[To Keep Sandwiches]
It is frequently necessary to make sandwiches several hours before they are needed. As they dry quickly they must be carefully wrapped or they will be unpalatable. Wring from cold water two ordinary tea towels; put one on top of the other. An old tablecloth will answer the purpose very well. As fast as the sandwiches are made put them on top of the damp towel; when you have the desired quantity, cover the top with moist lettuce leaves; fold over the towels, and put outside of this a perfectly dry, square cloth. Sandwiches will keep in this way for several hours, and in perfectly good condition. On a very warm day they may be covered all over with moist lettuce leaves; use the green ones that are not so palatable or sightly for garnishing.
[Bread]
To make good sandwiches, especially when one is a long way from a city, it is quite necessary to know how to make sandwich bread, which is quite different, or should be, from ordinary bread. Compressed yeast is always to be preferred, but if one cannot get it, the next best is good home-made yeast. Bread for sandwiches must be baked in rather large square pans, and must be just a little lighter and softer than bread for the table. The following recipes will, I am sure, help the “out of town” housewife. Nut bread is usually made into simple bread and butter sandwiches; the nuts in the bread are quite sufficient filling.
[Yeast]
- 4 good sized potatoes
- 1 quart of boiling water
- 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar
- 1 tablespoonful of salt
Pare and grate the potatoes into the hot water, stir over the fire until it reaches boiling point, and simmer gently for five minutes. Take from the fire, add the sugar and salt, and when lukewarm add a cupful of yeast, or two dry yeast cakes that have been moistened in a little water, or one cake of compressed yeast. Turn the mixture into a jar and cover with a saucer. Stir it down as fast as it comes to the top of the jar. When it falls, or ceases to be very light, which will be five or six hours, pour it into a bottle, put the cork in very loosely and stand it in a cold place. Use one cupful of this to each two loaves of bread.
[German Potato Bread]
Boil one potato until tender; mash it through a sieve, add to it a half pint of warm water and a teaspoonful of sugar. Stir in one cupful of flour and one cupful of yeast; let this stand for two hours, or until very light. It is better to make this at seven o'clock, so the bread may be sponged at nine or ten. Scald a pint of milk, add to it a pint of water, beat in a quart and a pint of flour. The batter should be thick enough to drop, rather than pour from the spoon. Then stir in the potato starter, and stand in a place about 65° Fahr. over night. Next morning knead thoroughly, adding flour. Put this aside until very light, about two hours, then mold into loaves, put it into square greased pans, and when light bake in a moderately quick oven three-quarters of an hour.