Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/361

329&#93; BRE closed, till the bread has risen to its full height, which will not take place in less than two or three hours. After this, but not before, the oven may be opened for the purpose of viewing the bread, and seeing that it is baked without being either burnt or too crusty ; for if the month of the oven be not kept closely stopped till the bread is fully risen, it will flatten and be- come heavy. When properly ma- naged, the above-mentioned ingre- dients will have lost about one pound two ounces in weight, so that a well-baked loaf of this kind should amount to seven pounds twelve ounces. Bread may be made without yeast, as is practised in Hungary, by the following process : Boil two good handfulsof hops in four quarts of water ; pour the decoction upon as much wheat bran as the liquor will moisten. Then add four or five pounds of leaven ; mix the whole together, till perfectly unit- ed. Put this mass into a warm place for twenty-four hours ; then divide it into pieces about the size of a hen's egg; let these be dried in the air, but not in the sun, and they will keep good for six months. Or, make the above into six large loaves, take six good handfuls of dough, broken small, and dissolved in eight quarts of warm water, and poured through a sieve into one end of the bread-trough ; then pour three quarts more of warm water through the sieve after it, and what remains in the sieve must be well expressed. Like all other farinaceous sub- stances, bread is very nourishing, on account of the copious mucilage it contains ; but, it eaten too free- ly, it is productive of viscidity which obstru£ts the intestines, and BRE [329 lays the foundation of habitual cos- tiveness. Leavened bread, or such as has acquired an acidulated taste by a slow fermentation of the dough, is cooling and antiseptic. By this process, all the viscous are combined with the drier parts of the flour, and the fixed air is expelled in baking. New baked bread contains a large proportion of indigestible paste, which may be rendered less unwholesome by allowing it to dry for two or three days, or by toasting it. This mode ought to be adopted, both on account of health and economy, especially in times of scarcity. Stale bread, in every respect, de- serves the preference to that which is newly baked; and persons trou- bled with flatulency, cramp of the stomach, or indigestion, should abstain from new bread, and parti- cularly from hot rolls. Various substances have been used for bread, instead of wheat. In the years 162Q and lG'30, when there was a dearth in this country, bread was made in London of tur- nips, on the recommendation of Dr. Beale. In 1693 also, when corn was very dear, a great quan- tity of turnip-bread was made in several parts of the kingdom, but particularly in Essex, by a receipt registered in the Philosophical Transactions. The process is, to put the turnips into a kettle over a sow fire, till they become soft j they are then taken out, squeezed, and drained as dry as possible, and afterwards mashed and mixed with an equalweightof flour, and knead- ed with yeast, salt, and a little warm water. The following is another method cf making bread of turnip-,, which deserves to be recommended for its cheapness : Wash clean, pare, and