Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/56

 equally good, if it be used fresh. The oldest recipe is the simplest. Add a handful of hops to a quart of water; boil twenty minutes, and strain. Blend four tablespoonsful of sugar, and the same of flour with a little of the liquor, and add it to the whole; bottle, cork tightly, and stand near the fire. This will be ready in three or four days, perhaps, sooner in warm weather.

Another method: Boil six moderate sized potatoes in plenty of water. When soft take them from the water, which must be saved, mash them smoothly, and mix with them one cup of flour and one cup of sugar. Then gradually stir in the water the potatoes were boiled in. Put all into a jug, and add half a cup or a cupful of old yeast; or, failing that, beer. Stir all together, and let it stand a few hours. It will most probably rise to the top of the can or jug, and must be stirred down or bottled. This yeast makes the quickest bread. Another method: Blend two large cupsful of flour with three quarts of water; then mix in a cupful of dark sugar and half a cup of salt; boil this for one hour. When luke-warm, bottle, and before corking add a raisin to each bottle. Cork tightly and keep in a warm place. Will be fit for use in twenty-four hours.

Potato Yeast.

Ingredients: Six good sized potatoes, one handful of hops, half a cup of salt, half a cup of sugar, one cup of old yeast or beer.

Mode: Peel and wash the potatoes, and boil them in two quarts of water with the hops tied in a muslin bag. When the potatoes are soft take them out of the water—do not strain it away—and mash them quite smoothly. Then pour the water they were boiled in over them, having previously removed the bag of hops. Add a little hot water to make up for what boiled away; and also the salt and sugar; mix well, and when about luke-warm add the old yeast, or failing that, beer, to ferment with. Cover closely, and keep in a warm place for five or six hours, when it will have begun to work and is fit to use. It should now be bottled and put away. Do not cork the bottles quite tight at first or they may burst. This yeast is very good, but in warm weather it will not keep for very long—about nine or ten days.

Ingredients: Two pounds of flour, a little salt, half a pint of warm milk or water, one tablespoonful of brewer’s yeast.

Mode: People who live in town can generally obtain good yeast from the brewery, and with it, then bread-making is greatly simplified, for there is no setting over night, or, indeed, half the trouble that there is when home made yeast is used. Two or three pennyworth of brewer’s yeast will last two or three bakings. Take the flour, stir in the salt, then add the water or milk and the yeast. Make a light batter in the centre of the flour, cover, and set by the fire for an hour or so till the yeast works through the flour. Now add a little more water if required, knead well, set again to rise for an hour or so, then make into loaves and bake. One can easily set the sponge at eight o’clock in the morning, and make and bake the bread by dinner time with brewer’s yeast.

French Rolls.—Boil three or four ordinary sized potatoes, having peeled them carefully first. When cooked, mash them smoothly in the water they were boiled in. Stir the potatoes into about two pints of flour, and add half a cup of yeast. Make the dough thick, as in rising it always softens. When well risen, knead for a quarter of an hour, and do so by pulling out and twisting the dough over and over. The object in making the dough stiff at first is to avoid adding flour after it is risen. Put away to rise again, and when light knead again as before, and even a third kneading will improve the rolls, but is not really necessary. When kneaded for the last time, turn on to the board, cut off each roll, mould, and place on the baking tin about an inch apart. Let them stand