Science in the Kitchen Part 12

MILK BREAD WITH WHITE FLOUR.--Scald and cool on pint of unskimmed milk. Add to the milk when lukewarm, one fourth of a cup, or three tablespoonfuls, of liquid yeast, and three cups of flour. Give the batter a vigorous beating, turn it into a clean bread bowl or a small earthen crock, cover, and let it rise over night. In the morning, when well risen, add two or three cupfuls of warm flour, or sufficient to knead. Knead well until the dough is sufficiently elastic to rebound when struck forcibly with the fist. Allow it to rise again in ma.s.s; then shape into loaves; place in pans; let it stand until light, and bake. If undesirable to set the bread over night, and additional tablespoonfuls or two of cheese may be used, to facilitate the rising.

VIENNA BREAD.--Into a pint of milk sterilized by scalding, turn a cup and a half of boiling water. When lukewarm, add one half cup of warm water, in which has been dissolved a cake of compressed yeast, and a quart of white flour. Beat the batter thus made very thoroughly, and allow it to rise for one hour; then add white flour until the dough is of a consistency to knead. Knead well, and allow it to rise again for about three hours, or until very light. Shape into four loaves, handling lightly. Let it rise again in the pans, and bake. During the baking, wash the tops of the loaves with a sponge dipped in milk, to glaze them.

WATER BREAD.--Dissolve a tablespoonful of sugar in a pint of boiling water. When lukewarm, add one fourth of a cup full of liquid yeast, and sufficient flour to make a batter thick enough to drop from the spoon. Beat vigorously for ten minutes, turn into a clean, well-scalded bread bowl, cover (wrapping in a blanket if in cold weather), and let it rise over night. In the morning, when well risen, add flour to knead. Knead well for half an hour, cover, and let it become light in ma.s.s. When light, shape into loaves, allow it to rise again, and bake.

FRUIT ROLL.--Take some bread dough prepared as for Milk Bread, which has been sufficiently kneaded and is ready to mold, and roll to about one inch in thickness. Spread over it some dates which have been washed, dried, and stoned, raisins, currants, or chopped figs. Roll it up tightly into a loaf. Let and it rise until very light, and bake.

FRUIT LOAF.--Set a sponge with one pint of rich milk, one fourth cup of yeast, and a pint of flour, over night. In the morning, add two cups of Zante currents, one cup of sugar, and three cups of flour, or enough to make a rather stiff dough. Knead well, and set to rise; when light, mold into loaves; let it rise again, and bake.

POTATO BREAD.--Cook and mash perfectly smooth, potatoes to make a cupful. Add a teaspoonful of best white sugar, one cup and a half of warm water, and when the mixture is lukewarm, one half cup of yeast, prepared as directed for Boiled Potato Yeast No. 2, and flour to make a very thick batter. Allow it to rise over night. In the morning, add a pint of warm water and flour enough to knead. The dough will need to be considerably stiffer than when no potato is used, or the result will be a bread too moist for easy digestion. Knead well. Let it rise, mold into four loaves, and when again light, bake.

PULLED BREAD.--Remove a loaf from the oven when about half baked, and lightly pull the partially set dough into pieces of irregular shape, about half the size of one's fist. Do not smooth or mold the pieces; bake in a slow oven until browned and crisp throughout.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD.--The materials needed for the bread are: one pint of milk, scalded and cooled, one quart of wheat berry flour, one pint Minnesota spring wheat flour, one third cup of a soft yeast, or one fourth cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in one third cup of cold water. Stir enough flour into the milk to make a stiff batter, put in the yeast, and let it rise until foamy. Have the milk so warm that, when the flour is put in, the batter will be of a lukewarm temperature. Wrap in a thick blanket, and keep at an equable temperature. When light, stir in, slowly, warm flour to make a soft dough. Knead for fifteen minutes, and return to the bowl (which has been washed and oiled) to rise again.

When risen to double its size, form into two loaves, place in separate pans, let rise again, and bake from three fourths to one and one half hours, according to the heat of the oven.

