St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-05-05
For the St Charles City lntelligencer
Bread Making.


caused me pain to witness the poor
bread manufactured by far too many
of my sister housewives. When |
have reflected how the men toll and
strive to provide suitable provisions
for those dependent upon them for sus-
tenancc, and how much of these pro-
visions are spoiled by unskillful cooke
ry, so that the husband, and even the
whole family, seldom or never have
any good, sweet and wholesome bread
or other food, have felt to pity these
husbands and fathers from the bottom
of my heart. There should be law
passed against permitting any girl to
be married until she has learned to
make good bread
am gratified to find that the Floyd
County Agricultural society has Of
fered premiums for the best bread and
cake, and hope that the ladies', I'M
married ones i'll particular, will very
generally compete for the premiums.
Perhaps the following suggestions
may not come amiss ; and if any one
has better method than mine for
making bread, l hope it may be pub.
lished in your valuable paper.
The usual way of making bread is
to raise the dough by the process Of
fermentation, by which portion Of
the nutriment of the -four is destroyed
to produce the carbonic acid gas nee
essary to make the dough rise also
the natural sweetness of the flour is
in degree destroyed by the decom
position that takes place during the
process of the rising of the dough,
and the sweetness or sugar contained
in the flour is changed into alcohol,
and this volatile spirit flies off while
the bread is baking, and this important
part of the -four is lost.
In making bread in the unfermcnted
way, there is no loss in the nutrimcnl
or sweetness of the -four whatever
The carbonic acid gas, nccdful to raise
the dough, is produced by the ingre
dents added to the flour, and not by &
decomposition of a portion of the -four
as in the other way. These ingredi.
cnts are muratic acid (spirits of salt
and carbonate of soda, Tor rather BIZ
carbonate of soda, the mixing Of
which together, after the carbonit
acid gas has been produced to raise
the dough, leaves behind only com
mon salt
Making bread with yeast is a tedi-
Gus and laborious process making it
in the unfcrmented way is accom-
plished in a few minutes, and with
scarcely any labor. Made in this way
it is also cheaper, as considerable
more bread can be made from GER
tain quantity of -four by this method,
than the other, and the ingredients
used in producing the carbonic acid
gas are very inexpensive.
Recipe for making untermented bread.
Take -four lbs. bicarbonate Of
soda 3 tcaspoonfuls mix thoroughly
together in dry state then take one
and half pint of cold water, (somc
-four will require little more, and
add to it four teaspoonfuls of muriatic
acid, Tor spirit Of salts stir it up
with wooden spoon, and mix it as
quickly as possible with the prepared
-four, using wooden spoon or spatula
for the purpose. Put the dough thus
made into a baking tin previously
heated, and bake in a moderate oven.
If possible, the dough should be put
in as soon as it is made, but if that
cannot be, the dough should be COW
cred with wet cloth till it is put in.
BErsEY BAKER.
st. Charles City, April %.