must be no lumps. If there should seem to be any you must beat them out with the spoon. Strew plenty of flour on the top, throw a thick clean cloth over, and set it where the air is warm; but if there is a large fire do not place it upon the kitchen fender in front of it, as servants often do, for it will become too much heated there; but let it always be raised from the floor, and protected from constant draughts of air passing over it. Look at it from time to time when it has been laid for nearly an hour, and when you perceive that the yeast has risen and broken through the flour, and that bubbles appear in it, you will know that it is ready to be made up into dough. Then place the pan on a strong chair or dresser, or table of convenient height; pour into the sponge a little warm milk and water (about a pint and a quarter will be required altogether for the quartern of bread), so that if three-quarters of a pint was mixed with the yeast at first there will be half a pint to add. Sometimes a little more will be needed; but be always careful not to make the dough too moist; stir into it as much flour as you can with the spoon, then wipe it out clean with your fingers and lay it aside.

‘Next take plenty of the remaining flour, throw it on the top of the leaven, and begin with the knuckles of both hands to knead it well. Quick movement in this will do no good. It is strong, steady kneading which is required. Keep throwing up the flour which lies under and round the dough on to the top of it, that it may not stick to your fingers. You should always try to prevent its doing this, for you will soon discover that attention to these small particulars will make a great difference in the quality of your bread and in the time required to make it. When the flour is nearly all kneaded in begin to draw the edges of the dough towards the middle, in order to mix the whole thoroughly, and continue to knead it in every part spreading it out, and then turning it constantly from the side of the pan to the middle, and pressing the knuckles of your closed hands well into and over it. When the whole of the flour is worked in, and the outside of the dough is free from it and from all lumps and crumbs, and does not stick to the hands when touched, it will be done, and may be again covered with the cloth and left to rise a second time.

‘In three-quarters of an hour look at it, and should it have swollen very much, and begin to crack, it will be light enough to bake. Turn it then on to a paste-board, or very clean dresser, and, with a large sharp knife, divide it into two, when, if it has been carefully and properly made, you will find it full throughout of small holes like a fine sponge. When it is thus far ready make it up quickly into loaves, and despatch it to the oven. If it is to be baked in a flat tin or on the oven floor, dust a little flour on the board, and make them up lightly in the form of dumplings, drawing together the parts which are cut, and turning them downwards. Give them a good shape by working them round quickly between your hands without raising them from the board, and pressing them slightly as you do so; then take a knife in the right hand, and, turning each loaf quickly with the left, just draw the edge of it round the middle of the dough, but do not cut deeply into it; make also two or three slight incisions across the tops of the loaves, as they will rise more easily when this is done.

‘Should it be put into earthen pans, the dough must be cut with the point of the knife just below the edge of the dishes after it is laid into them. To prevent it sticking to them, and being turned out with difficulty after it is baked, the pans should be rubbed in every part with a morsel of butter laid on a bit of clean paper. When they are only floured, the loaves cannot sometimes be loosened from these without being broken. All bread should be turned upside down or on its side as soon as it is drawn from the oven; if this be neglected, the under part of the loaves will become wet and blistered from the steam, which cannot then escape from them. They should remain until they are perfectly cold before they are put away and covered down.

‘The only difference between this and the other way of making dough, mentioned at the beginning of these directions, is the mixing all the flour at first with the yeast and liquid into a firm smooth paste, which must be thoroughly kneaded down when it has become quite light, and then left to rise a second time before it is prepared for baking. A pint of warm milk and water, or of water only, may be stirred gradually to the yeast, which should then be poured into the middle of the flour, and worked with it into a stiff batter with a spoon, which should then be withdrawn, and the kneading with the hands commenced. Until a little experience has been gained, the mass of dough which will be formed with the pint of liquid, may be lifted from the pan into a dish, while sufficient warm water is added to wet up the remainder of the flour. This should afterwards be perfectly mingled with that which contains the yeast. A better plan is to use at once from a pint and a quarter to a pint and a half of liquid; but learners are very apt to pour in heedlessly more than is required, or to be inexact in the measure, and then more flour has to be used to make the bread of a proper consistence than is allowed for by the proportion of yeast named in the receipt. It is a great fault in bread-making to have the dough so moist that it sticks to the fingers when touched, and cannot be formed into loaves which will retain their shape without much flour being kneaded into them when they are made up for the oven.