Set a sponge, as above, but with half the quantity of water.
In the morning mix with this:
- 1 quart warm milk.
- 1 tablespoonful salt.
- 1 cup Indian meal.
- And enough rye flour to make it into pliable dough.
Proceed as with wheat bread, baking it a little longer.
It is a mistake to suppose that acidity, greater or less, is the normal state of rye bread. If you find your dough in the slightest degree sour, correct by adding a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in warm water. It is safest to add this always in warm weather.
Milk Bread.
- 1 quart of milk.
- ½ teacupful of yeast.
- ¼ lb. butter, one tablespoonful white sugar.
Stir into the milk, which should be made blood-warm, a pint of flour, the sugar, lastly the yeast. Beat all together well, and let them rise five or six hours. Then melt the butter, and add with a little salt. Work in flour enough to make a stiff dough; let this rise four hours, and make into small loaves. Set near the fire for half an hour, and bake.
In warm weather, add a teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in warm water, to the risen sponge, as all bread mixed with milk is apt to sour.