1826.] on the Art of Baking Bread. 271 



a little ingenious, but the rationale of each is so very simple in 

 itself, and the kind of bread manufactured is of so little import- 

 ance when compared with that of the common loaf-bread, that 

 it has required but Httle time to discuss their merits. But there 

 remains an extensive department of the baker's art, which has 

 not yet been considered, and which on many accounts deserves 

 to be carefully treated of before concluding this Essay. It is one 

 of the most curious, and certainly also one of the most difficult 

 processes, in regard to its rationale, of all those which occur in 

 the bakehouse ; and the result of an investigation into its 

 nature seems to reflect considerable light upon many parts of 

 the art of baking bread. 



It is the mode of manufacturing that composition of flour and 

 treacle, so commonly known by the name of gingerbread, which 

 is now to be subjected to examination. The dough of this kind 

 of bread cannot be fermented by means of yeast ; every such 

 attempt has proved fruitless, and even though, on several occa- 

 sions, the presence of yeast may seem to excite appearances of 

 fermentation in the dough, the gingerbread nevertheless which 

 is baked from it always comes from the oven as sohd, hard, and 

 compact as a piece of wood. 



Of the various striking peculiarities which mark this process, 

 it is believed, no explanation has yet been offered. In the first 

 attempt towards their exposition, if it be too much to anticipate 

 that the views adopted shall be at once complete and satisfac- 

 tory, at least it may be hoped that some advance is made 

 towards an end so desirable. 



The present manufacture of gingerbread is, generally speak- 

 ing, carried on in the following manner : The ingredients are 

 flour, treacle, butter, common potashes, and alum. After the 

 butter is melted, and the potashes and alum are dissolved in a 

 little warm water, these three ingredients, along with the treacle, 

 are poured among the flour which is to form the basis of the 

 bread. The whole is then thoroughly incorporated together, by 

 mixture and kneading, into a stiff* dough. Of these several 

 constituents, the alum is found by the baker to be the least 

 essential, although it is useful in having a decided tendency to 

 make the bread lighter and crisper, and in accelerating the 

 tardy period at which the dough is in the most advantageous 

 condition for being baked into bread. For it is one of the most 

 remarkable parts of the present system of manipulation, that 

 gingerbread-dough, however thoroughly kneaded, almost inva- 

 riably requires to stand over for the space of from three or four 

 to eight or ten days, before it arrives at that state which is best 

 adapted for its rising to the fullest extent, and becoming duly 

 gasified in the oven. And experience has shown, that it may 

 be allowed to stand over even for the period of several weeks, 

 rather with advantage than loss in this respect. It is true, that. 



