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Title: The Good Housekeeper, Or The Way To Live Well And To Be Well While We Live...
Author: Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell
Publisher: Boston: Weeks, Jordan and Company.

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> THE GOOD HOUSEKEEPER.

> CHAPTER I.

> INTRODUCTORY.

Bodily health, satisfied appetite, and peace of mind, are great promoters of individual morality and public tranquility.--DR. COMBE.

THE main object of those who have prepared works on cookery, has been to teach the art of good living, or of cheap living;--the "Cook's Oracle" is one of the best examples of the first purpose, the "Frugal Housewife" of the last.

My aim is to select and combine the excellences of these two systems, at the same time keeping in view the important object of preserving health, and thus teach how to live well, and to be well while we live.

The physiology of digestion and the principles of dietetics, as laid down and explained by Dr Andrew Combe, of Edinburgh, form the basis of my plan, which will inculcate temperance in all things, but rarely enforce total abstinence from anything which the Creator has sanctioned as proper food for mankind.

I follow chiefly the system of Dr Combe, because, though I have examined many popular works on Diet, Health, &c., and have found much to commend, and some things to adopt from these writers, yet he defines, with most clearness and precision, those rules of living, which my own experience has taught me are good and judicious. Indeed, in most cases, even when I may quote the language of Dr Combe, I still write what I know to be true.

I have been a housekeeper, both in the country and the city, and have had a practical knowledge of those rules of


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domestic economy which I shall recommend. And I have brought up a family of children, without the loss, or hardly the sickness of one of them, during infancy and childhood. I can, therefore, claim some experience in a successful manner of managing the health and constitution of the young.

As our bodily health, and, of consequence, our happiness and usefulness in domestic and social life, depend very much on the proper quantity of food we eat, and the time and circumstances under which it is taken, I shall give a few hints on these subjects, before laying down rules for the preparation and quality of the food.

> TIMES OF TAKING FOOD.

Nature has fixed no particular hours for eating. When the mode of life is uniform, it is of great importance to adopt fixed hours; when it is irregular, we ought to be guided by the real wants of the system as dictated by appetite.

A strong laboring man, engaged in hard work, will require food oftener and in larger quantities than an indolent or sedentary man.

As a general rule, about five hours should elapse between one meal and another--longer if the mode of life be indolent, shorter if it be very active.

When dinner is delayed seven or eight hours after breakfast, some slight refreshment should be taken between.

Young persons, when growing fast, require more food and at shorter intervals than those do who have attained maturity.

Children, under seven years of age, usually need food every three hours; a piece of bread will be a healthy lunch, and a child seldom eats bread to excess.

During the first months of infancy there can be no set times of giving nourishment. Different constitutions require different management. The best rule is to satisfy the real wants of the child, but never tempt it to take food to still its crying from pain, when it is not hungry.

Those persons who eat a late supper should not take breakfast till one or two hours after rising. Those who dine


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late, and eat nothing afterwards, require breakfast soon after rising.

Persons of a delicate constitution should never exercise much before breakfast.

If exposure of any kind is to be incurred in the morning, breakfast should always be taken previously. The system is more susceptible of infection and of the influence of cold, miasma, &c., in the morning before eating, than at any other time.

Those who walk early will find great benefit from taking a cracker or some little nourishment before going out.

Never go into a room of a morning, where a person is sick with a fever, before you have taken nourishment of some kind--a cup of coffee, at least.

In setting out early to travel, a light breakfast before starting should always be taken; it is a great protection against cold, fatigue and exhaustion.

In boarding schools for the young and growing, early breakfast is an indispensable condition to health. Children should not be kept without food in the morning till they are faint and weary.

Never eat a hearty supper just before retiring to rest.

It is injurious to eat when greatly heated or fatigued. It would very much conduce to the health of laboring men if they could rest fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner.

> PROPER QUANTITY OF FOOD.

As a general fact, mankind eat much more than is required for their sustenance.

Nearly one half of the diseases and deaths, occuring during the first two years of existence, are owing to mismanagement and errors in diet.

Children should never be fed or tempted to eat when appetite is satisfied; and grown persons should also be careful of eating beyond that point.

The indigestion so much complained of, and which causes so many disorders and sufferings in the human system, is a wise provision of nature, to prevent the repletion which would otherwise ensue, when too much food is taken.

