Page:Art of Cookery 1774 edition.djvu/335

Rh TO a kilderkin of beer throw in at the bung a quart of oatmeal, lay the bung on loose two or three days, then stop it down close, and let it stand a month. Some throw in a piece of chalk as big as a turkey's egg, and when it has done working stop it close for a month, then tap it. YOU must take a bushel of the finest flour well dressed, put it in the kneading-trough at one end rady to mix, take a gallon of water (which we call liquor) and some yeast; stir it into the liquor till it looks of a good brown colour and begins to curdle; strain it and mix it with your flour till it is about the thickness of a good seed-cake; then cover it with the lid of the trough, and let it stand three hours, and as soon as you see it begin to fall take a gallon more of liquid, and weight three quarters of a pound of salt, and with your hand mix it well with the water: strain it, and with this liquor make your dough of a moderate thickness, fit to make up into loaves; then cover it again with a lid, and let it stand three hours more. In the mean time, put the wood into the oven and heat it. It will take two hours heating. When your spunge has stood its proper time, clear the oven, and close it up, and three hours will just bake it. When once it is in, you must not open the oven till the bread is baked; and observe in summer that your water be milk-warm, and in winter as hot as you can bear your finger in it.

Note, As to the exact quantity of liquor your dough will take, experience will teach you in two or three times making, for all flour does not want the same quantity of liquor; and if you make any quantity, it will raise up the lid and run over, when it has stood its time. TAKE three quarts of water, and one of milk; in winter scalding hot, in summer little more than milk-warm. Season it well with salt, then take a pint and a half of good ale yeast not bitter, lay it in a gallon of water the night before, pour it off the water, stir in your yeast into the milk and water, then with your hand break in a little more than a quarter of a pound of butter, work it well till it is dissolved, then beat up two eggs in a bason, and stir them in, have about a peck and a half of flour, mix it with your liquor; in winter make your dough