How To Bake Your Own Bread Recipe

Put a bushel of flour into a trough, or a large pan; with your fist make

a deep hole in the centre thereof; put a pint of good fresh yeast into

this hollow; add thereto two quarts of warm water, and work in with

these as much of the flour as will serve to make a soft smooth kind of

batter. Strew this over with just enough flour to hide it; then cover up

the trough with its lid, or with a blanket to keep all warm, and when

the leaven has risen sufficiently to cause the flour to crack all over

its surface, throw in a handful of salt, work all together; add just

enough lukewarm soft water to enable you to work the whole into a firm,

compact dough, and after having kneaded this with your fists until it

becomes stiff and comparatively tough, shake a little flour over it, and

again cover it in with a blanket to keep it warm, in order to assist its

fermentation. If properly managed, the fermentation will be accomplished

in rather less than half an hour. Meanwhile that the bread is being thus

far prepared, you will have heated your oven to a satisfactory degree of

heat, with a sufficient quantity of dry, small wood faggots; and when

all the wood is burnt, sweep out the oven clean and free from all ashes.

Divide your dough into four-pound loaves, knead them into round shapes,

making a hole at the top with your thumb, and immediately put them out

of hand into the oven to bake, closing the oven-door upon them. In about

two hours' time they will be thoroughly baked, and are then to be taken

out of the oven, and allowed to become quite cold before they are put

away in the cupboard.

Vote