WHOLE-WHEAT BREAD NO. 2.--Scald one pint of unskimmed milk; when lukewarm, add one half cup of liquid yeast, or one fourth cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in one half cup of warm water, and a pint of Pillsbury's best white flour. Beat this batter thoroughly, and allow it to rise. When well risen, add three and two thirds cups of wheat berry flour. Knead thoroughly, and allow it to become light in ma.s.s; then shape into two loaves, allow it to rise again, and bake.

MISS. B'S ONE-RISING BREAD.--Sift and measure three and three fourths cups of wheat berry flour. Scald and cool a pint of unskimmed milk. When lukewarm, add one tablespoonful of lively liquid yeast. By slow degrees add the flour, beating vigorously until too stiff to use a spoon, then knead thoroughly for half an hour, shape into a loaf, place in a bread pan, cover with a napkin in warm weather, wrap well with blankets in cold weather, and let rise over night. In the morning, when perfectly light, pat in a well heated oven, and bake.

POTATO BREAD WITH WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR.--Take a half gill of liquid yeast made as for Boiled Potato Yeast No. 2, and add milk, sterilised and cooled to lukewarm, to make a pint. And one cup of well-mashed, mealy potato and one cup of white flour, or enough to make a rather thick batter Beat thoroughly, cover, and set to rise. When well risen, add sufficient whole-wheat flour to knead. The quant.i.ty will vary somewhat with the brand of flour used, but about four and one fourth cupfuls will in general be needed. Knead well, let it rise in ma.s.s and again in the loaf, and bake.

RYE BREAD.--Prepare a sponge over night with white flour as for Water Bread. In the morning, when light, add another tablespoonful of sugar, and rye flour to knead. Proceed as directed for the Water Bread, taking care to use only enough rye flour to make the dough Just stiff enough to mold. Use white flour for dusting than kneading board, as the rye flour is sticky.

GRAHAM BREAD.--Take two tablespoonfuls of lively liquid yeast, or a little less than one fourth cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in a little milk, and add new milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm, to make one pint. Add one pint of white flour, beat very thoroughly, and set to rise. When very light, add three find one half cupfuls of sifted Graham flour, or enough to make a dough that can be molded. Knead well for half an hour. Place in a clean, slightly oiled bread bowl, cover, and allow it to rise. When light, shape into a loaf: allow it to rise again, and bake.

GRAHAM BREAD NO. 2.--Mix well one pint of white and two pints of best Graham flour. Prepare a batter with a scant pint of milk, scalded and cooled, two table spoonfuls of liquid yeast, or a little less than one fourth of a cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in two table spoonfuls of milk, and a portion of the mixed flour. Give it a vigorous beating, and put it in a warm place to rise. When well risen, add more flour to make a dough sufficiently stiff to knead. There will be some variation in the amount required, dependent upon the brands of flour used, but in general, two and one half pints of the flour will be enough for preparing the sponge and kneading the dough. Knead thoroughly for twenty-five or thirty minutes. Put into a clean and slightly oiled bread bowl, cover, and set to rise again. When double its first bulk, mold into a loaf; allow it to rise again, and bake.

GRAHAM BREAD NO. 3.--Mix three pounds each of Graham and Minnesota spring wheat flour. Make a sponge of one and a half pints of warm water, one half cake compressed yeast, well dissolved in the water, and flour to form a batter. Let this rise. When well risen, add one and a half pints more of warm water, one half cup full of New Orleans mola.s.ses, and sufficient flour to knead. Work the bread thoroughly, allow it to rise in ma.s.s; then mold, place in pans, and let it rise again. The amount of material given is sufficient for four loaves of bread.

RAISED BISCUIT.--These may be made from dough prepared by any of the preceding recipes for bread. They will be more tender if made with milk, and if the dough is prepared expressly for biscuits, one third cream may be used. When the dough has been thoroughly kneaded the last time, divide into small, equal-sized pieces. A quant.i.ty of dough sufficient for one loaf of bread should be divided into twelve or sixteen such portions. Shape into smooth, round biscuits, fit closely into a shallow pan, and let them rise until very light. Biscuit should be allowed to become lighter than bread before putting in the oven, since, being so much smaller, fermentation is arrested much sooner, and they do not rise as much in the oven as does bread.

