Read Ebook: War-Time Breads and Cakes by Handy Amy L Amy Littlefield

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Ebook has 177 lines and 13389 words, and 4 pages

YEASTS 1

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE MAKING OF BREAD WITHOUT WHITE FLOUR 6

SPONGES 9

BREADS AND BISCUITS MADE WITH YEAST 15

STRAIGHT DOUGH BREADS 23

BREADS AND BISCUITS MADE WITHOUT YEAST 41

PANCAKES 56

CAKES AND GINGERBREADS 63

WAR-TIME BREADS AND CAKES

YEASTS

Put one quart of buttermilk in a double boiler, and when it is scalding hot add one and one half quarts of corn meal and one teaspoonful of salt, and stir well. Let this mush cool, and then add one yeast cake that has been dissolved in one half cup of lukewarm water. Set the mixture in a warm place, and when it rises stir it down and let it rise again. Repeat this process three times, and then add more corn meal and enough whole wheat flour to bind it so that it can be made into cakes. Use a rounding tablespoonful to each cake if they are to be used in winter, less if for summer use. Let them dry as quickly as possible, but do not put them in the oven or in the sun. A rack hung high over the stove is a good place to dry them. They should have a sour, but not disagreeable, smell. These will keep all summer on a dry pantry shelf.

Boil together four small potatoes and one half cup, packed, of dry hops, using three pints of water. When the potatoes are done, take them out and put through a sieve or ricer. Add two cups of whole wheat flour and mix well. Strain the boiling hop water over this mixture and beat till it is a smooth batter. Add one tablespoonful of salt and the same of ginger and one half cup of sugar. When lukewarm, add one yeast cake that has been dissolved in one cup of lukewarm water. Let this stand one or two days, the time depending upon the temperature of the room, stirring it down occasionally. When it smells good and sour, add corn meal till it is thick enough to handle. Make into cakes, using a rounded tablespoonful if they are to be used in winter and less for summer use. Dry quickly, but do not put in the oven or in the sun. It will take a few days before they are dry enough to put away. These will keep in a box on a dry pantry shelf winter or summer.

One cake is equal to a cake of compressed yeast.

When putting the bread in pans save out a pint of the dough. Roll this half an inch thick, put it on plates, and leave it on the pantry shelf, turning it occasionally. It will become quite sour as it dries. After a few days the drying may be hastened, but do not overheat it or the yeast plant will be killed. When dry, break it into convenient pieces and put in a box or jar. To use, break into small pieces, enough to half fill a cup and soak till soft in lukewarm water. Use like any yeast. I have had satisfactory results using this yeast for raising a sponge.

This will keep one or two weeks in summer and five or six in winter if not allowed to freeze. Scalding or freezing kills the yeast plant.

Add one cup of dry hops to two quarts of boiling water and boil gently for fifteen minutes. In the meantime peel and grate five large potatoes into enough water to cover them; this is to prevent them from turning dark. Add one cup of sugar, one tablespoonful of salt, and the same of ginger. Put this mixture into a saucepan and pour over it the water in which the hops have boiled. Cook, stirring all the time till it thickens, turn into a perfectly clean crock or jar, and when lukewarm add two cups of good yeast or two yeast cakes that have been dissolved in two cups of lukewarm water. Keep the jar where it is moderately warm and stir the yeast down as often as it rises. When fermentation stops, it will be quite thin. It should then be covered closely and put in a cool place. It is good as long as it smells sour but does not taste so. When yeast loses its smell it has no more rising power; in other words, the yeast plant is dead.

One half cup of this yeast is equal to one cake of compressed yeast.

The potatoes may be boiled and mashed through a sieve, but practical bread-makers say that the grated potatoes make the best yeast.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE MAKING OF BREAD WITHOUT WHITE FLOUR

Breads made with little or no wheat to be successful must be treated in a different way from white flour breads. If there is cooked cereal in the dough it must be made much stiffer than for ordinary bread. All dark breads must be well risen in the dough, but must not rise to double their bulk after putting in the pans; only to half double. The oven should not be as hot as for white bread; it should be at a temperature so that a small loaf will not be overdone in an hour and a quarter.

When possible use milk, or at least part milk, for the liquid in making the sponge; the dough will use less flour and require less kneading and the bread will have greater food value. The milk must be scalded and cooled or it may sour as the dough rises. If corn meal is to be scalded with the milk, it is better to stir the meal into the milk when it is in the saucepan on the stove rather than to pour the hot milk over the meal.

Don't make the mistake of having the dark loaf sweet. One tires very soon of a sweet bread as the staff of life.

In using recipes for these new breads it is necessary to remember that at the present time there is no standard for these meals and flours that we are using. There are many good kinds on the market that differ in the amount of liquid that they will take up.

In none of the recipes calling for whole wheat flour do I refer to flour with bran in it. Whole wheat, rye, oat, barley, and rice flour should be fine enough to go through a fine flour sieve; otherwise they should be called meals.

Corn flour and the very fine bolted meal are as fine as the whole wheat flour and cannot be used for the recipes calling for corn meal. The coarser bolted meal can be treated as the fine granulated meal.

In making yeast bread always have the liquid lukewarm, and in cold weather it facilitates matters to warm the flour.

Never let sponge or dough get chilled until it has risen once; after that it can be put in the ice box to check fermentation till it is needed to make into rolls or coffee bread.

