If acid and alkali must be used, by all means let them be mixed in due
proportions. No cook should be left to guess and judge for herself
about this matter. There are articles made by chemical rule which
produce very perfect results, and the use of them obviates the worst
dangers in making bread by effervescence.
Of all processes of aeration in bread-making, the oldest and most
time-honored mode is by fermentation. That this was known in the days
of our Saviour is evident from the forcible simile in which he compares
the silent permeating force of truth in human, society to the very
familiar household process of raising bread by a little yeast.
There is, however, one species of yeast, much used in some parts of
the country, against which protest should be made. It is called
salt-risings, or milk-risings, and is made by mixing flour, milk, and
a little salt together, and leaving them to ferment. The bread thus
produced is often, very attractive, when new and made with great care.
It is white and delicate, with fine, even air-cells. It has, however,
when kept, some characteristics which remind us of the terms in which
our old English Bible describes the effect of keeping the manna of the
ancient Israelites, which we are informed, in words more explicit than
agreeable, "stank, and bred worms.
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