18 



en loaf possibly can. Yet "Graham bread " never can take the place 

 of its more beautiful sister "Lilly White Bread." Brother and sister 

 will go hand in hand, interesting members of the same family, be- 

 loved by everybody. We vsrill now introduce a more plebian member 

 of the Bread family, viz. Rye bread, an article pretty commonly found 

 on the boards of the farming community. In fact, the best rye bread 

 is very Httle inferior to wheat bread, and by many is preferred to 

 the latter article. As rye can be raised by many farmers who can- 

 not raise wheat, it becomes important from this consideration. As 

 an article of health it is not inferior to wheat bread. Rye bread is 

 made the same as wheat. It will, however, require more baking and 

 quite as muqji kneading in the dough. The following statement was 

 appended to rye bread, entry No. 2. " This bread was made from 

 rye of our own raising. The flour was mixed with sweet milk and 

 hop yeast, I mixed it sufficiently stiff, and let it rise. Then I 

 kneaded it and put it in the pan for baking, and let it rise till Hght, 

 then baked it one hour." 



Here we have another receipt without giving the proportions. It 

 is useful only as a general direction. 



Lastly, I will mention rye and Indian bread, the great staple 

 edible of nearly every farmer's family. This bread is the most diffi- 

 cult to make of any ; if poorly made it is heavy, Hvery, soggy, and 

 enough to "choke a dog." If well made, it is fit for a king to eat. 

 I shall never forget the rye and Indian loaves, that came out of the 

 great brick oven, at the old homestead, and made by my old mother, 

 (now eighty-nine years old) thirty years ago. The oven was heated, 

 the hot coals removed with a long shovel, and then the bottom of 

 the oven swept clean with a birch broom moistened in water. The 

 dough was then put into sj)iders and bake pans, and well smoothed 

 over with the hands dipped in clean cold water. Then the pans 

 were shoved to the back side of the oven, the front part being left 

 for pies. When these loaves come out weU done they were just — 

 heavenly ! I have never eaten bread Hke it for thirty years. While 

 I pay such a strong tribute to the bread of my good old mother, I 

 pay the same to all the bread makers of her day who certainly made 

 better rye and Indian bread than has ever been made since, and 

 one secret of their art was the old hrick oven. No stove ever made 

 such bread as a brick oven. Here is a receipt for rye and Indian 

 bread appended to entry No. 10 : "Two cups of graham flour (?) 

 two buttermilk, one half cup molasses, one half cujd hoj) yeast, one 

 teaspoonful salt, one teaspoonful saleratus, add equal parts com 