Thick stoneware is the best material for a mixing-bowl for yeast bread, but it is heavy to handle. If the sponge or dough is set to rise in a tin dish it should be well wrapped in a thick cloth to keep the dough at an even temperature. Both sponge and dough will stand a good deal of hard treatment, but the bread-making will be slow and the result poor.

A bread-mixer is a great labor-saver, but there should be a thick cloth cover to be used with it.

The rising of dough may be hastened by setting the dish in a pan of warm water and adding more from time to time to keep up the temperature.

SPONGES

All foreign bakers use the sponge method for their best breads and rolls and refer to that made from the straight dough as "off-hand bread."

They reasonably claim that it has many advantages; that the bread made from a sponge has a better flavor, requires less shortening and less yeast, keeps moist longer, and is more velvety in texture.

It is a more convenient method, for although the sponge will rise in four hours it can stand longer than the straight dough without deterioration, and many kinds of bread, coffee cake, and rolls can be made from one sponge.

All dark breads have a more attractive color if one tablespoonful of dark molasses is added to the sponge, but this hastens the rising; so, if the sponge is to stand overnight, do not add it till morning when the bread is mixed.

Salt retards the rising, so it is better in cold weather to add that when the bread is made up.

Scald three cups of milk and let it stand till it is lukewarm. Add one teaspoonful of salt and one tablespoonful of molasses and one yeast cake that has been dissolved in one half cup of warm water. Stir in enough whole wheat flour to make a drop batter. Beat well and put it in a covered dish to rise. Use as directed in the bread recipes. Water can be used in place of milk.

Mash or put through a ricer enough hot boiled potatoes to make two cupfuls. Add two cups of whole wheat flour and mix well. Pour over this two cups of the water in which the potatoes were boiled; this should be hot enough to thoroughly scald the mixture. Add one tablespoonful of molasses and two teaspoonfuls of salt. Stir till it is a smooth batter. If this is to be made into a sponge at once, add one cup of cold water, and when the batter is lukewarm add one yeast cake that has been dissolved in one cup of lukewarm water. Set it to rise four hours.

The potato and flour mixture may be made and scalded at any time that it is convenient to cook the potatoes and can stand until it is wanted for the sponge. If it has become cold, add one cup of water hot enough to make the mixture lukewarm and proceed as directed with the yeast.

Boil four medium-sized potatoes in one quart of water. When done pour three cups of the boiling potato water over one and one half cups of corn meal and stir till it is smooth. Add one and one half cups of the potato that has been mashed or put through a ricer, one tablespoonful of salt, and one of molasses. When this is lukewarm, add one yeast cake that has been dissolved in one cup of lukewarm water. Set it to rise and use as directed in the recipes for sponge bread.

Take one and one half cups of hot mashed potato, two cups of sifted oat flour, mix well, and scald with two cups of the boiling water in which the potatoes were cooked. Add one tablespoonful of molasses and one of salt. When cool, add one yeast cake that has been dissolved in one cup of lukewarm water.

Pour two cups of boiling water over two cups of rolled oats and let it stand covered for two hours. Add two cups of whole wheat flour and one cup of water hot enough to make the mixture lukewarm. Stir well and add one tablespoonful of salt and the same of molasses. Add one yeast cake dissolved in one cup of lukewarm water and set to rise.

When the potato sponge is light and foamy, put one third of it aside. To the other two thirds add enough whole wheat flour to make a soft dough, but one that can be handled. Knead till it is smooth and velvety. Set it to rise. When it has doubled its bulk knead a little and divide it in two. Make a loaf of one part, and when it has half doubled its bulk bake in a moderate oven for an hour.

Roll the remaining dough into a strip half an inch thick. Spread with brown or white sugar, using a half cupful. Sprinkle one teaspoonful of cinnamon over the sugar and lay on a few raisins. Roll up carefully and put into a bread pan to rise till it has half doubled its bulk. Bake in a moderate oven. If the sheet of dough is kept as wide as the bread pan is long, this will fit in and when it is cut the spiral of sugar and cinnamon will show to perfection.

To the remaining sponge add rye flour till it is stiff enough to handle, rather a stiff dough. Set it to rise, and when doubled its bulk make all but one and one half cups of the dough into a small loaf and let it rise till it has half doubled its bulk. Bake an hour in a moderate oven.

To make coffee cake from the remaining dough, first cream together one tablespoonful of shortening with two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Cut this into the dough with a knife and beat till it is smooth. Add one well-beaten egg and beat to a smooth batter. Spread in a cake pan and let it stand twenty minutes. Pour over it a mixture of two tablespoonfuls of sugar, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, and two tablespoonfuls of cream. Sprinkle a little flour or cake crumbs over it and bake in a hotter oven than for bread.

Maple sugar pounded till fine can be used and makes a delicious cake.

BREADS AND BISCUITS MADE WITH YEAST

To any one of the sponges after they have risen, add enough whole wheat flour to make a dough that can be kneaded. Set it to rise in a warm place protected from draughts. When risen to double its bulk turn out on a bread board and work only enough to form into loaves. Let these rise to half double their bulk and bake for an hour in a moderate oven. If the loaves are large they should bake longer.

The oat flour sponge is especially good.

To any of the sponges add four cups of graham meal and finish with whole wheat flour. If a coarser bread is desired, add one cup of bran and only three cups of the meal.

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