er fermentation. Yeast of strong beer or ale
produces more effect than that of milder kinds; and the fresher the
yeast, the smaller the quantity will be required to raise the dough.

1702. As a general rule, the oven for baking bread should be rather
quick, and the heat so regulated as to penetrate the dough without
hardening the outside. The oven door should not be opened after the
bread is put in until the dough is set, or has become firm, as the cool
air admitted will have an unfavourable effect on it.

1703. Brick ovens are generally considered the best adapted for baking
bread: these should be heated with wood faggots, and then swept and
mopped out, to cleanse them for the reception of the bread. Iron ovens
are more difficult to manage, being apt to burn the surface of the bread
before the middle is baked. To remedy this, a few clean bricks should be
set at the bottom of the oven, close together, to receive the tins of
bread. In many modern stoves the ovens are so much improved that they
bake admirably; and they can always be brought to the required
temperature, when it is higher than is needed, by leaving the door open
for a time.

A FEW HINTS respecting the Making and Baking of CAKES.

1704. _Eggs_ should always be broken into a cup, the whites and yolks
separated, and they should always be strained. Breaking the eggs thus,
the bad ones may be easily rejected without spoiling the others, and so
cause no waste. As eggs are used instead of yeast, they should be very
thoroughly whisked; they are generally sufficiently beaten when thick
enough to carry the drop that falls from the whisk.

1705. _Loaf Sugar_ should be well pounded, and then sifted through a
fine sieve.

1706. _Currants_ should be nicely washed, picked, dried in a cloth, and
then carefully examined, that no pieces of grit or stone may be left
amongst them. They should then be laid on a dish before the fire, to
become thoroughly dry; as, if added damp to the other ingredients, cakes
will be liable to be heavy.

1707. _Good Butter_ should always be used in the manufacture of cakes;
and if beaten to a cream, it saves much time and labour to warm, but not
melt, it before beating.

1708. Less butter and eggs are required for cakes when yeast is mixed
with the other ingredients.

1709. The heat of the oven is of great importance, especially for large
cakes. If the heat be not tolerably fierce, the batter will not rise. If
the oven is too quick,