Wheat Bread Recipe

For six common sized loaves of bread, take three pints of boiling water,

and mix it with five or six quarts of flour. When thoroughly mixed, add

three pints of cold water. Stir it till the whole of the dough is of the

same temperature. When lukewarm, stir in half a pint of family yeast,

(if brewers' yeast is used, a less quantity will answer,) a

table-spoonful of salt, knead in flour till stiff enough to mould up,

and free from lumps. The more the bread is kneaded, the better it will

be. Cover it over with a thick cloth, and if the weather is cold, set

it near a fire. To ascertain when it has risen, cut it through the

middle with a knife--if full of small holes like a sponge, it is

sufficiently light for baking. It should be baked as soon as light. If

your bread should get sour before you are ready to bake it, dissolve two

or more tea-spoonsful of saleratus (according to the acidity of it) in a

tea-cup of milk or water, strain it on to the dough, work it in

well--then cut off enough for a loaf of bread--mould it up well, slash

it on both sides, to prevent its cracking when baked--put it in a

buttered tin-pan. The bread should stand ten or twelve minutes in the

pans before baking it. If you like your bread baked a good deal, let it

stand in the oven an hour and a half. When the wheat is grown, it makes

better bread to wet the flour entirely with boiling water. It should

remain till cool before working in the yeast. Some cooks have an idea

that it kills the life of the flour to scald it, but it is a mistaken

idea--it is sweeter for it, and will keep good much longer. Bread made

in this way is nearly as good as that which is wet with milk. Care must

be taken not to put the yeast in when the dough is hot, as it will scald

it, and prevents its rising. Most ovens require heating an hour and a

half for bread. A brisk fire should be kept up, and the doors of the

room should be kept shut, if the weather is cold. Pine and ash, mixed

together, or birch-wood, is the best for heating an oven. To ascertain

if your oven is of the right temperature, when cleaned, throw in a

little flour; if it browns in the course of a minute, it is sufficiently

hot; if it turns black directly, wait several minutes, before putting in

the things that are to be baked. If the oven does not bake well, set in

a furnace of live coals.