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The power of digestion is limited to the amount of gastric juice the stomach is capable of providing; exercise, in the open air, promotes the secretion of the gastric juice.

It is a good and safe rule to proportion our meals to the amount of exercise we have taken; if that exercise has been in the open air, there is less danger of excess. The delicate lady, who scarcely walks abroad, should live very sparingly, or she will be troubled with nervousness, headache, and all the horrors of indigestion.

Young persons, when growing, should have plenty of food; if they are active and healthy, and the food is of a proper kind and well prepared, there is little danger of their taking too much. But never tempt their appetites by delicacies when plain food is not relished.

When the growth is attained, and active exercises are, in a great measure abandoned--as is the case with females, particularly,--then be very careful to regulate the appetite, and never take such a quantity of food at a time, as to oppress or disturb the stomach. Remember that food which does not digest cannot nourish the system, but rather weakens it.

Variety of food is chiefly dangerous because it tempts to excess; otherwise it is beneficial. The gastric juice acts more easily where the contents of the stomach are of different kinds of food mixed together. Let no person think he is certainly temperate because he eats of but one dish. It is more hurtful to take too much of that one, than though he had eaten the same quantity of several.

Generally speaking, when food does not agree with the stomach, it is a sign that too much has been taken.

> WHAT IS THE PROPER FOOD OF MAN?

No certain rules can be given respecting the kind of food to be taken. The same diet which is healthful for an adult will be injurious for a child. The stimulating animal diet which in winter is necessary for a laboring man, would be destructive to an inactive and excitable man during the summer months.

Food should be adapted to the age, constitution, state of health and mode of life of the individual; to the climate, and the season of the year.

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The milk of the mother ought, in every instance to constitute the food of the infant, unless such an arrangement is impracticable. After the child is weaned, fresh cow's milk, in which a small portion of soft water has been mingled, and sometimes a little sugar, with a small quantity of crust of bread softened, is usually the most healthy food; but this should be varied by occasional meals of gruel, arrow-root, or sago, and if the child is delicate and shows signs of acidity or flatulence, then a preparation of weak chicken broth or beef tea, freed from fat, and thickened with soft boiled rice may be given.

The same kind of food ought to be continued, with the addition of good bread (and potatoes when well cooked seem as healthy food nearly as bread), till the appearance of the "eye teeth;" when these are fairly through, a portion of soft-boiled egg, and occasionally a little meat, the lean part, well cooked and not highly seasoned, may be given.

There is great danger of over-feeding young children with animal food. If given too early and too freely, it irritates the system and greatly aggravates the diseases of infancy.

Ripe fruits should never be given to children till they have teeth, and unripe fruits ought never to be eaten.

During childhood and early youth, the breakfast and supper should consist principally of bread and milk, ripe fruits and vegetable food; it will be sufficient to allow a portion of animal food with the dinner.

Fish, chicken, and other white meats are best for children. Fat pork is nearly indigestible for the young and delicate, and ought never to be eaten by them.

Pastry, rich cakes, plum-puddings, hot short-cakes, and all the family of fried cakes, are the most generally indigestible of all kinds of food. These should rarely be eaten, except by the strong and actively employed, and sparingly even by those.

In truth, there are few articles of diet which a person in health, and leading a very active life, may not eat without feeling much inconvenience, still a preference should be given, as far as possible, to such kinds of food as are most in accordance with the natural constitution. A phlegmatic


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temperament requires a mild, nutritious diet, but not the same amount of animal food as may be needed by the sanguine, which inclines to great physical activity. Those in whom the brain and nervous system predominate, should avoid a stimulating diet, unless they are in the habit of taking considerable muscular exercise. If it be the wish to rouse a phlegmatic organization to greater activity, then use a richer diet, more animal food--but be sure and take exercise at the same time, or it will prove highly injurious. The natural temperament may be essentially altered by diet and exercise.

Rich soups are injurious to the dispeptic. Much liquid food is rarely beneficial for adults; but a small quantity of plain nourishing soup is an economic and healthy beginning of a family dinner.

Meats should always be sufficiently cooked. It is a savage custom to eat meat in a half-raw-half-roasted state, and only a very strong stomach can digest it.

Rich gravies should be avoided, especially in the summer season.

Butter is not a healthy article of diet in hot weather--in winter it is nutritious and generally beneficial; but for young children it is not a good article of diet. Rancid butter is very unhealthy.

