Volume 12 , Issue 38

Bread & Bread Making (1930)

Our Home Comfort cookbook of 1934 states the following about baking breads on/in your Wrought Iron Range:

"Bread is divided into two general classifications; Yeast bread, and quick Bread. In their plain form, these constitute basic recipes, from which many plain and fancy variations are made by the interchanging of materials, or by the form of the finished product.

"Bread is composed of flour (used in its general term), salt, shortening, Liquid, and a rising agent.

"For plain, white bread, flour from Spring wheat -- called Bread Flour -- is best. While usually spoken of as "white flour," it has a slightly cream tinge, but produces a fine, practically white loaf.

"Shortening gives to bread a tender texture, rendering it not only more palatable, but more readily digestible; therefore, a small amount is used in all the better breads.

"Water, as the liquid in bread, is in universal use, for not only is it cheaper, but bread will hold its moisture longer if made with water. Milk, however, is more nutritious, since it contains practically all the food values; also, milk gives bread a more spongy texture. A half-and-half mixture of the two liquids is often used.

"The purpose of a rising agent in bread (also most cake, and some pastures) is to render the product light and porous, making it more palatable and digestible. Flour, shortening, and liquid, form an elastic paste which may be formed into a multitude of small air-cells by laboriously beating air into it; when heated, the air expands the cell-walls, rendering the product porous.

"Rising agents, such as yeast, baking powder, or soda with sour milk or molasses, take the place of the air process by forming gas (carbonic-acid gas -- the same as in soda water), which, when heated, expands and inflates the cells, causing the bread to rise. The cell walls are then baked in this condition and retain their shape and volume.

"Besides perfecting the taste of bread, salt strengthens the elasticity of the dough, and also aids in holding the moisture and keeping it fresh.

"Yeast is composed of living cells or plant life. Provided with moisture, warmth and the food on which it thrives, such as the flours of grains, the yeast plant will grow and multiply; but, robbed of these, the living plant will remain in a stet of rest awaiting the proper conditions. yeast, as in general use, is of three kinds: Liquid, or simple yeast; Compressed, or fresh compact; and Dry Cake, or foam. The two latter are the ordinary forms of commercial yeast, or a collection of yeast plants in a state of rest, and may be obtained at almost any grocer.

"Some general rules to be observed in making yeast Bread:
* In preparing yeast for bread, cold or luke-warm water should always be used as extremely hot or boiling water will kill the yeast plant.

* Yeast should first be softened in a small quantity of water, and this stirred into the bulk of the liquid.

* Always add the flour to the liquid, remembering that the liquid determines the quantity of the dough, while the amount of flour determines the texture or quality.

* Bread may be mixed at night, covered with a cloth, and set on the top of the warm reservoir of your range to rise; by morning, the fermentation should be complete, and soon made ready for early baking.

* Bread should be mixed in a bowl of earthenware or crockery, as it holds the warmth more evenly. Since dough is too heavy for beating, it should be mixed with a stiff missing knife, or spatula.

* It is necessary to knead bread twice -- before and after the first rising -- the first, to thoroughly distribute the ingredients; the second to break up the larger air cells and make firm.

* Do not hurry the second rising -- let it be slow and natural; this will result in a finer texture.

* It is best to bake bread in small loaves, as this gives a larger proportion of crust, thus giving it a higher food value.

* It is necessary in baking bread, to kill the yeast plant quickly and thoroughly, since it has accomplished its work of supplying the necessary gas, and must be prevented from further spreading. This is done by placing in a very hot oven for a few moments, and the baking completed in a moderate oven."

Under Bread and Bread Baking, our Home Comfort cookbook says, "The term Quick Bread is here used to cover that classification in which baking powder, or other similar rising agent, is used instead of Yeast, and format he fact that the principal object is the saving of both time and energy in the making of it. Many of the same general rules applying to Yeast Bread may also be applied to Quick Bread, since the principles of mixing and baking are the same. Detailed instructions will be found contain inch particular Home Comfort recipe."

We will include some Yeast and Quick Bread recipes in next weeks Okielegacy ezine.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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