NEW ENGLAND BREAKFAST BREADS: Luncheon and Tea Biscuits

Excerpt from New England Breakfast Breads, Luncheon and Tea Biscuits

The new, that is the early potatoes, are not dry or mealy enough to make good yeast. I have tried the recipes and given them with both home-made yeast and yeast cakes. By yeast cakes I always mean the little two-cent cakes of compressed yeast, such as are generally used. Be careful not to dissolve them in too hot water or milk, or it will take the life out of the yeast and the bread will not rise well. Care should be taken also to get them perfectly fresh, and, if kept at all, to cover them carefully and keep them in the ice-chest or cellar. Dissolve the yeast cake in the same quantity of warm rhilk or water that would be taken of home-made yeast. If the bread is made with milk it is generally better to dissolve it in milk. Always warm the milk to be used in making bread with yeast. The best way is to put it in a tin quart measure, and set it in a pan of hot water on the stove. Of course the milk should be only just lukewarm when added to the dough, but it is better, especially in summer, to let it get quite hot, and then leave it in a pan Of cold water until just luke warm before using, as this prevents the dough from souring. Always be very careful that the milk is perfectly sweet, and if bread is mixed in the evening, never use milk brought the day before. Milk that has been' skimmed is rather better for raised loaves,and makes the bread whiter, and with the shortening used is quite rich enough. Bread made with yeast cakes requires more salt than that made with home - made yeast nearly half as much again.

If the bread is mixed with water instead of milk, have the water just lukewarm. If the quantity of milk given in the recipes seems a great deal in proportion to the quantity Of flour used, it is because the breads were made with very fine dry flour, and if moister flour should be used Of Course it would not stiffen as much and would require less milk or water, although bread is much nicer, when the dough is kneaded quite soft, and a great deal of bread is spoiled by being made too stiff. Dough that seems too soft, and troubles one by sticking to the hand at first, after kneading eight or ten minutes, will be quite stiff enough, and can be easily kneaded for the remainder Of thel time. Never flour the hand while kneading and do not sprinkle any over the dough, and use as little flour as possible in making out either loaves or biscuit. Steady the bowl with the left hand, and knead well with the right, never kneading down but always tossing the dough up against the side of the bowl. I like a large crockery bowl, one holding nearly eight quarts, for mixing raised breads, unless it is a small quantity - if so the dough rises better in a smaller bowl. Always, either in cold or warm weather, as soon as the bread is kneaded, cover the bowl Closely. Agood way is to lay a thick linen bread-cloth over the bowl, wrapping it well around it, and in cold weather, outside this, wrap a large piece of flannel. A yard and a half Of thick wide flannel will do. Care must be taken that it is kept. Hice, and washed nearly as often as the common linen bread-cloths.

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