Pepper, ginger, and most of the condiments, are best during summer; they are productions of hot climates, which shows them to be most appropriate for the hot season. On the other hand, fat beef, bacon, and those kinds of food we denominate "hearty," should be most freely used during cold weather.

The diet should always be more spare, with a larger proportion of vegetables and ripe fruits, during summer. Fruits are most wholesome in their appropriate season. The skins, stones, and seeds, are indigestible.

Food should never be taken when it is hot--bread is very unhealthy when eaten in this way.

Eat slowly. One of the most usual causes of dispepsia among our business men, arises from the haste in which they swallow their food, without sufficiently chewing it, and then hurry away to their active pursuits. In England very little business is transacted after dinner. There


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ought to be, at least, one hour of quiet after a full meal, from those pursuits which tax the brain as well as those which exercise the muscles.

> WHAT SHALL WE DRINK?

Why water--that is a safe drink for all constitutions and all ages,--provided persons only use it when they are naturally thirsty. But do not drink heartily of cold water when heated or greatly fatigued. A cup of warm tea will better allay the thirst, and give a feeling of comfort to the stomach which water will not.

Toast and water, common beer, soda-water, and other liquids of a similar kind, if they agree with the stomach, may be used freely without danger.

Fermented liquors, such as porter, ale, and wine, if used at all as a drink, should be very sparingly taken.

Distilled spirituous liquors should never be considered drinkable--they may be necessary, sometimes, as a medicine, but never, never consider them a necessary item in house-keeping. So important does it appear to me to dispense entirely with distilled spirits, as an article of domestic use, that I have not allowed a drop to enter into any of the recipes contained in this book.

As the primary effect of fermented liquors, cider, wine, &c., is to stimulate the nervous system, and quicken the circulation, these should be utterly prohibited to children and persons of a quick temperament. In truth, unless prescribed by the physician, it would be best to abstain entirely from their use.

Most people drink too much, because they drink too fast. A wine-glass of water, sipped slowly, will quench the thirst as effectually as a pint swallowed at a draught. When too much is taken at meals, especially at dinner, it hinders digestion. Better drink little during the meal, and then, if thirsty an hour or two afterwards, more. The practice of taking a cup of tea or coffee soon after dinner is a good one, if the beverage be not drank too strong or too hot.

Dispeptic people should be careful to take but a small quantity of drink. Children require more, in proportion to their food, than adults. But it is very injurious to them to


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allow a habit of continual drinking, as you find in some children. It greatly weakens the stomach, and renders them irritable and peevish.

The morning meal requires to be lighter and of a more fluid nature than any other. Children should always, if possible to be obtained, take milk--as a substitute, during the winter, good gruel with bread, or water sweetened with molasses is healthy. Never give children tea, coffee, or chocolate with their meals.

Coffee affords very little nourishment, and is apt, if drank strong, to occasion tremors of the nerves. It is very bad for bilious constitutions. The calm, phlegmatic temperament can bear it. With a good supply of cream and sugar, and drank in moderation, it may be used without much danger.

Strong green tea relaxes the tone of the stomach, and excites the nervous system. Persons of delicate constitution are almost sure to be injured by it. Black tea is much less deleterious. If used with milk and sugar, it may be considered healthy for most people.

Chocolate, when it agrees with the constitution, is very nutritious and healthy. But it seldom can be used steadily, except by aged persons who are very active. It agrees best with persons of phlegmatic temperament; and is more healthy in the winter season than during warm weather. No kind of beverage should be taken hot--it injures the teeth and impairs digestion.

I have now given those general rules and hints in regard to diet, which will greatly preserve the health and promote the comfort of those who follow them. Particular directions and peculiar constitutions cannot be considered or recorded in this book, which is rather intended as a manual for those who require to be instructed how to remain well, than for the sick. Though for these, the plan of diet here recommended, if strictly followed, will be a great relief--in most cases, a radical cure.

We are now to give all necessary directions for the preparation of food in accordance with these rules for health and real enjoyment. I trust that every woman will agree in sentiment with the lady in Milton's Comus--

"That which is not good (beneficial) is not delicious To a well-govern'd and wise appetite."

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> CHAPTER II.

> BREAD.

Importance of good bread--Diet proper for mankind--Proofs that a mixed diet is the best--Advantages of taking a portion of animal food--Flour--Bread--Making yeast--Hints on the economy of bread making, &c.

