86 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



Preparation of Dough. As yeast grows best in temperature of 

 77 to 95 all materials should be at least luke warm, but not hot. 

 Heat kills the yeast. The dough must be well kneaded to mix the 

 yeast throughout the mass and also that each part should come in 

 contact with the oxygen of the air. Too little yeast gives a poorly 

 raised loaf, too much a coarse, badly flavored one. Three pounds 

 of flour to one pint of water is the average rule for proportions of 

 flour and liquid, but this depends on the flour used and only practice 

 can teach the exact quantities to use. Many use household bread 

 machines to do the kneading and find them very satisfactory, saving 

 time and labor and producing a fine grained, excellent bread. 



The ways of mixing dough most used in this country are proba- 

 bly those known as straight dough and sponge dough. 



Straight Dough. This or offhand dough, as it is sometimes 

 called, is made by mixing all the materials at one time, and then 

 setting the mass in a warm place to rise for ten hours or more before 

 baking. It requires more yeast and stronger flour than other methods 

 in which the yeast is allowed to grow in an especially favorable me- 

 dium before being mixed with the main dough, and needs a longer 

 time to rise, but on tne other hand gives an unusually large yield in 

 bread. It is convenient in family bread making, especially when 

 strong compressed yeast is used, as the dough can be mixed overnight 

 and baked in the morning. 



Sponge Dough. This method is best adapted to fancy working, 

 and makes equally good crusty loaves or light biscuit. To make the 

 "sponge," as the bread mixture is commonly called, the yeast is 

 allowed to work for eight or ten hours in a portion of the flour or 

 water. This is then mixed with the remaining materials and left to 

 rise a few hours before baking. The sponge is "slacker" that is, 

 contains more water than offhand dough, and thus gives the yeast a 

 better chance to work. Sponge-made bread usually rises evenly and 

 well, and can be worked into almost any shape. It has the further 

 advantage of keeping well. Like offhand dough, it can be started the 

 night before it is baked. 



Baking and Cooling. In the earliest days of bread making the 

 dough was simply put into the ashes of the fire or on hot stones to 

 bake. The bread goes into the oven a rather solid, uniform mass 

 and comes out a light, porous body of increased volume with a crisp, 

 dark exterior the crust and a firm, spongy interior the crumb. 

 Let us first see what happens in the crumb. This heats more slowly 

 than the outside ; indeed, the moisture which it contains prevents its 

 temperature from rising much above the boiling point of water 

 (212 F.). When first put into the oven the yeast continues work- 

 ing, but a temperature of 158 F. kills it. The gas in the dough, 

 however, still expands, and, forcing its way outward, enlarges the 

 loaf and gives it a spongy appearance. The gluten becomes stiffened 

 by the heat, so that even after the gas in the bubble-like pores has 

 escaped the walls still retain their shape. The starch granules and 

 perhaps the protein compounds undergo chemical changes which 

 render them more digestible. Meanwhile, the crust is becoming hard 



