To make Home-made Bread

Put 1 stone of fine flour into your mixing pan; make a hole in the middle of the flour, and press the sides of the hole to prevent the liquid running through; dissolve 2 1/2 ozs. of yeast in 1 gill of water, and put it in the hole made in the flour; mix a little flour in the liquid to make a thin batter, cover your pan over and let it rise to a nice cauliflower top; when ready, dissolve 2 1/2 ozs. of salt in 1 gill of water, put this into your pan, and then take sufficient water (or water and milk) to make all into a nice dough; let it rise a little in the pan, then weigh off into your tins, and prove and bake. The heat of the water should be between 80° and 90° Fahr.

Bread-making by the Old Method

To make a sack of flour into bread the baker takes the flour and empties it into the kneading trough; it is then carefully passed through a wire sieve, which makes it lie lighter and reduces any lumps that may have formed in it. Next he dissolves 2 oz. of alum (called in the trade “stuff” or “rocky “) in a little water placed over the fire. This is poured into the seasoning tub with a pailful of warm water, but not too hot. When this mixture has cooled to a temperature of about 84 degrees, from 3 to 4 pints of yeast are put into it, and the whole having been strained through the seasoning sieve, it is emptied into a hole made in the mass of flour and mixed up with a portion of it to the consistency of thick batter. Dry flour is then sprinkled over the top. This is called the quarter-sponge, and the operation is known as “setting.” The sponge must then be covered up with sacks, if the weather be cold, to keep it warm. It is then left for three or four hours, when it gradually swells and breaks through the dry flour laid upon its surface. Another pail of water impregnated with alum and salt is now added, and well stirred in, and the mass sprinkled with flour and covered up as before. This is called setting the half-sponge. The whole is then well kneaded with about two more pailfuls of water for about an hour. It is then cut into pieces with a knife, and to prevent spreading it is pinned, or kept at one end of the trough by means of a sprint board, in which state it is left to “prove,” as the bakers call it, for about four hours. When this process is over the dough is again well kneaded for about half an hour. It is then removed from the trough to the table and weighed into the quantities suitable for each loaf. The operation of moulding, chaffing, and rolling up can be learnt only by practice.

Modern Way of making Bread

The modern way of making bread is as follows: Put 1 sack, or 20 stone, of flour into the trough, and, to take it all up, sponge 12 gallons of water of the required temperature, and from 10 to 16 ozs. of yeast, according to the strength. Then dissolve 2 lbs. of salt in the water and mix all together. In the morning, or when taken up again, add 6 gallons of water and 1 1/2 lb. of salt. If a quick or “flying” sponge is required to be ready in an hour and a half, empty the sack of flour into the trough. Make a sprint, add 12 gallons of water of the required heat and 2 lbs. of yeast, and as much flour as you can stir in with the hand. Let it rise for one hour and a half; add 6 gallons more water (at the temperature the sponge is set, which should be about 100 degrees Fahr.), and 3 1/2 lbs. of salt. Make all into a nice-sized dough; let it stand three-quarters of an hour, then scale off.