THE art of making good bread I consider the most important one in cookery, and shall therefore give it the first place in the "Good Housekeeper." Not that I believe bread to contain the "quintessence of beef, mutton, veal, venison," or that an exclusive vegetable diet is best for mankind.

There has been of late years, much said and written respecting the benefits of adhering to a strict vegetable diet, and many excellent people are sadly perplexed about their duty in this matter; and whether they ought to give up animal food entirely. As I profess to make my book a manual for those who wish to preserve their health, as well as prepare their food in the most judicious manner, I will here give a brief sketch of the reasons which induce me to recommend a mixed diet, bread, meat, vegetables and fruits, as the best, the only right regimen for the healthy.

It is an established truth in physiology, that man is omnivorous*--that is, constituted to eat almost every kind of food which, separately nourishes other animals. His teeth and stomach are formed to digest and masticate flesh, fish and all farinaceous and vegetable substances--he can eat and digest these even in a raw state, but it is necessary to perfect them for his nourishment in the most healthy manner,


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that they be prepared by cooking--that is, softened by the use of fire and water.

[Editorial note: The following footnote appears on the bottom of page 9 in the original text.]

Some determined advocates of the vegetable system maintain, that the teeth and stomach of the monkey corresponds, in structure very closely with that of man, yet it lives on fruits--therefore, if man followed nature he would live on fruits and vegetables. But though the anatomical likeness between man and monkeys is striking, yet it is not complete; the difference may be and doubtless is precisely that which makes a difference of diet necessary to nourish and develop their dissimilar natures. Those who should live as the monkeys do would most closely resemble them.

Such is the evidence of nature to the suitableness of a mixed diet for the human race. The appointments of the Creator correspond with the structure of man. At the first, indeed, he was limited; "Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat," was the language of God to Adam.

There is no intimation that any other diet was in use for nearly seventeen hundred years. But this vegetable food did not nourish and develop the human faculties. The physical propensities must have had an almost overwhelming dominion, and if the intellectual powers were developed, they must have been made subservient to the basest animal passions, for the whole earth was filled with violence and men were utterly corrupt and wicked. The moral sentiments seem scarcely to have been felt or cultivated at all. And does not the same character, that is, the predominance of the physical over the intellectual and moral, mark even now in a considerable degree, every nation where, either from climate, custom or condition, the mass of the people are compelled to subsist chiefly on vegetable food?

When, after the destruction of the old world, Noah and his family came forth from the ark, and God assured him that, while the earth continued, the race should not be again plunged in such utter ruin, what new agent of human improvement and civilization was brought to the aid of mankind? We are told of none excepting a change in their diet;--the permission or command rather, to Noah to use animal food. "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat."

Such was the Creator's arrangement, when he had determined that the character and condition of his rational creatures should go on improving, till the whole earth should be peopled and all be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

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And here we may remark, that the tribe or nation, who violates the express command of God, to separate the flesh from the blood and not to use the latter, and eats raw meat, never improves in character or condition. In truth, the command includes the rudiments of cookery, the preparation of food by the aid of fire; and till this is the constant habit of the community, men are savages.

If it be asked why, when flesh as a part of man's diet was so necessary to his well-being, was it not appointed him at the beginning?--Solve me this question--Why was the earth a progressive creation, which, as the researches of philosophers have conclusively proved, required thousands of ages to bring to its present state of mineral, vegetable and animal perfection? The same answer is true for both--it was the purpose of God to show forth his power, wisdom and goodness in a progressive rather than an instantaneous perfecting of his works.

In this respect man is in harmony with the sphere he inhabits.

But one thing is certain; since the appointment of flesh as a part of man's diet, no instance is recorded of its having been prohibited by divine authority. Intoxicating drinks have been forbidden to certain individuals; but from the time of righteous Abraham, who dressed a calf the better to entertain his angel visitors, till the coming of John, "whose meat was locusts and wild honey," no servant of God has been confined to a vegetable diet. The prophet who was fed by his express command, had "bread and flesh" twice each day.

In strict accordance with this theory, which makes a portion of animal food necessary to develop and sustain the human constitution, in its most perfect state of physical, intellectual and moral strength and beauty, we know that now in every country, where a mixed diet is habitually used, as in the temperate climates, there the greatest improvement of the race is to be found; and the greatest energy of character. It is that portion of the human family, who have the means of obtaining this food at least once a day, who now hold dominion over the earth. Seventy thousand of the beef-fed British govern and control ninety millions of the rice eating natives of India.

