Bread can be made out of flour, water, yeast, and salt, but usually a little fat and sugar are added to give additional food value and flavor. Milk when used in place of water makes a more nutritious bread, and the crust has a more appetizing appearance.

Hard wheat flour, which is made from spring wheat and contains a high percentage of gluten, is best for bread making. Winter or soft wheat flour is used where a lighter, more flaky product is desired.

Good bread is sometimes described as porous or containing a large number of holes, all about the same size and shape. A loaf of bread should be light in weight according to its size and should be elastic and have a symmetrical form and an unbroken golden crust.

1. Use dependable materials and correct utensils.

2. Cleanliness. Exactness of proportions, measuring, mixing and molding.

3. Set bread to rise in a warm place. Keep it warm while rising.

4. Adjust oven temperature high at first to form crust, then medium and steady.

5. Cool loaves without steaming.

Baking bread (1) kills the ferment (2) makes starch soluble (3) drives off the alcohol and carbon dioxide (4) forms brown crust of pleasant flavor. Bread should be baked 45 minutes-1 hour in a moderate oven at a temperature of 350°-400°. If the oven is too hot, the crust will brown too quickly before the center of the bread is baked. The first fifteen minutes of the baking, the loaves should continue rising, then should brown and continue browning for the next twenty minutes. The last fifteen minutes should finish the baking.

After baking, the loaves should be removed from the pans at once, and turned on their side on a wire bread or cake cooler. If a soft crust is desired, brush with butter and cover; if a crisp crust is preferred, allow the bread to cool without covering.

ROLLED OATS BREAD

Pour two cups of scalded milk (or part milk and part water) over one cup and a half of rolled oats, add two tablespoons of sugar or molasses. When cooled to lukewarm, add one-third a cake of compressed yeast, softened and mixed with half a cup of lukewarm water, three cups of whole wheat flour and two of white flour. Mix with a knife to a dough, adding as much more flour as is required to make a dough that may be kneaded. Knead until smooth and elastic. Wash and butter the mixing bowl; in it put the dough, carefully cover and set aside out of draughts. When the dough is doubled in bulk, cut down and shape into two loaves. When again nearly doubled in bulk bake one hour.

REFERENCES FOR JUDGING
(FARMER’S BULLETIN No. 807)

HOMINY BREAD

• 2 large potatoes (peeled and sliced)
• 3 c. cooked hominy
• 1 tbsp. lard
• 1 tsp. salt
• Flour to make a stiff dough
• 1 compressed yeast

Boil potatoes, drain and press through colander. Add enough water to liquor drained from the potatoes to make four cups of liquid. Add to this one yeast cake dissolved in one-fourth cup of lukewarm water, add lard, salt, hominy, and enough white flour to knead.

Knead and let rise until double its size. Knead again, shape into loaves, put into pans, and let rise again. Bake in a moderate oven forty-five minutes to one hour.

Bread and Bread Making in the Home by Caroline L. Hunt and Hanna L. Wessling. Farmer’s Bul. 807, U. S. Dept. of Ag. 1917. Bread Making—H. Atwater. Va. Agric. Dept. B. Bul. 109-16. Some Points in Making and Judging Bread by Isabelle Bevier, Univ. of Ill. Bul. Vol. X: No. 25-1916.