Never knead bread a second time in the morning, as this ruins it.
Handle lightly as possible, make into the desired shapes and put into
the moulds in which it is to be baked. Grease your hands before doing
this, so as to grease the loaf or each roll as you put it in, or else
dip a feather in lard and pass lightly over the bread just before
putting it in the oven to bake. Let it be a little warmer during the
second rise than during the first. Always shape and put in the moulds
two hours before breakfast. If hot bread is desired for dinner,
reserve part of the breakfast dough, keeping it in the kitchen in
winter, and in the refrigerator in summer till two hours before
dinner.
In baking, set the bread on the floor of the stove or range, never on
the shelf. Always turn up the damper before baking any kind of bread.
As you set the bread in the stove, lay a piece of stiff writing paper
over it to keep it from browning before heating through. Leave the
door ajar a few minutes, then remove the paper and shut the door. When
the top of the loaf is a light amber color, put back the paper that
the bread may not brown too much while thoroughly baking. Turn the
mould around so that each part may be exposed to equal heat. Have an
empty baking-pan on the shelf above the bread, to prevent it from
blistering: some persons fill the pan with water, but I think this is
a bad plan, as the vapor injures the bread. When thoroughly done, wrap
the bread a few moments in a clean, thick, bread towel and send to the
table with a napkin over it, to be kept on till each person has taken
his seat at table.
I would suggest to housekeepers to have made at a tinner's, a
sheet-iron shape for bread, eight inches long, four and one-half
inches wide, and five and one-half deep. This is somewhat like a
brickbat in shape, only deeper, and is very desirable for bread that
is to be cut in slices, and also for bread that is to be pulled off in
slices. A quart of flour will make eight large rolls, six inches high,
for this mould, and three or four turnovers. It is a nice plan after
making out the eight rolls to roll them with greased hands till each
one will reach across the pan (four and one-half inches), making eight
slices of bread which will pull off beautifully when well done, and
thus save the task of slicing with a knife. It requires an hour to
bake this bread properly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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