1052 Rural School Leaflet 



Have hands, cloths, and utensils scrupulously clean. Boil the milk 

 once, pour into bowl or receptacle in which bread is to be mixed and in 

 which it is to rise, add salt, butter, and sugar, and then let cool until 

 about lukewarm. After the milk has cooled add the yeast and enough 

 flour to make a batter, then beat the batter well so as to put in plenty 

 of oxygen — for the yeast-plant grows best when it has oxygen to use. 

 Cover with a clean cloth and set in' a warm place until light. When 

 the batter is light add enough flour to make a dough, turn the dough 

 out on a kneading-board, and knead until the dough is no longer sticky. 

 We cannot tell you how much flour to use at this time, for different kinds 

 of flour vary greatly in the amount of water that they take up; but do 

 not make the dough either very stiff or very soft. Sufficient flour should 

 be used to make the dough stiff enough so that it will need no more flour 

 during the bread-making process. After rising, the bread should be 

 kneaded on a clean, unfloured board. Flouring the board later makes 

 rings and circles in the loaf, which cause it to split in sections when 

 cut. After kneading put the dough back into the same bowl or pan in 

 which the sponge was made, cover, set in a warm place, and let the dough 

 rise until it is a little more than double its bulk. Shape into a loaf on 

 an unfloured board, put into a greased bread pan, cover, set in a warm 

 place, and let the dough rise again until it has about doubled its size. It 

 should feel light and very elastic. Bake at once in a moderately hot 

 oven for forty-five to sixty minutes. This will not make a large loaf 

 of bread; but we hope you are going to learn to make and to like the 

 small loaves of bread, for they are easier to bake through, and they have 

 a large amount of good, wholesome crust. 



If liquid yeast is used, this bread may be started in the morning and 

 will be ready to bake with the supper fire; or it may be allowed to rise 

 overnight and may then be baked sometime during the morning or early 

 afternoon. The longer or the more often bread rises, the more elastic 

 and the more like baker's bread it becomes. If it rises too long it 

 becomes sour. 



A good loaf of bread should be evenly porous; should have a sweet, 

 nutty flavor; should be thoroughly baked; should have no odor nor taste 

 of yeast ; the crumb should be tender and elastic ; the crust should be well 

 browned; the bread should be so palatable as to encourage the family 

 to make it a prominent feature of the meal. 



It must not be thought for a moment that the only way to make bread 

 is the way given here. A set recipe has been given for both yeast and 

 bread, because, if bread contests are to be held, all the loaves should be 

 made as nearly alike as possible so as to compare them easily. 



Bread, like other foods, may be varied in numerous ways: 



