BEST FOODS METHODS OF PREPARING. 119 



Wheat Bread. It would be superfluous to tell the ma- 

 jority of farmers' wives how to make good bread, but 

 possibly some young or inexperienced reader may derive 

 benefit from these recipes : 



If dry yeast is used, dissolve one cake in a little warm 

 water, with enough flour for a thin batter, and let it 

 stand in a warm place until light and foamy before pro- 

 ceeding to mix the sponge. If hop or potato yeast is 

 used, be certain that it is fresh and sweet, as no good 

 bread can be made with poor yoast. Use a cupful for 

 four loaves of bread. 



Sift six quarts of flour into a pan or bread-bowl, 

 sprinkle over it a teaspoonful of salt, make a hole in the 

 center for the yeast, which pour m and stir slowly in 

 enough of luke-warm water to make a soft dough of 

 all the flour. Beat thoroughly witli a strong iron or 

 wooden spoon, cover with a pan, and set it by the stove 

 or under thick cloths, until morning. Then knead 

 it from twenty minutes to half an hour, and let it rise 

 again in the pan. When light, divide the dough into 

 four loaves, with not more than five minutes kneading, 

 and place them in buttered pans to rise. When they are 

 light and spongy to the touch they are ready for the 

 oven. The oven should be briskly hot at iirst, and then 

 tempered down to milder heat. From forty-five minutes 

 to an hour is required for the baking. When done slip 

 them from the pans and cover with a light cloth. 



Another excellent way to make bread, and one which 

 always involves the freshest and best of yeast, is as fol- 

 lows : Eeserve three or four boiled potatoes from those 

 cooked for dinner, mash them while warm with a little 

 salt, pour over them three pints of boiling water, and stir 

 in two large cupf uls of flour. When this batter is cooled 

 to luke-warm heat, add a yeast-cake, previously dissolved 

 in water, as in the first recipe, and keep it near the stove. 

 In the evening stir in flour enough for a soft dough, and 



