The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-01-18
Good Bread and How to Make 1t.


wives who (good bread-makers themselves
are obliged to submit to the m6rtifcatior
and discomfort Of having upon the famil,
table the indifferent and often -unpalatI.
bic bread made by the average help" Ii
the first place, not one in five who offer
themselves as capable cooks, can be made
to appreciate the nice distinction between
the best and only tolerable qualities o.
food. To many of them, bread is bread,
whether 1t be hard, dark, tough, or lumpy
and halfsour compound (neither well
raised, well kneaded, nor well baked), OF
that which is made light, sweet, white, ten
der, and so perfectly good that every last
inch Of crust, even when stale, is sought
after and eagerly relished,
T" You do take so much pains when you
make bread, ma'am," said my Irish. girl
TO me Yesterday, as 1 turned out the white
loaves and the brown ones and the biscuit
LAYING them on an old but clean, folded
table-ciofh, and covering them with clean
q bread cloths y made offlour bag material
" Yes, Mary, give close attention to il
when bake. Do you see thatthere is moi
an inch of burned crust on my loaves; that
no part of them is Drowned too much, nor
any place underdone; that there are no
cracks or seams in the loaves; that every
one is evenly raised and perfectly done;
and yet they are scarcely brown, because
I have kept such a moderate fire and
welltempered oven" "Yes, they is beau
tiful,ma'am; buttsin't worth while to fuss
so much over batch of bread thatll be
gone before you know 1t. You'll excuse
me for sayin' it, ma'am, but your bread
doesn't last half as long as mines and who
wants to be slavin' and workin' about an
oven year in and year outs That is the
discouraging feature that 1t is not consid-
ed worth while" to make food so good
that it viii not (" last !" well. Lizette (an
aspiring American girl, who wears hen
best clothes every afternoon, and has radi-
cal opinions concerning "style'9 would
do very well as a cook if people would
live on rich cake and fancy dishes. But
Lizette is not teachable on the subject Of
bread, and is never going TO learn to make
it- If she marries and keeps house, she
saws. her husband will have to keep
girl,n etc. aBut my husband supplies me
with help, and yet you see need to know
how to make bread"
And now, as the young house-keeper
may have to show her help at every step
of the process (even If she does not do II
all HERSELF 1 win proceed to tell, after
twenty five years experience, how l make
my bread Before baking day-if in Win
ter,at dinner; in Summer at tea time-boil
from two to six potatoes, according TO size
and the size ofthe family. Mash while hot
through colander, with as many table
spoons of -four as you have used potatoes
If the potatoes are old and strong or the
water in which they were boiled has stood
any time, use fair boiling water TO mois-
ten the potatoes and rinse them through
the colander. Into this potato-sponge,
when il has become luke-warm, put yeast
sufficient to raise 1t "a small cup OF yeast
should make four loaves) and when light
add as much warm milk or water as Will
make the number Of loaves needed A
quart of -four and one pint Of milk or wa
ter are the usual proportions for loaf OF
bread. If the wetting is too hot the bread
will be coarse; If milk is used 1t should
first be scalded and then cooled to blood
heat. Where water alone is used table
spoon of nice lard worked in makes the
bread more tender. The first or potato
sponge Is set to rise in q sweet, well scaided
crock, and the last in large tin bread pan
kept for that purpose. The hour, which Is
always sifted, is in Winter warmed before
the sponge is stirred into it; and that is
warmed which is used in the kneading
Salt is added to bread or biscuit al the time
of kneading, but never to the sponge II
GRAHAM IoAvEs
Are TO be made, take pint OF potale
tempting" or sponge, and with a quar-
of warm water, half cup of syrup,a table
spoon Of lard and teaspoon of salt, make
a thick sponge thickened with Graham
-four. This will sour sooner than white
sponge. and when light knead and mole
the brown bread first, using white Hour II
the last stage, and, as soon as 1t can o.
handled well, put the loaves in the pans t
rise. Nv family prefer Graham breat
made this way to that which is only SUIT
ed stiff without kneading- These loave
will be raised and ready for the ovel
before the white ones, and need to bak'
little longer, or from forty-hve minute
to an hour. Sour bread is such domes
tic calamity, that the careful housewife
rises earlier on baking mornings and a
tends TO her bread before it shall reach tn
fatal stage of fermentation. To let brea'
stand around. until other work is out
the way, and knead and bake it whel
there is nothing else in particular TO oo'
often the secret Of bad bread when tn
blame is laid on the -four or the yeast
Ayery important point is the kneadin
and molding. 1t is unnecessary, wastetn
and untidy to daub dough on the sides Q
the bread-pan, and have hard Jumps
streaks of -four through the bread Ii IN
sifted flour is worked in gradually, all th
time keeping -four between the dough an
the hands, the pan, or board, there need 0
no such waste, and Jumps TO dispose o
sucb as some cooks scrape of and thro'
avav or bake in the last loaf nodded ID
not try to see how much flour can b
worked in. The bread will be more teI
der if as littlei is used as can be and handl
II without sticking. One who Is not stron
enough TO knead it in mass sufficiently
NAV accomplish the same result by knea'
ine the loaves separately until the dough nj
smooth, velvety softness TO the toucl
and when cut through with knife show
. uniformly fine grain, not stringy or filie
with large holes When the loaves are
tins. cover them while rising, and tur