Potato Yeast

Pare and boil six good-sized potatoes; when done, mash, and pour on them three pints of boiling water; run this through the cullender, and then stir in one spoonful of sugar and one of salt. When milk-warm, stir in half a cup of yeast. In summer time this will rise in three or four hours. It will not keep as long as hop yeast.

Yeast Bread

Take four good-sized potatoes, peel, boil, and mash, and pour on to them one quart of boiling water; strain the whole through a sieve; let this get blood-warm, and then stir into it one cup of yeast, one spoonful of white sugar, one spoonful of salt, and three quarts and a pint of flour. Beat well with a spoon and set in a warm place to rise. (In the summer it will rise in four hours, in winter it will take five.) When well risen, take a pint of flour and put part of it on the kneading-board; then turn the dough upon the board, and put one spoonful of lard on it; then knead twenty minutes, using the pint of flour; now put the dough in the pan again, and let it rise one hour, and then form into loaves. (Do not have over a pint bowl full of dough in a loaf.) Let the loaves rise forty minutes, and bake forty-five minutes. Bread made in this way cannot be excelled; the only objection to it is that you have to bake in the afternoon; but when good bread is wanted, a little extra work should not prevent it being made.

Yeast Bread, No. 2

Make a hole in the middle of four quarts of flour, into which turn one spoonful of sugar, one of salt, and one cup of yeast; then mix with one pint of cold milk, which has been warmed by the addition of one pint of boiling water, and add one spoonful of lard; knead well, and let it rise over night. In winter, let it begin to rise near the fire the first of the evening, unless your kitchen is very warm But in summer do not mix until nine, unless you intend baking before breakfast. In the morning knead again, and make into loaves; let them rise one hour, and bake fifty minutes. If you have not plenty of milk, mix with water, and use one spoonful more of lard. There is a great deal in knowing how to knead; strength is not all, as many suppose. When you put the bread on the board, mix it lightly, and when you begin to knead it, do not press down, but let all your motions be as elastic as possible; knead with the palm of the hand until the dough is a flat cake, then fold, and keep doing this until the dough is smooth and elastic; twenty min utes is the time 1 have given, but many persons can knead the bread in less time, while others will require longer. But practice will teach each one.

Milk Yeast Bread

Put into a two-quarts-and-a-pint pail one pint of new milk, and one pint of boiling water; mix with this one tablespoonful of white sugar, one of salt, and three pints of flour. Beat this well together, and cover tight (nave a spoon that is so short that you can put the cover on the pail while it is in it, and yet it must be long enough to come nearly to the top.) Set this pail into another pail, or kettle, with water enough to come nearly to the top of it. To get this water the right temperature, take one half cold and one half boiling water; set it where it will keep about the same temperature until risen; watch carefully, and beat the batter as often as once in every half hour until the last hour, when it must not be disturbed. This will rise in about five hours; when it is risen the pail will be full. Do not let it stand one minute after that, as it spoils very quickly. Have in a pan two quarts of flour, make a hole in the middle of it. Dissolve a teaspoon-ful of saleratus in a little hot water, and when the batter is risen turn it into the middle of the flour, and turn the saleratus in with it; then knead well, and make into loaves. Set them where they will be warm, and let them rise forty-five minutes. Bake in a quick oven. It will take nearly a pint of flour to knead the dough on the board.

Be as particular to measure your flour as you are to measure the milk and water. This bread is not so healthful as hoppeast bread, and is more difficult to make; but it makes the nicest dry toast and delicious sandwiches.