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In every nation on earth the rulers, the men of power whether princes or priests, almost invariably use a portion of animal food. The people are often compelled, either from poverty or policy, to abstain.--Whenever the time shall arrive, that every peasant in Europe is able to "put his pullet in the pot," even of a Sunday, a great improvement will have taken place in his character and condition; when he can have a portion of animal food, properly cooked, once each day, he will soon become a man.

In our own country, the beneficial effect of a generous diet, in developing and sustaining the energies of a whole nation is clearly evident. The severe and unremitting labors of every kind, which were requisite to subdue and obtain dominion of a wilderness world, could not have been done by a half starved, suffering people. A larger quantity and better quality of food were necessary here than would have supplied men in the old countries, where less action of body and mind are permitted.

Still, there is great danger of excess in all indulgences of the appetites, and even when a present benefit may be obtained, this danger should never be forgotten. The tendency in our country has been to excess in animal food. The advocates of the vegetable diet system had good cause for denouncing this excess, and the indiscriminate use of flesh. It was, and now is, frequently given to young children--infants, before they have teeth, which is a sin against nature, which often costs the life of the poor little sufferer--it is eaten two freely by the sedentary and delicate: and to make it worse still, it is eaten, often in a half-cooked state, and swallowed without sufficient chewing. All these things are wrong and ought to be reformed.

I hope "The Good Housekeeper" will do something towards enlightening public opinion on the proper kinds of food and the proper manner of preparing it. These subjects have never been sufficiently considered. Many, probably most, of the receipts now in use, have been the result of chance or the whim of a depraved appetite. But as the spirit of enquiry is abroad, searching out abuses of all kinds, let us hope that the abuses of the good things God has so bounteously given us will not be suffered to go unreproved.

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When women are thoroughly instructed in physiology, and the natural laws which govern the human constitution, in chemistry and in domestic economy, then we may expect that desideratum of Doctor Johnson--a cookery book on philosophical principles.

And now we will return to the subject of bread, and describe minutely the best practical manner of preparation at present understood.

> FLOUR.

The first requisite for good bread is that the flour or meal be good. Wheat is always better for being washed; if it be at all injured by smut, it is not fit for food unless it be thoroughly washed. In the country this is easily done.

Put the grain in a clean tub, a bushel at a time; fill the tub with water, and stir the whole up from the bottom, briskly, with your hand, or a stick. Pour off the water and fill it with clean till the water ceases to be colored or dirty. Two or three waters usually are sufficient. Finish the washing quickly as possible, so as not to soak the grain; then spread it thinly on a large, strong sheet, (it is best to keep a coarse unbleached sheet solely for this purpose, if you wash your grain,) laid on clean boards in the sun, or where the sun and air can be freely admitted. Stir the grain with your hand every two or three hours,--it will dry in a day, if the weather be fair.

Fresh ground flour makes the best and sweetest bread. If you live in the vicinity of a mill, never have more than one or two bushels ground into flour at a time.

A bushel of good, clear wheat will make fiftysix pounds of flour, besides the bran and middlings.

If you purchase flour by the barrel or sack, be careful to ascertain that it is good and pure. In Europe flour is often adulterated, that is, mixed with other substances, to swell its bulk and weight. Whiting, ground stones and bones, and plaster of Paris, are the ingredients chiefly used. To be sure, none of these things are absolutely poisonous, but they are injurious, and no one wants them in bread. In our country we think such deceptions are seldom attempted, still it may be well to know how to detect the least bad matter in flour.

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To discover whiting, dip the ends of the fore-finger and thumb into sweet oil, and take up a small quantity of flour between them. If it be pure, you may freely rub the fingers together for any length of time, it will not become sticky, and the substance will turn nearly black; if whiting be mixed with the flour, a few times rubbing turns it into putty, but its color is very little changed.

To detect stone-dust or plaster of Paris; drop the juce of lemon or a little sharp vinegar on a small quantity of flour; if adulterated, an immediate commotion or effervescence takes place; if pure, it will remain at rest. Another quick, easy and pretty sure method of trial is to take a handful of flour and squeeze it very tightly for a minute--if it be good and pure, when you open your hand, the flour will remain in a lump, in the form you have given it, even the grains and wrinkles of the skin of the hand will be visible--you may place it on the table without breaking--but if it contains foreign substances, it will not adhere thus, but crumble and fall almost immediately.

