Shaping The Dough

Knead the dough slightly, and divide it into the requisite number of pieces. When a round is desired, shape this with the hands and fingers, by folding over and patting, until no wrinkles are to be seen. If the dough was properly moulded in the first place, it will not stick to the fingers now. If it should stick, a little butter, not flour, is the remedy. If the dough is to be given a long, oval shape, the moulding board is needed. When doubled in bulk, the loaves are ready to bake.

Baking The Bread

Yeast bread is baked to kill the ferment - lest fermentation go on in the stomach - to drive off alcohol, stiffen the glutinous walls, cook the starch, and form a pleasant tasting crust.

The yeast plant is killed at a temperature of 212° Fahr. To raise the temperature at the centre of the ordinary loaf to this point requires nearly an hour's cooking in an oven heated, when the bread is put in, to about 400° Fahr. - that is, in a fast oven. Where the temperature of the oven is gauged by a "heat indicator," the index is just past the central mark, or twelve o'clock. The loaves in such an oven will rise a little, crust over, and brown slightly, in spots, during the first fifteen minutes. Biscuits and rolls require a hot oven, and will bake in from twenty minutes to half an hour. A thick loaf of bread baked in the early morning is considered in good condition for eating by night; but it will be in better condition the next morning. Thin biscuits, if thoroughly baked, are not as objectionable hot as slices from a thick loaf. Still, when thoroughly masticated, the digestibility of fresh (not hot) and stale bread is about the same.

Care Of Bread After Baking

Remove the bread at once from the tins and let cool in fresh air, uncovered. Store, when fully cold, in a tightly covered stone jar.

This should be washed, scalded, dried and aired at least once a week. Never put cut slices into the jar, but keep this receptacle from crumbs. Never put a cloth into the jar with the bread.

The Sponge

A sponge, in bread making, is a mixture of flour with liquid and yeast. It is usually made thin, and in consequence the ferment acts very quickly. A sponge is advisable for biscuits and all yeast preparations where much shortening is to be used, as it retards the rising. After fermentation has been established in the sponge, the shortening may be added with the rest of the flour; and the whole will quickly become light.