To make bread making easier it will first be necessary to give the reader some information on the materials used and to acquaint her with the troubles of bread making so they can be avoided, thereby making success sure.

Flour

By far the most important ingredient in bread making is flour.

There are two kinds (but many brands) of white flour. Spring or hard wheat flour and Winter or soft wheat flour.

Spring or hard wheat flour is flour made from wheat sown in the spring. The flour is hard coarse grained and strong, it is therefore best adapted for bread making. While it can be used for pastry and cakes it is not near so good as winter or soft wheat flour.

Winter or soft wheat flour is made from wheat sown in the fall, and is soft and of very fine grain, it is not strong, it is therefore best adapted to pastry and cake making. It can be used in making bread but is not as good as spring wheat flour.

It is therefore necessary if you wish the best results in the making of bread that you use a good grade of spring or hard wheat flour.

Water

Next to flour the most important ingredient is water, the water used should be fresh and clean. Soft water soaks up flour more thoroughly and quicker than hard water and is therefore better.

Salt

The salt used should be clean and of a good quality, coarse salt can be used and gives satisfaction, but fine salt dissolves quicker and better and consequently is better.

Sugar

Any good grade of sugar whether it be granulated or brown will give satisfactory results.

Lard

The lard used should be of a good quality and should be warmed until it is soft.

Yeast

If you are using a yeast that is giving you satisfactory results stick to it. There will be found elsewhere in this book several recipes for making yeast. All of which are good and if made as directed will give excellent results.