Sour or musty flour may be easily known by the smell. Such damaged stuff can never make good, healthy bread, though public bakers, it is said, often prefer to use it, because it is cheapest, and they know methods of preparation by which they can produce light and white bread from this damaged flour. The bread is, to be sure, nearly tasteless, and it cannot be equally nourishing as good flour would make; but if it looks well, it will sell. Those who bake their own bread have the opportunity of knowing that it is made of good ingredients; and if they make it after the following recipe, they may be sure of good bread.

> MAKING BREAD.

A large family will, probably, use a bushel of flour weekly; but we will take the proper quantity for a family of four or five persons.

Take twentyone quarts of flour, put it into a kneading trough or earthen pan which is well glazed, and large enough to hold double the quantity of flour. Make a deep, round hole in the centre of the flour, and pour into it half a pint of brewer's yeast, or the thick sediment from home-brewed beer--the last if good, is to be preferred. In either


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case the yeast must be mixed with a pint of milk-warm water, and well stirred before it is poured in. Then with a spoon stir into this liquid, gradually, so much of the surrounding flour as will make it like thin batter; sprinkle this over with dry flour, till it is covered entirely. Then cover the trough or pan with a warm cloth, and set it by the fire in winter, and where the sun is shining in summer. This process is called "setting the sponge." The object is to give strength and character to the ferment by communicating the quality of leaven to a small portion of the flour; which will then be easily extended to the whole. Setting sponge is a measure of wise precaution--for if the yeast does not rise and ferment in the middle of the flour it shows that the yeast is not good; the batter can then be removed, without wasting much of the flour, and another sponge set with better yeast.

Let the sponge stand till the batter has swelled and risen so as to form cracks in the covering of flour; then scatter over it two table spoonfuls of fine salt, and begin to form the mass into dough by pouring in, by degrees, as much warm water as is necessary to mix with the flour. Twenty-one quarts of flour will require about four quarts of water. It will be well to prepare rather more; soft water is much the best; it should in summer be warm as new milk; during winter, it ought to be somewhat warmer, as flour is a cold, heavy substance.

Add the water by degrees to the flour, mix them with your hand, till the whole mass is incorporated; it must then be worked most thoroughly, moulded over and over and kneaded with your clenched hands, till it becomes so perfectly smooth and light as well as stiff, that not a particle will adhere to your hands. Remember that you cannot have good bread, light and white, unless you give the dough a thorough kneading.--Then make the dough into a lump in the middle of the trough or pan, and dust it over with flour to prevent its adhering to the vessel. Cover it with a warm cloth, and in the winter the vessel should be placed near the fire. It now undergoes a further fermentation, which is shown by its swelling and rising; this, if the ferment was well formed, will be at its height in an


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hour--somewhat less in very warm weather. It ought to be taken at its height, before it begins to fall.*

Divide the dough into seven equal portions; mould on your paste-board, and form them into loaves; put these on well floured tin or earthen plates, and place immediately in the oven.

The oven, if a good one and you have good dry wood, will heat sufficiently in an hour. It is best to kindle the fire in it with dry pine, hemlock furze or some quick burning material; then fill it up with faggots or hard wood split fine and dried, sufficient to heat it--let the wood burn down and stir the coals evenly over the bottom of the oven, let them lie till they are like embers; the bricks at the arch and sides will be clear from any color of smoke when the oven is sufficiently hot. Clean and sweep the oven,--throw in a little flour on the bottom,--if it burns black at once, do not put in the bread, but let it stand a few moments and cool.

It is a good rule to put the fire in the oven when the dough is made up--the batter will rise and the former heat in about the same time.

When the loaves are in the oven, it must be closed and kept tight, except you open it for a moment to see how the bread appears. If the oven is properly heated, loaves of the size named, will be done in an hour and a half or two hours. They will weigh four pounds per loaf, or about that--thus giving you twentyeight pounds of bread from twentyone quarts (or pounds) of flour. The weight gained is from the water.

