Sec. 23] THE BREAD QUESTION'. 371 



Btir in as muclj flour as will make it into a thick batter; to this sponge add 

 a coffee-cup of the yeast. I alwaj-s make my sponge at night. In the 

 morning I add six quarts of sweet milk and three gills of lime-water, and 

 knead into a stiff douirli. 



"Some housekeei)ers use alum, as it makes the hread fairer, but I jirt-t'T 

 lime-water, as tiiat coagulates the gluten ; and it n-quires less baking, and 

 retains its moisture longer — and I tliink it much healthier than alum, and 

 health is the great desideratum. In two or three hours after you knead 

 your bread, it will be as liglit and porous as a honeycomb; knead it down, 

 and when it has again risen, mold, and put it into pans. Let it stand till it 

 rises again, then wash the loaves over with cold water; this prevents the 

 formation of too hard a crust; bake in a well-heated oven. TVIien baked, 

 wa.sh again, wraj)ping it up closely in your bread-cloth. "Wrapjiing the 

 bread up in the steam till cold, prevents it from becoming hard and dry. If 

 your flour is good, bread made in this waj' will be equal in appearance to 

 the best bakers' bread, and in point of sweetness and economy, far sujierior. 

 The quantities I have named make twelve good-sized loaves, and my family 

 requires such a baking twice a week. For many years this plan has given 

 me good bread, and I hope others will try it." 



.".;»:.'. How (0 make (Jood '' Bakers' Bread. "—To those who would like to 

 know how to have such bread as tiie city bakers make, we recommend the 

 following formula of one that we kiuiw makes good bread, and we believe 

 uses flrst-rate flour, and no deleterious mineral substances: 



IjAkers' Yk.\st. — The following is the formula for makinir a tub of veast : 

 Four pailfuls of hot water, two quarts of malt, half a pound of hops, si.x jiounds 

 of flour, four quarts of yeast. The hops are boiled about five minutes, and 

 strained. The flour is nuide into a paste, with hot water, before mixing in 

 the tub. The mjilt and yeast arc added when the water in the tub is milk- 

 warm, and stirred briskly. It must stand from 14 to 18 hours before it is in 

 order to use. 



Ferment. — The following is the preparation for mi.xing a barrel of flour: 

 pjoil one half jieck of potatoes, which arc to be ma-lied, strained, and nnxed 

 thin in water, with four jiounds of flour and four quarts of yeast, and left to 

 stand eight hours. 



SfrrriNO tue Spokok. — .V ]>ailful of this ferment is poured into the flour 

 in one end of the bread-trough, and mixed, with an addition of some hot 

 water, into a soft dough, and left to stand three hours, when more water is 

 added, and the whole mass mixed into a stiff bread-dough, and left two 

 hours to rise, when it is ready to make out into loaves for the oven. 



Salt Used. — The quantity of salt used in a barrel of flotir is four quarts, 

 ami no other mineral ingredient is ever added by an lionest baker, ("are 

 must be taken to u^e jilenty of yeast, but not an excess, and that the dough 

 is not left to rise too long. A great deal of hard iiuinual labor is required 

 in kneading dough, to have good bread. 



'3[>3. Brown Bread, or *' Bostou Bread."— An old Yankee housewife gives 



