Good Things in England - A Practical Cookery Book for Everyday Use, Containing Traditional and Regional Recipes Suited to Modern Tastes. Florence White
There are of course recipes in which much cream, or butter and eggs are used, and some of these are useful for special occasions; but as a rule when we read of cakes requiring a number of eggs and so forth, if we examine the recipe we shall find that the amount of flour is correspondingly great. Families were larger one hundred years ago, and household staffs were more in number; therefore much greater batches of bread, scones, etc., had to be provided, and baking day was a serious business.
There is no reason, however, why we should not make some bread and scones at home for a treat, even if we live in a small town flat, or in the country where we can have only an oil stove with an oven; or merely a girdle over a wood fire made on a hearth or out of doors. Many of the recipes given are suitable for all these methods of baking.
In many houses and hotels in England all the bread and cakes, tea-breads, etc., are made at home; but as in most other cases it is still necessary to ask for what we want. The demand will create the supply.
Brewers’ Yeast, Compressed Yeast and Yeast Cakes
2 tab lespoonfuls of fresh brewers’ yeast = 1 oz. compressed yeast.
1 oz. compressed yeast = 1 cake of Royal yeast.
Cream of Tartar and Bicarbonate of Soda
2 ordinary teaspoonfuls (or 4 level ones) of cream of tartar; half this quantity of bicarbonate of soda, and quarter the amount of salt, is sufficient to raise one pound of white household flour. Rice flour is simply mixed with these ingredients to make them keep well, i.e. prevent them ‘caking’ or getting lumpy. 3 ordinary teaspoonfuls of ground rice added to 2 ordinary teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar and 1 ordinary teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, sifted together three times makes a very good baking powder.
Baking Powder
6 teaspoonfuls of such a baking powder is equivalent to 2 ordinary teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar and 1 of bicarbonate of soda. Half a teaspoonful of salt must be used with it when mixing bread or cake unless otherwise stated.
Delicious Home-made Bread made with Yeast
Miss Veronica Cook, 1931
INGREDIENTS: Plain flour 3 1/2 lb.; salt 2 teaspoonfuls; compressed yeast 1 oz.; sugar and salt 1 teaspoonful each to every lb. flour; warm milk and water, about 1 3/4 pint (half and half).
TIME: to rise until double its volume; to bake 30 to 45 minutes according to size of loaves in a hot oven.
METHOD
1.Warm all basins.
2.Mix the salt in with the flour in warm basin.
3.Cream the yeast with the sugar.
4.Add it to the milk and water.
5.Make a well in the middle of the flour, pour in the yeast mixture gradually and make into dough.
6.Knead for 15 minutes.
7.Divide and put into greased tins filling them half full.
8.Put to rise covered up in a warm place till the dough comes to the tops of the tins.
9.Then put in hot oven and bake till done.
N.B.—You can make sure when a loaf is cooked by putting a clean cloth on your left hand, turning the loaf out of the tin on to it and rapping it underneath with the knuckles; if it sounds hollow it is done.
Yeast Bread (another Recipe)
Somersetshire, 1892
INGREDIENTS: Plain flour 3 lb.; compressed yeast 1 oz. (or 2 tablespoonfuls of brewers’ yeast); salt 2 teaspoonfuls; sugar 1 teaspoonful; tepid water 1 1/2 pints.
TIME: to mix — 10 minutes to rise; to knead, 10 minutes; to rise again, 30 minutes in summer and 1 hour in winter; and to bake 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours according to size of loaves.
METHOD
1.Mix the salt with half the flour.
2.Cream the yeast with the sugar and add it to a gill of tepid water (but be very careful the water is really tepid, neither hotter nor colder or your bread will be heavy).
3.Put the unsalted flour into a warmer (but not hot) mixing bowl.
4.Make a hole in the middle and pour in the yeast mixture.
5.Stir in enough flour to make a rather thick batter, cover with a cloth and stand it for 10 minutes near the fire or gas oven to rise.
6.Then add the remainder of the flour and rest of the water, and mix well until the flour is all mixed in.
7.Knead it well on a floured board for 10 minutes; put the dough back in the basin.
8.Cut it across the top in the form of a cross.
9.Cover it with a cloth and let it rise again for 1/2 an hour in summer and 1 hour in winter.
10.Divide the dough into as many portions as you need loaves.
11.Mould them into shape, and bake in a moderate oven from 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours according to the size of the loaves.
Quickly-made Bread
1910
INGREDIENTS: Plain white flour 1/2 lb.; wholemeal 1/2 lb.; cream of tartar one teaspoonful; bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoonful; salt 1/2 teaspoonful; castor sugar 1 teaspoonful; milk and water 1/2 pint.
TIME: to bake in moderately hot oven 40 to 45 minutes.
METHOD
1.Sift the cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, and salt with the white flour.
2.Mix it with the wholemeal flour and sugar.
3.Make into a firm dough with the water.
4.Knead lightly and put it into a greased tin smooth side uppermost.
5.Bake in a moderately hot oven.
Soda Bread
1904
INGREDIENTS: Plain white flour 1/4 stone; sugar, salt, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda 1/2 oz. of each; buttermilk about 1 quart.
METHOD
1.Mix all the dry ingredients well together.
2.Make into a firm dough with the buttermilk.
3.Put on to a greased tin, and bake in hot oven.
Soda Bread Baked in a Frying-Pan
Mrs. Fowler, Preston, Lancashire, says when she was a child in Shropshire her grandmother used to make soda bread and bake it in a frying-pan as follows:
INGREDIENTS: Plain white flour 1 lb.; butter 2 oz.; bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoonful, not too much or it will be bitter; cream of tartar 1 teaspoonful; salt 1/2 teaspoonful; milk, sour milk, or buttermilk, 1/2 pint.
METHOD
1.Rub the butter into the flour.
2.Sieve in the soda, cream of tartar and salt.
3.Make into a dough with the milk.
4.Rub a frying-pan over with a piece of mutton fat.
5.Make the dough into a flat loaf to fit the pan and cook it over the fire, cutting the bread into quarters and turning it until it is done.
Variations