ROLLS.--Well kneaded and risen bread dough is made into a variety of small forms termed rolls, by rolling with the hands or with a rolling-pin, and afterward cutting or folding into any shape desired, the particular manner by which they are folded and shaped giving to the rolls their characteristic names. Dough prepared with rich milk or part cream makes the best rolls. It may be divided into small, irregular portions, about one inch in thickness, and shaped by taking each piece separately in the left hand, then with the thumb and first finger of the right hand, slightly stretch one of the points of the piece and draw it over the left thumb toward the center of the roll, holding it there with the left thumb. Turn the dough and repeat the operation until you have been all around the dough, and each point has been drawn in; then place on the pan to rise. Allow the rolls to become very light, and bake.

Rolls prepared in this manner are termed _Imperial Rolls_, and if the folding has been properly done, when well baked they will be composed of a succession of light layers, which can be readily separated.

_French Rolls_ may be made by shaping each portion of dough into small oval rolls quite tapering at each end, allowing them to become light, and baking far enough apart so that one will not touch another.

If, when the dough is light and ready to shape, it be rolled on the board until about one eighth of an inch in thickness, and cut into five-inch squares, then divided through the center into triangles, rolled up, beginning with the wide side, and placed in the pan to rise in semicircular shape, the rolls are called _Crescents_.

What are termed _Parker House Rolls_ may be made from well-risen dough prepared with milk, rolled upon the board to a uniform thickness of about one forth inch; cut into round or oval shapes with the cutter; folded, one third over the other two thirds; allowed to rise until very light, and baked.

The light, rolled dough, may be formed into a _Braid_ by cutting into strips six inches in length and one in width, joining the ends of each three, and braiding.

The heat of the oven should be somewhat greater for roils and biscuit than for bread. The time required will depend upon the heat and the size of the roll, but it will seldom exceed one half hour. Neither rolls nor biscuits should be eaten hot, as they are then open to the same objections as other new yeast bread.

BROWN BREAD.--To one and one fourth cups of new milk which has been scalded and cooled, add one fourth of a cup of lively yeast, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and one cup each of white flour, rye flour or sifted rye meal, and yellow corn meal. With different brands of flour there may need to be some variation in the quant.i.ty of liquid to be used. The mixture should be thick enough to shape. Allow it to rise until light and cracked over the top; put into a bread pan, and when again well risen, bake for an hour and a half or two hours in an oven sufficiently hot at first to arrest fermentation and fix the bread cells, afterwards allowing the heat to diminish somewhat, to permit a slower and longer baking. Graham flour may be used in place of rye, if preferred.

DATE BREAD.--Take a pint of light white bread sponge prepared with milk, add two tablespoons of sugar, and Graham flour to make a very stiff batter. And last a cupful of stoned dates. Turn into a bread pan.

Let it rise, and bake.

FRUIT LOAF WITH GRAHAM AND WHOLE-WHEAT FLOUR.--Dissolve one fourth cake of compressed yeast in a pint of sterilized milk; and a pint of white flour; heat thoroughly, and set to rise. When well risen, add three and one fourth cups of flour (Graham and whole-wheat, equal proportions, thoroughly mixed), or sufficient to knead. Knead well for half an hour, and just at the last add a cup of raisins, well washed, dried, and dusted with flour. Let the loaf rise in ma.s.s; then shape, put in the pan, allow it to become light again, and bake.

RAISED CORN BREAD.--Into two cupfuls of hot mush made from white granular corn meal, stir two cupfuls of cold water. Beat well, and add one half cup of liquid yeast, or one half cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in one half cup of warm water, and two teaspoonfuls of granulated sugar. Stir in white or sifted Graham flour to make it stiff enough to knead. Knead very thoroughly, and put in a warm place to rise.

When light, molded into three loaves, put into pans, and allow it to rise again. When well risen, bake at least for three fourths of an hour.

CORN CAKE.--Sterilise a cupful of rich milk or thin cream. Cool to lukewarm, and dissolve in it half a cake of compressed yeast Add two small cupfuls of white flour; beat very thoroughly, and put in a warm place to rise. When light, add a cup of lukewarm water or milk, and two cups of best yellow cornmeal. Turn into a shallow square pan, and leave until again well risen. Bake in a quick oven. A tablespoonful of sugar may be added with the corn meal, if desired.

