Household Bread, with Potatoes.—Peel and boil 3lb. of potatoes and crush them through a masher or colander. Mix together half a pint of good sweet yeast with half a pint of barely tepid water, then mix this and the potato pulp to a batter and pour it into a bay in the centre of a peck of flour. Stir down a little of the flour from the sides, and dust a little more over the top of the little pool of batter thus formed. Cover the pan with a thick cloth, and leave its contents to rise by the fire for about an hour. At the end of this time, if the “sponge,” as this batter is technically called, is properly fermented, work it all into a dough with the flour, adding in 2oz. of salt and four and a half to five pints of tepid water. Remember to add this water very gradually, according to the advice given above. Let this dough rise in a covered pan in a warm place for about two hours; now knead it into loaves, let these rise as before, and bake them in a good oven from one and a quarter to two hours, according to size.
To know if bread is properly baked tap the underside with your knuckles, and it will give a sort of hollow sound, whilst the texture will feel firm yet elastic.
As soon as the loaf is lifted out of the oven turn it on its side, or support it so that the air will get all round it. Otherwise the side resting on the table gets soft, and if placed flat on the side that was underneath in the oven this will become wet and blistered, as the steam in the loaf cannot escape. Let the loaves get thoroughly cold before putting them in the bread pan, and wipe this out well before they are placed in it. It cannot be too often repeated that the most scrupulous cleanliness is an indispensable factor in successful bread-making.