It is the best economy to calculate (or ascertain by experiment) the number of loaves of a certain weight or size, necessary for a week's consumption in your family, and bake accordingly. In the winter season bread may be kept good for a fortnight; still I think it the best rule to bake once every week. Bread should not be eaten at all till it


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has been baked, at least, one day. When the loaves are done, take them from the oven, and place them on a clean shelf, in a clean, cool pantry. If the crust happen to be scorched, or the bread is too much baked, the loaves, when they are taken out of the oven, may be wrapped in a clean, coarse towel, which has been slightly damped. It is well to keep a light cloth thrown over all the loaves. When a loaf has been cut, it should be kept in a tight box from the air, if you wish to prevent its drying.

[Editorial note: The Following Footnote appears in the Original Text at the End of Page 16.]

*There are three processes in fermentation--the vinous, which makes the dough light and white--the acetous, which turns it sour and rather brown--and the putrefactive, which utterly spoils it.--The only good bread is made by baking the dough when the vinuous fermentation is exactly at its height. As soon as the acetous commences, the dough is injured. It it may be in a measure restored by mixing diluted pearlash or salæratus, and working it thoroughly with every portion of the dough--then baking it quickly.

BROWN OR DYSPEPSIA BREAD.

This bread is now best known as "Graham bread"--not that Doctor Graham invented or discovered the manner of its preparation, but that he has been unwearied and successful in recommending it to the public. It is an excellent article of diet for the dyspeptic and the costive; and for most persons of sedentary habits, would be beneficial. It agrees well with children; and, in short, I think it should be used in every family, though not to the exclusion of fine bread. The most difficult point in manufacturing this bread, is to obtain good pure meal. It is said that much of the bread commonly sold as dyspepsia, is made of the bran or middlings, from which the fine flour has been separated; and that saw-dust is sometimes mixed with the meal. To be certain that it is good, send good, clean wheat to the mill, have it ground rather coarsely, and keep the meal in a dry, cool place. Before using it, sift it through a common hair sieve; this will separate the very coarse and harsh particles.

Take six quarts of this wheat meal, one tea-cup of good yeast, and half a tea-cup of molasses, mix these with a pint of milk-warm water and a tea-spoonful of pearlash or salæratus. Make a hole in the flour, and stir this mixture in the middle of the meal till it is like batter. Then proceed as with fine flour bread. Make the dough when sufficiently light into four loaves, which will weigh two pounds per loaf when baked. It requires a hotter oven than fine flour bread and must bake about an hour and a half.

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RYE AND INDIAN BREAD.

This is a sweet and nourishing diet, and generally acceptable to children.

It is economical, and when wheat is scarce, is a pretty good substitute for dyspepsia bread.

There are many different proportions of mixing it--some put one third indian meal with two of rye; others like one third rye and two of indian; others prefer it half and half.

If you use the largest proportion of rye meal, make your dough stiff, so that it will mould into loaves;--when it is two thirds indian, it should be softer and baked in deep earthen or tin pans after the following rules.

Take four quarts of sifted indian meal; put it into a glazed earthen pan, sprinkle over it a table-spoonful of fine salt; pour over it about two quarts of boiling water, stir and work it till every part of the meal is thoroughly wet; indian absorbs a greater quantity of water. When it is about milk warm, work in two quarts of rye meal, half a pint of lively yeast, mixed with a pint of warm water; add more warm water, if needed. Work the mixture well with your hands; it should be stiff, but not firm as flour dough. Have ready a large, deep, well buttered pan; put in the dough, and smooth the top by putting your hand in warm water, and then patting down the loaf. Set this to rise in a warm place in the winter; in the summer it should not be put by the fire. When it begins to crack on the top, which will usually be in about an hour or an hour and a half, put it into a well-heated oven, and bake it three or four hours. It is better to let it stand in the oven all night, unless the weather is warm. Indian meal requires to be well cooked. The loaf will weigh between seven and eight pounds. Pan bread keeps best in large loaves.

Many use milk in mixing bread;--in the country where milk is plentiful, it is a good practice, as bread is certainly richer wet with sweet milk than with water; but it will not keep so long in warm weather.

Baking can very well be done in a stove; during the winter this is an economical way of cooking--but the stove


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must be carefully watched or there is danger of scorching the bread.

RICE BREAD.

Boil a pint of rice very soft; when it is nearly cool add a pint of leaven, and work in three quarts of rice flour. Let it rise, till it is light--one hour, in warm weather is sufficient--Divide the dough into three parts, bake it in tin pans, well buttered; and you will have three large loaves of bread. It soongrows dry.

YEAST.