Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1875 — To Make Yeast and Bread. [ARTICLE]

To Make Yeast and Bread.

Take a handful of hops, pour on them three pints of hot water, and boil half an hour. Take three tablespoonfuls of flour, two of brown sugar, two of salt, one of ginger, and mix them all smooth ly with a cup of warm water. Strain the hops and pour the hot liquid over the mixture, stirring briskly to prevent lumping. Set it over the fire until it boils, stirring often enough to prevent scorching. When nearly cool add a cupful of lively old yeast and set in a warm place. In a day or two it will ferment, and be ready to pour off in bottleß; a wide-mouthed glass fruit-can is better, and should not be quite filled, as there is pretty sure to be a second rising. If closely corked and put in a cool place it will keep sweet three or four months. But the bread is not made directly from this yeast. Take a pint or more of nicely-mashed potato, add a spoonful of brown sugar, a teaspoonful of salt, and hot water enough to make a thinnish batter. When nearly cool, add four or five spoonfuls of the stock yeast, and if kept warm it will soon be light and ready for use. After fermentation set it in a cool place, and it will keep sweet several days, and may be renewed and increased by adding more of the warm potato batter. For the loaf take a quart of flour, a pint of the potato yeast, and nearly a pint of warm water. Mix thoroughly, set in a warm place, and it will rise in about two hours. Now stir in flour until it is quite stiff, but not too stiff. Transfer the dough to the wide flour-pan or the molding-board, and for ten or fifteen minutes knead it with the hands and slash it briskly with a caseknife. This slashing makes the loaf more tender and even-grained, also prevents those large air-holes that are apt to insinuate themselves in a hastily-made loaf. -At the last the loaf is not stiff enough to stand alone; put it in a deep, round tin basin, keep it warm until it rises to the brim, spread over its surface a spoonful of melted lard or butter; with the oven “just right,” the heat will penetrate the loaf evenly, there will be no thick, hard crust, and in little less than an hour it will come out of the oven all of a pinkish tint, and “ every bit good enough to eat.” —Western Rural.