BREAD.
1463 | How to prepare the Dough for French Bread.
—Sift on a table four pounds of the best flour procurable, transfer two pounds of it into a bowl of the capacity to hold ten quarts. Make a hollow space in the centre of the flour in the bowl, then put in it one ounce of compressed yeast, pour in one pint of lukewarm water, then with the hand thoroughly dissolve the yeast in the water for three minutes thereafter; gradually incorporate the flour for five minutes, then sharply knead the whole for five minutes. Fully cover the bowl with a napkin, lay the bowl in a warm place of about eighty degrees temperature, to let the sponge rise for two hours. During that length of time the sponge will double, after about one hour and a half (after being put away) then fall, and again rise double. Have in a vessel one pint of lukewarm water, or the same quantity of lukewarm milk, add one and a half ounces of salt, thoroughly dissolve for one minute, then pour it into the bowl with the sponge, and thoroughly knead the whole well together for five minutes. Now gradually add the two remaining pounds of flour, constantly kneading meanwhile. which ought to take about fifteen minutes, to have it smooth and consistent. Lift up the dough with the hands and sharply knock it against the bottom of the bowl for at least six or seven different times, so as to have it of a firm consistency; then cover the bowl with a napkin, place it in a warm place, the same temperature as before, to rise for two hours again; by this time the dough should be raised double. Remove the napkin and transfer the dough on a lightly floured table. Cut out a two-pound piece, and with the hands roll and press it into a ball shape for three minutes, then lay it aside. Cut out another of the same weight, roll and press it in the same way as the first. Cut the remaining dough into twelve equal pieces, and roll them also into ball shapes, and let rest for three minutes.