3G6 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



SECTION XXIIL-TRE RRE.\D QFESTION-VAniETIES AND QUALITY OF 

 IMtEAD, AND HOW IT IS MAUE-YEAST, AND HO^V TO MAKE IT FUli 

 FAJIILY USE. 



UCn is tlie importance of the subject in relation 

 to tlio liealtliiness of food, tliat bread should be of 

 the very best quality, we have devoted a section 

 j^ N especially to its consideration. In this country it is 

 the general custom to make bread in families, and as our 

 domestics are not scientific, it is in man}- cases absolutely 

 necessary that they should not be left to the temptation 

 of using the readiest means for making bread acce])table, 

 by putting in the convenient saleratus or soda, which, like 

 charity, in that particular, covers a multitude of sins. If the 

 dough has been put together over-night, it may have gone 

 on to the stage of acetous fermentation, and a little sale- 

 ratus (more than is necessary to sweeten it is often put in) 

 will conceal the foct, and make all appear right. It will 

 also save the trouble of kneading well. Let the mistress, then, if she do 

 not actually mix the bread, overlook the process; and it would be a good 

 custom if all the ladies in a family would take their turn at hread-making, 

 and thus insure its good qualities by efficient kneading. It can not be 

 kneaded too much. But of that hereafter, and in all that pertains to the 

 subject, we hope to give some useful information to all who are not already' 

 good bread-makers. Not only in bread, but in every article consumed 

 upon the farmer's table, we beg of him and the mistress of the family 

 never to lose sight of the importance of quality. The proper consideration 

 of this question will save many a doctor's bill, as well as the misery 

 attendant upon sickness. 



There is nothing that the good housekeeper so much desires about her 

 cooking as to have good bread, and as all have not had the advantages of 

 the daughters mentioned in the following extract of a letter to the author, 

 we shall give as much information as we can crowd into a brief space upon 

 this subject. 



391. Good Wheaten Bread, and How fo Make it, — The letter alluded to is 

 irom a sensible, practical woman, who says: 



" I have been a housekeeper thirty years, and I have reared a family of 

 six daughters, and we have always made our own bread, and it is a very rare 

 thing for us to make poor bread. 



"Now, the first thing I strive to teach my girls is cooking, and making 

 bread is one of the first items of cookery. I know that good bread can be 

 made by the different kinds of yeast, but the recipe that is the most simple 

 is the best. 



