COTTAGE BRICK OVEN.
is too hot*, and should be closed, if the state of the
dough will permit it to wait, until the temperature
is moderated: this is better than cooling it down
quickly by leaving the door open. It may also be
tested by putting into it small bits of dough about
the size of walnuts, which will soon show whether
it be over heated or not sufficiently so.
When, from want of due calculation or any
other point of good management, the dough is not
ready when the oven is fit to receive it, and the heat
has too much abated by the time it is so to permit
it to be properly baked, the economist should
bear in mind that the cost of having it heated anew
to the proper degree will be a very trifling con-
sideration compared with the loss of the bread itself,
if it should be spoiled by insufficient baking. The
price of half a bushel of flour would purchase a
large number of faggots.
Cottage brick oven.—To bake half a bushel of
bread in the oven of a working man's cottage, a
fourpenny faggot—in those counties where wood
is to be obtained at a reasonable price—is usually
found sufficient. The bread in many cases is
divided into eight or nine large loaves, which are
baked for about two hours. The fire is kindled
in the oven immediately after the dough is made;
but it is not commonly left to rise so long as two
* This test is to be relied upon only when the flour is not
very old and dry, as it will then take fire in an instant.