and--unless you live in a large city and depend on the baker--what so
rare? A lady who is very proud of her table, and justly so, said to me
quite lately, "I cannot understand how it is we never have really fine
home-made bread. I have tried many recipes, following them closely, and
I can't achieve anything but a commonplace loaf with a thick, hard
crust; and as for rolls, they are my despair. I have wasted eggs,
butter, and patience so often that I have determined to give them up,
but a fine loaf I will try for."

"And when you achieve the fine loaf, you may revel in home-made rolls,"
I answered.

And so I advise every one first to make perfect bread, light, white,
crisp, and _thin-crusted_, that rarest thing in home-made bread.

I have read over many recipes for bread, and am convinced that when the
time allowed for rising is specified, it is invariably too short. One
standard book directs you to leave your sponge two hours, and the bread
when made up a _quarter of an hour_. This recipe strictly followed must
result in heavy, tough bread. As bread is so important, and so many
fail, I will give my own method from beginning to end; not that there
are not numberless good recipes, but simply because they frequently need
adapting to circumstances, and altering a recipe is one of the things a
tyro fears to do.

I make a sponge over night, using a dried yeast-cake soaked in a pint of
warm water, to which I add a spoonful of salt, and, if the weather is
warm, as much soda as will lie on a dime; make this into a stiff batter
with flour--it may take a quart or less, flour varies so much, to give a
rule is impossible; but if, after standing, the sponge has a watery
appearance, make it thicker by sprinkling in more flour, beat hard a few
minutes, and cover with a cloth--in winter keep a piece of thick flannel
for the purpose, as a chill is fatal to your sponge--and set in a warm
place free from draughts.

The next morning, when the sponge is quite light--that is to say, at
least twice the bulk it was, and like a honeycomb--take two quarts of
flour, more or less, as you require, but I recommend at first a small
baking, and this will make three small loaves; in winter, flour should
be dried and warmed; put it in your mixing bowl, and turn the sponge
into a hole in the center. Have ready some water, rather more than
lukewarm, but not _hot_. Add it gradually, stirring your flour into the
sponge at the same time. The great faul