Milk or french bread

Ingredients: Three pounds of flour (pastry whites), one ounce of German yeast, a teaspoonful of castor sugar, one of salt, and sufficient milk to make it into dough. 

Put the flour into a basin, make a hole in the centre; put the yeast into a breakfastcup with the sugar; nearly fill the cup with milk and water, equal quantities, which should be lukewarm. Dissolve it by stirring, then pour it into the hole in the flour, and stir a little flour to make a sponge. Let it stand for half an hour. Have some lukewarm milk (if cold it will spoil the sponge), mix the dough into a stiff paste. Knead well, put it back into the basin, cut across the top, and put it into a warm place to rise (for about an hour). When well risen (it should rise to double the quantity), take it out on to the paste-board, well knead it, and make it into loaves. The quantity given should make three nice loaves. This also makes nice breakfast or dinner rolls. When the loaves or rolls are made into shape, they should be put on to a baking sheet and placed over a pan of hot water or on the plate rack, or a very cool oven. Bake for one hour in a moderate oven. A nice tea cake can be made from this bread by adding a little teaspoonful of sugar, and the yolk of one egg. Take about half a pound of dough and the above ingredients. Beat the cake well with the hand ; butter the tea-cake tins and put in the tea cakes (this quantity will make two). Place them in a warm place to rise, then bake about twenty minutes. A bread cake can be made from this dough by taking two pounds of dough, quarter of pound of lard or butter, the same of currants or sultanas, quarter of pound of mixed peel, the grated rind of a lemon, the yolks of two eggs, a dash of allspice. Warm the butter, put the dough into a basin, then add the butter and sugar, and egg, then the fruit, cutting the peel fine. Mix well together. Have ready a buttered cake tin, which should be warm. Stand the tin in a warm place, to let the cake rise. Bake in a moderately hot oven for an hour. These are excellent eaten hot for tea.

Bread Rolls, Scones or Teacakes

One pound of Vienna flour, one ounce of butter, half an ounce of compressed yeast, half a teaspoonful of salt, the same of castor sugar, one egg, and half a pint of milk. Put the yeast and sugar into a small basin, stir with a wooden spoon until it is mixed. Add a table- spoonful of flour, and half the milk, which should be slightly warmed. Stand the basin in a warm place for ten minutes for the yeast to rise (this is called the sponge). In the meantime put the flour in a mixing basin with the salt and butter. Rub the butter well into the flour with the fingers. Beat up the egg lightly, stir it to the rest of the tepid milk. Afterwards mix the egg and milk with the yeast sponge. Make a hole in the middle of the flour, pour in the liquid, and with a spoon gradually work the flour into a smooth dough. Knead it a little, cover the basin with a cloth, and stand in a warm place for an hour (or rather more) for the dough to rise. If it rises very quickly, push it down again with the hands. This may be done a time or two during the hour, and will help to make the bread light. Turn the dough on to a floured board, flour the hands, and knead it until it is perfectly smooth and elastic to the touch. It will take from five to ten minutes. Kneading is a continual turning of the outer edges of the dough into the middle, and pressing it down with the hands. Shape the dough into two or three loaves. Vienna Bread is generally made into pointed loaves with three crossway gashes across the middle, or with a plait. When shaped, place the loaves on a floured tin; set this on a pan of boiling water for the head to rise (from ten to twenty minutes). Next, bake in a well-heated oven. The loaves take from thirty to forty minutes to bake. If they sound hollow, when tapped with the hand, they are cooked. They should be set on end, or placed on a sieve till cold.