Part 45

Cream of tartar bread, if perfectly made, is more nutritious than fermented bread, for none of the constituents of the flour are lost, as when yeast is used.

The difficulty of obtaining good cream of tartar is very great. It is said to be more extensively adulterated than any other substance used for food. Moreover, in the practice of bread-making the cream of tartar and soda are generally mixed in the proportion of two to one--that is, two teaspoons of cream of tartar to every teaspoon of soda; but this is not the exact proportion in which they neutralize each other, so that under ordinary circumstances there is an excess of soda in the bread.

To be exact they should always be combined by weight, as is done in making baking-powders, the proportion being 84 parts of soda to 188 of cream of tartar, or, reducing to lower terms, as 21 to 47--a little less than half as much soda as cream of tartar. For practical use in cooking there are no scales known to the author for the purpose of weighing these materials, so the proportion will have to be approximated with teaspoons, and a fairly accurate result for bread-making may be obtained most easily by measuring a teaspoon of each in exactly the same manner, and then taking off a little from the soda.

With good materials, care in measuring them, and a hot oven to set the bread before the gas escapes, cream of tartar biscuits are both wholesome and palatable.

LIQUID YEAST

(HOME-MADE WITH GRATED POTATO)

1 Medium-sized potato. 1 Tablespoon of sugar. 1 Tablespoon of flour. 1 Teaspoon of salt. 1½ Pints of boiling water. ⅕ of a two-cent cake of Fleischmann's yeast.

First see that there is a supply of boiling water. Then put the salt, sugar, and flour together in a mixing-bowl. Wash and peel the potato, and grate it quickly into the bowl, covering it now and then with the flour to prevent discoloring. As soon as the potato is all grated, pour in the boiling water and stir. It will form into a somewhat thick paste at once. Set it aside to cool. Then dissolve the yeast in a little cold water, add it, and set the mixture to rise in a temperature of 70° to 80° Fahr.

In a short time bubbles will begin to appear; these are carbonic acid, showing that the alcoholic stage of the fermentation has begun. In six or eight hours the whole will be a mass of yeast cells, which have grown in the nutrient liquid. It is then ready for use. It should be bottled in wide-mouthed glass or earthen jars, and kept in a cool place. It will remain good for two weeks. At the end of that time make a fresh supply.

Yeast is an organism--a microscopic form of plant life--which grows by a species of budding with great rapidity when it finds lodgment in material suitable for its food. The dissolved compressed yeast is like seed, which, when put into a fruitful soil, grows so long as sustenance lasts.

WATER BREAD

1 Pint of boiling water. 1 Tablespoon of sugar. 1 Teaspoon of salt. 1 Tablespoon of butter. ⅓ Cup of liquid yeast, or ⅕ of a two-cent cake of Fleischmann's yeast. Enough sifted flour to make a stiff dough.

Put the sugar, salt, and butter with the boiling water into a mixing-bowl or bread-pan. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the water lukewarm, then add the yeast (if compressed, it should be dissolved in a little water). Last, stir in the flour until a dough stiff enough to mold easily is made. Mold it for a minute or two to give it shape and to more thoroughly mix the ingredients, and then set it to rise in a room warm enough to be comfortable to live in--that is, having a temperature of 70° Fahr. It should remain in this temperature for eight hours. Cover it closely, that the top may not dry.

It is often convenient to let bread rise over night. There is no objection to this, provided the bread is mixed late in the evening, and baked early the next morning. Care must be taken, however, that the room in which it is left is warm enough to insure rising in the time given. On the other hand, if allowed to rise too long, or at too high a temperature, the fermentation is carried so far that an acid is produced, and the dough becomes sour.

Eight hours at 70° Fahr. is a good rule to keep in mind. During the time of raising the dough should double itself in bulk. If this does not happen, or it does not appear to have risen at all, either the yeast was not good, or the temperature was too low.

When the bread has risen sufficiently, cut it down, and knead it for five minutes on a bread-board, to distribute the gas and break the large bubbles, so that the bread may have an even grain; then shape it into a loaf, put it into an oiled baking-pan, and let it rise quickly in a warm place, until it again doubles itself. The amount of dough indicated in the rule will make one large loaf, or a medium-sized loaf and some biscuit. Multiply the rule by two if you want two loaves. Bake the bread in an oven which is hot at first, but gradually decreases in temperature, for an hour and a quarter. If you have an oven thermometer use it.

MILK BREAD

1 Pint of scalded milk. 1 Tablespoon of sugar. 1 Teaspoon of salt. ⅓ Cup of liquid yeast, or ⅕ Cake of Fleischmann's yeast.

Measure the milk after scalding, but otherwise proceed exactly as in the making of water bread.

STICKS

1 Cup of scalded milk. ½ Teaspoon of salt. 1 Tablespoon of sugar. 2 Tablespoons of butter. ⅕ Cake of yeast, or ¼ Cup of liquid yeast. White of one egg. Flour enough to make a slightly soft dough.

Dissolve the salt and sugar, and soften the butter in the hot milk, which must be measured after heating. When it is cooled to lukewarmness, put in the yeast (which, if compressed, should be dissolved in a little cold water), the beaten white of the egg, and flour enough to make a dough slightly softer than that for ordinary bread. Let it rise overnight, or until light. Then cut it into small pieces, shape the pieces into balls, and roll and stretch them into tiny slender sticks, from ten to twelve inches long, about half an inch thick in the middle, and tapering toward each end. Place them, two inches apart, in shallow, buttered pans, and put them in a warm place for an hour to rise; then bake them in a moderate oven fifteen or twenty minutes, or until they are a golden brown. Sticks are good at any time; they are especially nice served with soup, or for lunch, with cocoa or tea.

This dough may also be made into tiny loaves for tea-rolls.

RUSK

1 Tablespoon of sugar. ½ Teaspoon of salt. 1 Cup of scalded milk. ¼ Cup of liquid yeast, or ⅙ Cake of compressed yeast. Flour enough to make a soft dough.

Mix the above ingredients together, and let the dough rise overnight in the usual time given to bread. Then beat one-fourth of a cup of butter, one-fourth of a cup of sugar, and one egg together, and work the mixture into the dough, adding a little more flour to make it stiff enough to mold. Set it to rise a second time; then shape it into rolls or tiny loaves, allow them to rise again until quite light, or for an hour in a warm place, and bake like bread.

DRIED RUSK

Cut the rusk when cold into thin slices, dry them slowly in the oven, and then brown them a delicate golden color.