A thoroughly reliable and carefully tested recipe for yeast is the following : — Put one ounce of hops into a pan with four pints water and boil for ten minutes. Empty the hops and water into a tub or mess kid and make the liquor up to nine pints by adding hot water. If you have a thermometer, add the water at 150° F. Into this liquor at this heat stir in one and a quarter pounds of crushed malt. Cover over and allow this to stand for two hours. Then strain this into a shallow tub, and make up the quantity to one and a quarter gallons by adding water. Cool down until just tepid, or by the thermometer between 65° and 70° F., and stir in half pint of yeast✪ Yeast Recipe from a previous brewing. Stir this occasionally when it is working, or better still, pour it from one tub to another and back again, so that the air can get in. This will be ready in 24 to 30 hours. In hot climates this yeast should be made twice weekly, and in any climate if the yeast is not working vigorously add one tablespoon- ful flour and stir thoroughly. Never boil hops in an iron pan,, hut- use either a copper or enamelled pan for this purpose.. 35 DOUGH. — Closely allied to yeast is the dough making. Many sea cooks make a ferment, or, as it is sometimes called, a “ sponge,” before using the yeast for making dough. This ferment is often made by guesswork as to quantity of yeast and flour. Now the object of a “ sponge. ” is to encourage the yeast germs to grow and become strong, and if too much flour be added to the ferment this object will be defeated. Experiments have proved that the best proportions for the vigorous growth of yeast are one and three-quarter pounds solid matter to ten pounds liquid. Therefore, if you are going to make a ferment of two quarts of liquid yeast, not more than fourteen ounces of flour✪ Dough Making need be added. Remember that you want strong yeast, not gas, and that yeast flourishes in a temperature of 85° F. When making bread it is advisable when quite clear of the land, where the water is not polluted by drainage from rivers and towns, to use all sea water. By its use the bread is of good flavour, whiter, and of better texture than when the tank water is used. Sea water holds in solution a number of ingredients, none of which are harmful in bread, but two in particular are very helpful. The principal ingredient is salt ; sea water has salt in the exact proportion required for bread. It also holds in solution a small quantity of lime. The reason lime water is of advantage will be seen later. The flour supplied for sea use is usually one of the lower grades, and this, unfortunately is the class of white flour that has most of a •certain substance called cerealin present. This cerealin has the power when moistened, as in dough, of acting in such a way upon the gluten, which is also present in flour, so that it weakens it by softening, and thus losing its elasticity. The elasticity of dough is entirely depend- ant upon the quantity and quality of the gluten present, and it follows therefore that the less elastic the dough, the smaller the loaf will be when baked, and we all know that the smaller a loaf is from a given quantity of dough, the heavier and more indigestible it is. When flour goes hard through long keeping, the dough when made from it will be soft and watery. This is due to weakness of .gluten.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

A thoroughly reliable and carefully tested recipe for yeast is the following : — Put one ounce of hops into a pan with four pints water and boil for ten minutes. Empty the hops and water into a tub or mess kid and make the liquor up to nine pints by adding hot water. If you have a thermometer, add the water at 150° F. Into this liquor at this heat stir in one and a quarter pounds of crushed malt. Cover over and allow this to stand for two hours. Then strain this into a shallow tub, and make up the quantity to one and a quarter gallons by adding water. Cool down until just tepid, or by the thermometer between 65° and 70° F., and stir in half pint of yeast from a previous brewing. Stir this occasionally when it is working, or better still, pour it from one tub to another and back again, so that the air can get in. This will be ready in 24 to 30 hours. In hot climates this yeast should be made twice weekly, and in any climate if the yeast is not working vigorously add one tablespoonful flour and stir thoroughly. Never boil hops in an iron pan, but use either a copper or enamelled pan for this purpose. DOUGH. — Closely allied to yeast is the dough making. Many sea cooks make a ferment, or, as it is sometimes called, a “ sponge,” before using the yeast for making dough. This ferment is often made by guesswork as to quantity of yeast and flour. Now the object of a “ sponge. ” is to encourage the yeast germs to grow and become strong, and if too much flour be added to the ferment this object will be defeated. Experiments have proved that the best proportions for the vigorous growth of yeast are one and three-quarter pounds solid matter to ten pounds liquid. Therefore, if you are going to make a ferment of two quarts of liquid yeast, not more than fourteen ounces of flour need be added. Remember that you want strong yeast, not gas, and that yeast flourishes in a temperature of 85° F. When making bread it is advisable when quite clear of the land, where the water is not polluted by drainage from rivers and towns, to use all sea water. By its use the bread is of good flavour, whiter, and of better texture than when the tank water is used. Sea water holds in solution a number of ingredients, none of which are harmful in bread, but two in particular are very helpful. The principal ingredient is salt ; sea water has salt in the exact proportion required for bread. It also holds in solution a small quantity of lime. The reason lime water is of advantage will be seen later. The flour supplied for sea use is usually one of the lower grades, and this, unfortunately is the class of white flour that has most of a •certain substance called cerealin present. This cerealin has the power when moistened, as in dough, of acting in such a way upon the gluten, which is also present in flour, so that it weakens it by softening, and thus losing its elasticity. The elasticity of dough is entirely dependant upon the quantity and quality of the gluten present, and it follows therefore that the less elastic the dough, the smaller the loaf will be when baked, and we all know that the smaller a loaf is from a given quantity of dough, the heavier and more indigestible it is. When flour goes hard through long keeping, the dough when made from it will be soft and watery. This is due to weakness of .gluten.

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