Rye Bread.—Bread from rye alone is not, we believe, eaten in this country, though in many parts of the north of Europe it is the ordinary diet of the people ; a mixture of rye told wheat, however, forms excellent bread, and is very sweet and nutritious. To make the bread, knead together equal parts of' wheat and rye flour, with a sufficient quantity of yeast, salt, and warm water; it should be covered up warm to ferment and prove, divided into loaves, and baked in the usual way. A mixture of rice with rye makes good bread, in the proportion of 15 pounds of rice to 60 pounds of rye. It is to be fermented with yeast, arc. kneaded, formed into loaves, and baked in the usual way : the product will be at the least 120 lbs. of bread.
Maize, or Indian Corn Bread—Some authorities inform us that one half maize, and one-half barley, with a leaven of wheat flour, of one-fifth of the total weight, form a bread that is extensively eaten in the United States of America and in many parts of Europe; but that a superior bread is made with an equal quantity of wheat flour and maize. The late Mr. William Cobbett (to whom this country is indebted for the successfhl culture of a species of Indian corn,) directs the bread to be made of only one-third maize to two-thirds of wheat or rye flour. " Set your sponge," he says, " with the wheat flour only. As soon as you have done that, put the water (warm in cold weather, and cold in hot weather) to the corn flour, and mix the flour up with the water, and there let it be for the present. When the wheat sponge has risen, and has fallen again, take the wetted-up corn flour and work it in with the wheat sponge, and with the dry wheat flour that has been round the sponge. Let the whole remain fermenting together for about half an hour, and then make up the loaves, and put them in the oven." Bice Bread.—Boil a small quantity of rice in water until it becomes very thick and glutinous ; with this solution knead up the rice flour in the trough, to which is to be added sufficient yeast and salt. The dough being then covered warm with cloths, is suffered to stand till it rises. During the fermentation, this paste, which, when kneaded, was quite firm, becomes so soft and liquid as to render it necessary to be put in some shallow vessel, like a stew-pan, having a long handle, by which it is to be turned over in the oven, having first covered the rice paste with a sheet of paper ; the heat of the oven operates so quickly upon the paste, as to cause it to retain the form of the vessel whence it was discharged. In this manner pure rice bread may be made ; it is of a fine
yellow colour, and of an agreeable taste. Its nutritive properties are sufficiently attested by the well-known fact that whole nations live entirely upon it. Rice, with a great variety of mixtures, produces excellent bread. The following combinations have been successfully employed : First, to half a peck of rice flour add one peck of wheat seconds flour; mix with yeast, salt, &c. ; knead, ferment, and in the usual way. Second, to a peck of rice, boiled over-night till soft, and which in the morning will be found considerably swelled, add a peck of potatoes well mashed into a fine pulp, and a peck of wheat flour; a sufficient quantity of yeast and salt being added, and the whole kneaded, it may be left two hours to prove, before making up into loaves and baking.
that Bread.—Take a peck of oatmeal and an ounce of salt; stir them up into a stiff paste with warm water ; roll it out into thin cakes, and bake in an oven, or over the embers. The Scotch peasantry live chiefly on this bread, though in some cottages they cause it to undergo a fermentation by sour leaven, which renders it more spongy and easy of digestion. Dr. It Pierson has recommended the following as a good and economical bread : To a peck of oatmeal add the same quantity of seconds flour, and half a peck of potatoes skinned and mashed; knead up into a dough with yeast, salt, and warm milk ; make up into loaves, and bake in the usual way. Equal quantities of oatmeal and rice flour made up the same as the foregoing in other respects, is stated to be very palatable, and must of course be very wholesome.
Bean Bread.—Bean flour does not essentially differ from other farina, but it has an unpleasant taste ; this is, however, scarcely perceptible if the flour be steeped in water before it is used for making into bread. This flour, so treated, made up into cakes or bread with yeast and salt, is tolerable ; but a good bread with a mixture of wheat and bean flour is thus made: Soak the flour for three days in water before it is required, changing the water every day, to carry off the peculiar flavour of the bean; then put the flour to drain over a sieve ; during this operation put a peck of wheat flour into the kneading trough, and mix it up with yeast and salt. After it has been properly fermented, knead the bean flour with it into dough, and after it has stood a sufficient time to prove, divide it into loaves, and bake.