I’ve happily spent about six hours during each of the past three days making
several different kinds of bread. So far, it’s been challenging, tiring, exciting,
informative, tiring, and fun. Oh, and did I mention tiring?!
In general, bread is pretty basic. It’s flour, yeast, and a little salt, all which
is allowed to rise or “proof” twice. Then it’s shaped into loaves and baked.
What makes one bread different from another is often just the extra
ingredients that are added: the mixture of different flours (white, rye,
whole wheat); the addition of items such as herbs, raisins, currants, nuts,
olives, and so on; yeast proofed in milk instead of water; and so on.
Now I’m taking this course so that I become more comfortable in working
with yeast bread dough and in knowing what constitutes a proper loaf.
In addition, the instructor and I have discussed the interpretation and
use of historic receipts (recipes). I’m hoping that I’ll be able to use one
of them before the class ends.
To that end, here is one of the historic receipts I am considering:
TO MAKE WHITE BREAD
Take 3 quarters of a peck of fine flower, & strow
salt in as much as will season it. Then heat as much
milke as will season it luke warme, & hould it high
when you poure it on to make it light. & mingle
with your milke 4 or 5 spoonfulls of good yeast.
worke your paste well, & then let it ly a rising
by the fire. your oven will be hoted in an houre
& halfe; then shut [it[ up a quarter of an houre,
in wch space make up your loaves & then set them
in ye oven, an houre & halfe will bake them.
–from Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery
“a Family Manuscript…copied…in the 17th Century”
in Martha’s “Keeping” from 1749-1799
(copied as written)
