A
little over a week ago I wrote two posts on old/new/enduring ideas related to
bread (here, and here). Bread, of course, requires yeast to make it rise. Sometimes the rising
agent is added in the form of sourdough ferment or a lump of dough from a
previous baking. I have never understood why cookery book instructions often
distinguish this from ‘yeast,’ as if it was an entirely different thing rather
than simply another form of the very same thing.
There
are many recipes for making yeast from all sorts of fermentable materials, and
I have previously given them for potato, lemon, and hops amongst other things
(see links below). The following method of making “Temperance Yeast” was an
intriguing concept until I realised that the title says nothing about the
ingredients or method of making leaven, but was purely to relieve the anxiety
of temperance advocates reluctant to purchase brewers’ yeast to rise their
bread, as was common practice at the time.
The
recipe also demonstrates the scale of the household bread-making operation at
the time, in that the instructions tell how much of the Temperance Yeast to use
for thirty pounds of flour.
Temperance
Yeast
On
Monday morning boil for half an hour,
2 ounces of the best hops in 4 quarts of water. Let the liquor cool down to a
milk-warm heat, and then put in a small handful of salt and half a pound of
brown sugar. Beat up one pound of the best flour with some of this liquid, and
then mix all well together.
Wednesday morning boil and well mash 3 pounds
of mealy potatoes, and mix with the above. While the yeast is being made, (that
is up to Thursday morning, ) it should be kept in a warm place, but not too
warm, and stirred often, every half hour if possible.
Thursday morning sieve the mixture carefully,
then put the liquid in a large stone bottle, when it will be fit for use. After
it is made it must be kept in a cool place and corked tightly.
DIRECTIONS
FOR USE.- Before you take the yeast out for use, it must be stirred well round
with a peeled stick or willow. Mix the barm or yeast the night before it is
used, with a quart of water and a little flour; set and work your sponge and
knead your dough the same as with brewer’s yeast, but let it rise for 2 or 3
hours, or more if convenient, after kneading, before it is baked. This yeast
will keep for 2 or 3 months, according to the weather. Half a pint of it will
raise thirty pounds of good flour.
The Family
Economist: A Penny Monthly Magazine, devoted to the Moral, Physical, and
Domestic Improvement of the Industrious Classes, Vol 4, (London,1851)
Other posts with a similar theme:
1 comment:
Exploring your treasure trove.
Wondered if you'd ever seen this way of making yeast that I discovered in a book by the great Mrs Tibbott https://kitchencounterculture121.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/mrs-s-minwel-tibbott-and-making-yeast-cultures-the-old-welsh-way/
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