Mary Eaton - The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families

BREAD. Two very important reasons urge the propriety and necessity of using home-baked bread, in preference to baker's bread, wherever it can be done with tolerable convenience; these are, its superior quality, and its cheapness. A bushel of wheat, weighing sixty pounds, will make sixty-five pounds of household bread, after the bran has been taken out; and if the pollard be separated also, to make a finer article, a bushel of ground wheat will then make fifty-eight pounds of fine white bread, free from any foreign mixture, leaving from ten to fifteen pounds of bran and pollard, which may be applied to useful purposes. The calculation then will be easy, and the difference between purchasing and making bread will be seen at once. A bushel of ground wheat weighing sixty pounds will produce thirteen quartern loaves and a half of fine bread, after the bran and pollard have been taken out; add to the price of the wheat, nine-pence a bushel for grinding, three-pence for yeast, four-pence for salt and the expence of baking; and from this deduct six-pence at least for the value of the bran and pollard, and it gives the price of the quartern loaves made and baked at home. In general it will be found that there is a saving of one third of the expense, if the business be properly conducted. Then the wholesome and nutricious quality of the bread is incomparably superior; there is no addition of alum, ground potatoes, whiting, or any other ingredient to give weight or colour to the bread, as is too often the case with baker's bread; but all is nutricious, sound, and good. But supposing their bread to be equal in quality, there is still a considerable saving in the course of a year, especially in a large family; and if household bread be made instead of fine bread, every bushel of good heavy wheat will produce nearly fifteen quartern loaves. Besides this, rye, and even a little barley mixed with the wheat, will make very good bread, and render it cheaper still. Rye will add a sweetness to the bread, and make it cut firmer, so as to prevent the waste of crumbs, and is unquestionably an article of good economy. The addition of potatoes is by no means to be approved, though so often recommended; any of the grains already mentioned have in them ten times the nutrition of potatoes, and in the end will be found to be much cheaper. Making bread with skim milk, instead of water, where it can be done, is highly advantageous, and will produce a much better article than can be purchased at a baker's shop. – On the subject of making bread, little need be said, as every common maid-servant is or ought to be well acquainted with this necessary part of household work, or she is good for nothing. To make good bread however, the flour should be kept four or five weeks before it is baked. Then put half a bushel of it into a kneading trough, mix with it between four and five quarts of warm water or skim milk, and a pint and a half of good yeast, and stir it well together with the hand till it become tough. Let it rise before the fire, about an hour and a half, or less if it rise fast; then, before it falls, add four quarts more of warm water, and half a pound of salt. Work it well, and cover it with a cloth. Put the fire into the oven; and by the time it is heated, the dough will be ready. Make the loaves about five pounds each, sweep out the oven very clean and quick, and put in the bread; shut it up close, and two hours and a half will bake it. In summer the water should be milk warm, in winter a little more, and in frosty weather as hot as the hand will bear, but not scalding, or the whole will be spoiled. Bread is better baked without tins, which gives to the crust an unnatural degree of hardness. – Those who are under the necessity of purchasing baker's bread, for want of other convenience, may detect the adulteration of alum by macerating a small piece of the crumb of new-baked bread in cold water, sufficient to dissolve it; and the taste of the alum, if it has been used, will acquire a sweet astringency. Or a heated knife may be thrust into a loaf before it has grown cold; and if it be free from that ingredient, scarcely any alteration will be visible on the blade; but, in the contrary case, its surface, after being allowed to cool, will appear slightly covered with an aluminous incrustation.

BREAD CAKE. To make a common bread cake, separate from the dough, when making white bread, as much as is sufficient for a quartern loaf, and knead well into it two ounces of butter, two of Lisbon sugar, and eight of currants. Warm the butter in a tea-cupful of good milk. By adding another ounce of butter or sugar, or an egg or two, the cake may be improved, especially by putting in a tea-cupful of raw cream. It is best to bake it in a pan, rather than as a loaf, the outside being less hard.

BREAD CHEESECAKES. Slice a penny white loaf as thin as possible, pour over it a pint of boiling cream, and let it stand two hours. Beat up eight eggs, half a pound of butter, and a grated nutmeg. Put in half a pound of currants, well washed and dried, and a spoonful of brandy or white wine. Bake them in pattipans, or raised crusts.

BREAD PUDDING. Grate some white bread, pour over some boiling milk, and cover it close. When soaked an hour or two, beat it fine, and mix with it two or three eggs well beaten. Put it into a bason that will just hold it, tie a floured cloth over it, and put it into boiling water. Send it up with melted butter poured over: it may be eaten with salt or sugar. Prunes, or French plums, make a fine pudding instead of raisins, either with suet or bread pudding. – Another and richer. Pour half a pint of scalding milk, on half a pint of bread crumbs, and cover it up for an hour. Beat up four eggs, and when strained, add to the bread, with a tea-spoonful of flour, an ounce of butter, two ounces of sugar, half a pound of currants, an ounce of almonds beaten with orange-flower water, half an ounce of orange, of lemon, and of citron. Butter a bason that will exactly hold it, flour the cloth, tie it tight over, and boil the pudding an hour.

BREAD SAUCE. Boil a large onion quartered, with some black pepper and milk, till the onion is quite a pap. Pour the milk on white stale-bread grated, and cover it. In an hour put it into a saucepan, with a good piece of butter mixed with a little flour: boil the whole up together, and serve with it.

BREAD SOUP. Boil some pieces of bread crust in a quart of water, with a small piece of butter. Beat it with a spoon, and keep it boiling till the bread and water be well mixed: then season it with a little salt.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING. Spread some butter on slices of bread, and lay them in a dish, with currants between each layer. To make it rich, add some sliced citron, orange, or lemon. Pour over an unboiled custard of milk, two or three eggs, a few corns of pimento, and a very little ratifia, two hours at least before it is to be baked, and lade it over to soak the bread. A paste round the edge makes all puddings look better, but it is not necessary.

BREAD AND RICE PUDDING. Boil a quarter of a pound of rice in some milk till it is quite soft, put it into a bason, and let it stand till the next day. Soak some sliced bread in cold milk, drain it off, mash it fine, and mix it with the rice. Beat up two eggs with it, add a little salt, and boil it an hour.

BREAKFAST CAKES. Take a pound and a half of flour, four ounces of butter, a spoonful of yeast, and half a pint of warm milk. Rub the butter into the flour, and mix the eggs, yeast, and milk together. Put the liquid into the middle of the flour, and let it stand to rise for two hours. Make it into cakes, let them stand to rise again, and wash them over with skimmed milk before they are put into the oven.

BREAST OF LAMB. Cut off the chine-bone from the breast, and set it on to stew with a pint of gravy. When the bones would draw out, put it on the gridiron to grill; and then lay it in a dish on cucumbers nicely stewed.