232 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The baking temperature of the oven should not vary much 

 from 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In the absence of a suitable 

 thermometer, the simplest way to try the heat is to sprinkle a 

 little dry flour on the bottom of the oven. If the flour turns 

 brown the heat is right, but if it be blackened and charred the 

 heat is too great. We much prefer a good old-fashioned brick 

 oven, especially for brown bread. The bread is more likely to 

 get a good bake without being scorched, than in a narrow stove 

 oven. But customs are changing, and we must learn to manage 

 the stove so as to do good work. 



Instead of setting a sponge, many good housewives prefer to 

 make the dough of the requisite stiffness at once ; and indeed 

 some of the best bread exhibited was made in this way. In 

 fact it seems to make but little difference which method is 

 pursued. The most difficult part of the work is to decide just 

 when the fermentation has proceeded far enough ; and this, we 

 think, is less difficult, or does not require the exercise of so 

 nice a judgment, when the sponge method is followed as in the 

 other mode. This, however, may be a matter of mere habit ; 

 and if one has, by experience, acquired that sure nicety of 

 judgment in either mode, to her that mode is the best. 



For the committee, 



MiNOT Pratt. 

 Concord, September 19, 1861. 



