Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-16

| Fahrenheit. Tsie square sosves should be in
| the oven ten minutes before browning. while
| the long loaves, like biscuit, should brown
| almost Immediately. The average novice
| has but one idea of bakingoa blazing oven
| Nothing coulu be more erroneous or dis
| astrous to her efforts. II, the oven is too
| hot thick crust is produced, forming a
| Remembering cover to the loaf. This pre-
vents the heat from penetrating the in
! terror, and unbaked center,7that foe to
| good digestion, is the result. y bread oven
( Is medium hot oven. There are several
ways of testing the oven, without a Their
| mometer. If flour thrown on the floor of
the oven browns quickly without taking
| hre the heat sufficient =
| The old notion that you should not watch
| anything i'll the oven is erroneous, and the
amateur cook is advised to. look at her
bread often until experience hteaches her
Just how to regulate the fire and oven.
| Better bake 700 long. putting q paper over
the top to prevent = burned crust than not
long enough. When well baked an empty
hollow sound will follow a tap with the
| fingers, and the crust feels firm AT the
END of the allotted time remove the bread
| from the oven. take from the pans and tip
| up against the bread board so that the air
may circula, g freely about it. Never leave
the loavea ir the pans or on a pine table to
sweat or absorb the odor of the wood. If
you like the crisp crust do not cover the
| ioaves when cooling. but if you prefer the
| SOFT, tender consistency. wrap in several
thicknesses of cloth. When perfectly dry
Dread
keep well covered.
To make four ordinary sized loavss of
white bread or six small French leaves
pour one pint of boiling water into one pint
OF milk and add 4 small tablespoonful of
iard and one of sugar. When lukcwarm
add teaspoonful of salt and compressed
yeast cake dissolved in quarter cupful of
warm water. Mix and stir in sufficient flour
| to make a soft dough. This will usually be
ABOUT two and a half quarts of -four Turn
| ON board and knead until soft and elastic
Put back in bowl. cover and stand in warm
place G5 degrees FahrenheiD for three
hours or until it has doubled its bulk Form
INTO loaves, put in greasted pans and again
set IN warm place 60 degrees for an hour
or until again doubled. Bake in moderate
oven for one hour if square loaves; one
half hour if French.
In the achievement of the perfect loaf
the flour is the first item to be considered,
Good flour should be of a yeiowish white
tinge, rather graduated. and free from
bran When made into a dough it should
be strong, elastic and easy to be kneaded
All flour should be kept in a cool dry place
as dampness causes it to absorb moisture
and the gluten loses its tenacity, causing
the grain of the bread made from ii to be-
come much coarser. After selecting the
flour, the next important thing is to have
a good, strong, sweet and pure yeast
Compressed yeast cakes are good and con-
Venient and will do the work much more
quickly than ten times the amount of
homemade or bakers yeast
Bread made with unskmmed milk needs
no other shortening, but water bread when
shortened is made more tender The short
ening, butter, lard dripping may be
rubbed into the flour or melted (prefer-
ably) in the warm liquid Too much short
ening checks the rising by clogging the
glutinous cell-wall3 One tablespoonful of
shortening will be quite sufficient for the
pint of wetting. If sugar is used a table
spoonful of that will suffice. One teaspoon
full of salt is also required for the pint of
wetting In mixing the dough all the flour
may be added at first and the dough raised
in mass. or soft batter may be made
with half the -four. and when this has well
risen the remainder of the flour may be
added, and the whole allowed to rise again.
The latter method is preferable when the
sponge. is set al night when there is
any doubt about the quality of the yeast
point in favor of kneading at once how
ever, is that each time bread rises it loses
some of its nutritive qualities.