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FRENCH-BEAN BREAD.

The seed of the white varieties of French-bean, boiled quite tender, and rubbed through a strainer to divest them of their skins, and mixed with twothirds of their weight of flour or meal, will make bread which in flavour and appearance can scarcely be known from genuine wheaten bread; and as the bean is one of the most nutritious by far of all vegetables, it will replace very advantageously a portion of wheat-flour for persons whose digestion is not extremely delicate: by those who are out of health, this bread is perhaps better avoided.* After the beans have been prepared as above, the pulp from them should be intimately mixed with the flour or meal, and the bread finished in the usual way. It will be seen, as the dough is gradually moistened, that less liquid will be required for it than for common wheaten-bread; but the exact difference cannot easily be specified. The dough should be mixed entirely at once, and be made rather firm. The seed of the scarlet-runner, or any other coloured variety of the vegetable (if

*The French-bean seed, known as haricots blancs, served so abundantly at foreign tables, and very much now in England also, is not considered, even where it is so much eaten, as well adapted to invalids. When quite fresh, it is less objectionable than after it is harvested for winter consumption.

the flavour were not strong), would probably answer as well as the white, particularly for brown bread.

Pulp of white French beans (haricots blancs),

1 lb.; wheat-flour or meal, 2 lbs., made into dough with the common proportion of yeast, rather less liquid, and a little more salt. Fermented and baked like other bread.

PARSNEP AND OTHER VEGETABLE BREAD.

Many vegetables may be used in part for making bread; but it is only in cases of real need that such an expedient is recommended. When corn is unusually dear, the produce of a kitchen-garden or of an allotment ground will serve, in combination with it, to furnish wholesome bread; but, with the exception of potatoes and the seed of the French bean, all vegetables will impart their peculiar flavour to it, though their presence may not otherwise be perceptible. Parsneps, Swedish turnips, and beet-root will all answer for dough (parsneps the best of any) if boiled tender, mashed to a smooth pulp*, and stirred in a saucepan over a gentle fire until tolerably dry, and left to become cool before they are mixed with flour or meal for the purpose.

*The beet-root, which may also be baked, must be grated.

BREAD OF INDIAN-CORN FLOUR.

Half Indian flour and half wheaten flour, made and managed like common dough, and baked in a moderate oven, will produce good and economical bread. The meal is sometimes scalded* before it is mixed with the flour; but it is then rather less pleasant in flavour, and a little more difficult to preserve of a proper consistence, as it will absorb as much liquid as will be required for the bread altogether. The yeast must therefore be stirred to it when it is at the proper degree of warmth, and the flour worked in immediately after. No bread, of which Indian-corn forms a part, should

be baked in a very hot oven. One third only of

sound yellow maize-flour, with two thirds of wheatflour, will form a mixture which will generally be liked, and with which it is perhaps better to begin the use of Indian-corn until the taste is a little accustomed to it.

UNFERMENTED BREAD.

The most perfectly wholesome kind of unfermented bread is that made with muriatic acid† and

* One peculiarity of the maize is, its becoming difficult to convert into various preparations, if quite boiling liquid be previously mixed with it. Half a pint of cold water to a quart taken in full ebullition, will cool it down sufficiently.

I have in my possession a pamphlet written by a baker, who has received the marked public testimony of a scientific

carbonate of soda, of which the combination forms common salt, and cannot therefore be in any way unhealthful, though it is often denounced by ignorant people as such; but until some experience has been gained, there will be a chance of failure in this bread, in consequence of the variation in the strength and quality of the acid, which must have just sufficient power to neutralise the soda and evolve the necessary portion of carbonic acid gas for rendering it light, without either ingredient being in such excess as to impart its flavour, in the slightest degree, to the dough.

The soda, which should be of the best kind, and in fine powder, should be rubbed through a hairsieve with a wooden spoon into the flour, and mixed intimately with it before the acid is poured in. The proper proportions of all the ingredients will be found, with directions for mixing them, at page 100. Both brown bread and white may be made in the same manner, and should be well but quickly kneaded as soon as they have been mingled so far as they can be with a large strong wooden spoon. No metal should be used in the process. The loaves should be expeditiously made, and set into a moderately heated oven without the least delay.

man of repute, as to the purity of his bread, in which he attacks his brethren of the trade rather vehemently as “poisoners of the people," &c. &c. In his list of wicked adulterations, muriatic acid is included.

Unfermented Bread made with Tartaric Acid.— Though perhaps not well adapted for long.continued consumption, this bread, which is more easily made with perfect success than the preceding, may be eaten occasionally without any disadvantage. For each pound of flour allow one drachm of bi-carbonate of soda, and rub it through a sieve over the pan which contains it, and stir them together until the soda is equally distributed amongst it. Dissolve fifty grains of tartaric acid in half a pint of water, knead it up well, but very quickly, and place it in the oven the instant it is ready. Salt must be added to this bread as for common dough; but none is required for that which is made with the muriatic acid. A very small portion of pounded sugar is an improvement to it; about half a teaspoonful to the pound of flour. For delicious bread, made with tartaric acid and butter-milk, see "Dairy-Bread," page

147.

CRESTS TO SERVE WITH CHEESE.

Take a half-baked loaf from the oven, and tear it into small rough bits with a couple of forks; lay these on a tin, and put them back into the oven for ten minutes. If a light loaf be made for the purpose, with new milk and two ounces of butter, they will quite resemble rusks. A sweet

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