from the places where it is manufactured here; and it is then better avoided; but in all other seasons it will be found well adapted for making very light bread and cakes. It has been sometimes objected to, from its rendering bread too spongy and unsubstantial; but this has arisen, I am inclined to believe, from double the quantity of it having been used which was really required. One ounce is quite sufficient to make a gallon of flour into bread. For many months this is the full proportion which I have habitually had employed, with entire success. In London, where I first had it tested, nearly twice as much produced no better effect; but the yeast, after having been kept a day or two in the heavy atmosphere of that city, may perhaps ferment less freely.* Great care should be taken to dilute it very gradually before it is mixed with the flour in making dough; for, unless this be done, the bread will be full of large hollow spaces after it is baked, which will never be seen in that which is properly made. When used in its dry state it should first be broken down in a large basin with the back of a strong spoon, and moistened with a few drops of liquid

It is a rather curious question, whether the difference I have named may really have had its origin in any atmospheric influence which was unfavourable to the fermentation, or whether it may have arisen solely from the freshness of the yeast being impaired by the surcharged air of the great city.

at a time, until not a single lump is to be seen in it. When it has been dropped into water and stirred up with it, it will have become smooth at once. The usual price at which it is retailed is one penny the ounce. For the same cost sufficient brewers' yeast may be obtained to make a bushel of bread: the German yeast, therefore, is considerably the dearest, but it is more uniform and certain in its effects. It is sold at the bakers' and cornchandlers', and sometimes by the general shopkeepers.

To keep German yeast. In the state in which it arrives here, it is very difficult to preserve this yeast fit for use for more than a day or two, unless the weather should be very cold. It keeps best in an uncovered jar or cup; and should always be set into a cool and dry place. When procured quite fresh and sweet, if dropped into a jug of water* directly it is brought into the house, and well stirred up with it, it will remain good much longer and ferment very readily afterwards. The water may be changed once in twenty-four hours, and, if poured off carefully, will carry no portion of the yeast with it. A pint of water will be sufficient for an ounce of yeast.

Method of making German yeast.—"This yeast

* This, in London and its neighbourhood, ought to be filtered for the purpose, and so ought all which is used in making bread.

in many distilleries forms an important by-product of the manufactory, and is collected and sold under the name of dry yeast, for the use of the private brewer and baker. When this is done, the process adopted is nearly as follows:—Crushed rye is mashed with the proper quantity of barleymalt, and the wort, when made, cooled to the proper temperature. For every hundred pounds of the crushed grain there are now added half a pound of carbonate of soda, and six ounces of oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) diluted with much water, and the wort is then brought into fermentation by the addition of yeast. From the strongly-fermenting liquid the yeast is skimmed off, and strained through a hair-sieve into cold water, through which it is allowed to settle. It is afterwards washed with one or two waters, and finally pressed in cloth bags till it has the consistency of dough. It has a pleasant fruity smell, and in a cool place may be kept for two or three weeks. It then passes into a putrefying decomposition, acquires the odour of decaying cheese, and, like decaying cheese, has now the property of changing sugar into lactic acid, instead of into alcohol, as before. A hundred pounds of crushed grain will yield six to eight pounds of the pressed yeast. It is made largely at Rotterdam, and is imported thence to this country through Hull."*

* Professor Johnston's "Chemistry of Common Life.”

This is nearly the same process as the one pursued in Austria, and communicated recently by a correspondent of the Times. "Take brewery, or, by preference, distillery yeast, and filter it through muslin or a silk sieve into four or five times the quantity of water, which must be as cold as possible and in which, in summer, ice should be dissolved. Let the yeast and water be well stirred up together (in preference with a broom) until there is a good head of foam; then leave them until the yeast has settled and the water has become clear. Draw off the water gently without disturbing the yeast. (This is best effected by having a tub with taps in it placed at different heights, and by opening the highest first.) This done, again pump the tub full of fresh water, and stir the yeast up with it again. Repeat this until the water becomes tasteless and clear; then add to the settled substance, for every twelve gallons of yeast used at the commencement, half an ounce of carbonate of ammonia and one ounce of bi-carbonate of soda, previously dissolved in a pint of water. Mix this well with the purified yeast, and leave it for twelve or fourteen hours. Then again pump water to it, stir it up well, and, when once more settled, draw it off, which concludes the process. The yeast must next be turned into a linen bag, tied up, and placed between two boards large enough to cover

H

it well, and very gently pressed to free it gradually from moisture, and convert it into a substance similar to bread-paste or dough, which can be formed to size and weight as needed.

"In Austria the weight is something near one pound when dry, in square forms an inch thick.

"The whole process should be conducted in a very cool place, and the yeast should be kept in a cold place, when it will remain good from eight to ten days in summer, and from ten to fifteen in winter."

From this excellent receipt, which I have been obliged to curtail a little, it will be seen that German yeast is only common yeast thoroughly purified and rendered half-solid by pressure. It might easily be prepared in this country, either for sale or for domestic use, by the directions given above, which are very clear and ample.

Home-brewed yeast.—The yeast of mild homebrewed ale is always much in request for breadmaking, and is even bought up by some first-class London bakers from small farms and other places for the purpose. It does not require watering to purify it, but merely to render it solid, that a learner may know exactly the proportion to take;

*The yeast of strong beer, which is generally more highly hopped, and therefore more likely to be bitter, will produce an excellent effect in lightening dough, but will be less favourable to its sweetness.