Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

perused carefully hundreds of them; they nearly all differ theoretically, but practically, when practical (which is not always the case), they amount to about the same thing. We think that the only difficulty, if difficulty there be, is in the use of the yeast, the making of the same, and the baking. Chemical processes for rising will never equal the processes of nature and time. Many bakers do not use the yeast properly, their bread being sour or musty; some sweeten their bread, to disguise an inferior quality of flour, or as an antidote to sourness or mustiness. Bread gets dry after a while, and is inferior in quality and taste. The lighter the bread the better, although many do not think so. The belief may come from the fact that the lighter bread is the more porous, and therefore the quicker it evaporates and loses its taste. Warm bread, besides being injurious to the teeth, is difficult of digestion. When perfectly cold, let it stand in a dry place, neither cold nor warm, for one or two hours, and use. We give below the best methods of making bread--French bread, or rather good light bread, for we do not see that it is more French than Chinese or American, as long as it can be made everywhere with good flour; it is certainly the best for inhabitants of a large city, and especially for those having a sedentary occupation. Let us apply the proverb to bread as well as to every thing else: "Feed me with food convenient for me."--_Bible._ Mix well together one gill of good strong yeast with half a pound of flour, so that it makes a rather stiff paste. Knead so that you shape it like a ball. Make two cuts with a knife on the top, across and about one-quarter of an inch deep; then place the paste in a bowl of tepid water (milk-warm), the cuts upward. After it has been in the water for a few minutes it will float and swell; let it float about two minutes, when take off and