OATMEAL BREAD.--Mix a quart of well-cooked oatmeal mush with a pint of water, beating it perfectly smooth; add a cupful of liquid yeast and flour to make a stiff batter. Cover, and let it rise. When light, add sufficient flour to mold; knead as soft as possible, for twenty or thirty minutes; shape into four or more loaves, let it rise again, and bake.

MILK YEAST BREAD.--Prepare the yeast the day before by scalding three heaping teaspoonfuls of fresh cornmeal with boiling milk. Set in a warm place until light (from seven to ten hours); then put in a cool place until needed for use. Start the bread by making a rather thick batter with one cupful of warm water, one teaspoonful of the prepared yeast, and white flour. Put in a warm place to rise. When light, add to it a cupful of flour scalded with a cupful of boiling milk, and enough more flour to make the whole into a rather stiff batter. Cover, and allow it to rise. When again well risen, add flour enough to knead.

Knead well; shape into a loaf; let it rise, and bake. Three or four cupfuls of white flour will be needed for all purposes with the amount of liquid given; more liquid and flour may be added in forming the second sponge if a larger quant.i.ty of bread is desired. In preparing both yeast and bread, all utensils used should first be sterilized by scalding in hot sal-soda water.

GRAHAM SALT-RISING BREAD.--Put two tablespoonfuls of milk into a half-pint cup, add boiling water to fill the cup half full, one half teaspoonful of sugar, one fourth teaspoonful of salt, and white flour to make a rather stiff batter. Let it rise over night. In the morning, when well risen, add a cup and a half of warm water, or milk scalded and cooled, and sufficient white flour to form a rather stiff batter. Cover, and allow it again to rise. When light, add enough sifted Graham flour to knead. When well kneaded, shape into a loaf; allow it to become light again in the pan, and bake. All utensils used should be first well sterilized by scalding in hot sal-soda water.

UNFERMENTED BREADS.

The earliest forms of bread were made without fermentation. Grain was broken as fine as possible by pounding on smooth stones, made into dough with pure water, thoroughly kneaded, and baked in some convenient way.

Such was the "unleavened breads" or "Pa.s.sover cakes" of the Israelites.

In many countries this bread is the only kind used. Unleavened bread made from barley and oats is largely used by the Irish and Scotch peasantry. In Sweden an unleavened bread is made of rye meal and water, flavored with anise seed, and baked in large, thin cakes, a foot or more in diameter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mexican Woman Making Tortillas]

Some savage tribes subsists chiefly upon excellent corn bread, made simply of meal and water. Unleavened bread made of corn, called _tortillas_, forms the staple diet of the Mexican Indians. The corn, previously softened by soaking in lime water, is ground to a fine paste between a stone slab and roller called a _metate_, then patted and tossed from hand to hand until flattened into thin, wafer-like cakes, and baked over a quick fire, on a thin iron plate or a flat stone.

Unquestionably, unleavened bread, well kneaded and properly baked, is the most wholesome of all breads, but harder to masticate than that made light by fermentation, but this is an advantage; for it insures more thorough mixing with that important digestive agent, the saliva, than is usually given to more easily softened food.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Stone Metate.]

What is usually termed unfermented bread, however, is prepared with flour and liquid, to which shortening--of some kind is added, and the whole made light by the liberation of gas generated within the dough during the process of baking. This is brought about either by mixing with the flour certain chemical substances, which, when wet and brought into contact, act upon each other so as to set free carbonic acid gas, which expands and puffs up the loaf; or by introducing into the dough some volatile substance as carbonate of ammonia, which the heat during baking will, cause to vaporize, and which in rising produces the same result.

Carbonic acid gas maybe for this purpose developed by the chemical decomposition of bicarbonate of pota.s.sa (saleratus), or bicarbonate of soda, by some acid such as sour milk, hydrochloric acid, tartaric acid, nitrate of pota.s.sa, or the acid phosphate of lime.

The chemical process of bread-raising originally consisted in adding to the dough definite proportions of muriatic acid and carbonate of soda, by the union of which carbonic acid gas and common salt were produced.

This process was soon abandoned, however, on account of the propensity exhibited by the acid for eating holes in the fingers of the baker as well as in his bread pans; and a more convenient one for hands and pans, that of using soda or salaratus with cream of tartar or sour milk, was subst.i.tuted. When there is an excess of soda, a portion of it remains in the loaf uncombined, giving to the bread a yellow color and an alkaline taste, and doing mischief to the delicate coating of the stomach. Alkalies, the cla.s.s of chemicals to which soda and salaratus belong, when pure and strong, are powerful corrosive poisons. The acid used with the alkali to liberate the carbonic-acid gas in the process of bread-making, if rightly proportioned, destroys this poisonous property, and unites with it to form a new compound, which, although not a poison, is yet unwholesome.

We can hardly speak too strongly in condemnation of the use of chemicals in bread-making, when we reflect that the majority of housewives who combine sour milk and salaratus, or cream of tartar and soda, more frequently than otherwise _guess_ at the proportions, or measure them by some "rule of thumb," without stopping to consider that although two cups of sour milk may at one time be sufficiently acid to neutralize a teaspoonful of saleratus, milk may vary in degree of acidity to such an extent that the same quant.i.ty will be quite insufficient for the purpose at another time; or that though a teaspoonful of some brand of cream of tartar will neutralize a half teaspoonful of one kind of soda, similar measures will not always bring about the same result. Very seldom, indeed, will the proportions be sufficiently exact to perfectly neutralise the alkali, since chemicals are subject to variations in degree of strength, both on account of the method by which they are manufactured and the length of time they have been kept, to say nothing of adulterations to which they may have been subjected, and which are so common that it is almost impossible to find unadulterated cream of tartar in the market.

Baking powders are essentially composed of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar, mixed in the proper proportions to exactly neutralize each other, and if they were always pure, would certainly be as good as soda and cream of tartar in any form, and possess the added advantage of perfect proportions; but as was demonstrated not long ago by the government chemist, nearly every variety of baking powder in the market is largely adulterated with cheaper and harmful substances. Alum, a most frequent const.i.tuent of such baking powders, is exceedingly injurious to the stomach. Out of several hundred brands of baking powder examined, only one was found pure.

Even when in their purest state, these chemicals are not harmless, as is so generally believed. It is a very prevalent idea that when soda is neutralized by an acid, both chemical compounds are in some way destroyed or vaporized in the process, and in some occult manner escape from the bread during the process of baking. This is altogether an error. The alkali and acid neutralize each other chemically, but they do not destroy each other. Their union forms a salt, exactly the same as the Roch.e.l.le salts of medicine, a mild purgative, and if we could collected from the bread and weigh or measure it, we would find nearly as much of it as there was of the baking powder in the first place. If two teaspoonfuls of baking powder to the quart of flour be used, we have remaining in the bread made with that amount of flour 165 grains of crystallized Roch.e.l.le salts, or 45 grains more than this to be found in a Seidlitz powder. It may be sometimes useful to take a dose of salts, but the daily consumption of such chemical substances in bread can hardly be considered compatible with the conditions necessary for the maintenance of health. These chemical substances are unusable by the system, and must all be removed by the liver and excretory organs, thus imposing upon them an extra and unnecessary burden. It has also been determined by scientific experimentation that the chemicals found in baking powders in bread r.e.t.a.r.d digestion.

These substances are, fortunately, not needed for the production of good light bread. The purpose of their use is the production of a gas; but air is a gas much more economical and abundant than carbonic-acid gas, and which, when introduced into bread and subjected to heat, has the property of expanding, and in doing, puffing up the bread and making it light. Bread made light with air is vastly superior to that compounded with soda or baking powder, in point of healthfulness, and when well prepared, will equal it in lightness and palatableness. The only difficulty lies in catching and holding the air until it has accomplished the desired results. But a thorough understanding of the necessary conditions and a little practice will soon enable one to attain sufficient skill in this direction to secure most satisfactory results.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gem Irons]

GENERAL DIRECTIONS.--All materials used for making aerated bread should be of the very best quality. Poor flour will not produce good bread by this or by any other process. Aerated breads are of two kinds: those baked while in the form of a batter, and such as are made into a dough before baking.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Perforated Sheet Iron Pan for Rolls.]