och en av böckerna får mig att spåra ur, nästan omgående.
”Take then such a quantity of meal, in a perfectly clean and sweet bread trough, as is necessary for the quantity of bread desired, and having made a hollow in the centre, turn in as much yeast as a judgment matured by sound experience shall deem requisite; then add such a quantity of water, milk and water, or clear milk, as is necessary to form the meal into a dough of proper consistency. Some prefer bread mixed with water alone; others prefer that which is mixed with milk and water; and others think that bread mixed with good milk is much richer and better; while others dislike the animal odor and taste of bread mixed with milk. Perhaps the very best and most wholesome bread is that which is mixed with pure soft water, when such bread is made perfect. But whether water, milk and water, or milk alone is employed, it should be used at a temperature of about blood heat.”
ur ”A Treatise on Bread, and Bread-making”
Visst kände jag till Sylvester Graham, så där i allmänhet, som de flesta av oss gör, men boken har så många stickspår, så jag kom inte så långt i den.
Jag hade inte ens kommit till brödet innan jag snubblade på jästen. Tack vare Gutenberg har jag stött på många olika sätt att tillverka sin jäst, till exempel med potatis eller humle, men just det här sättet med vetemjöl och mjölk, har jag inte sett. Det är ju en vanlig surdeg på vete:
”The milk yeast is greatly preferred by many; and when it is well managed, it certainly makes very handsome bread. The way of making it is simple. Take a quart of milk fresh from the cow, (more or less according to the quantity of bread desired,)—a little salt is generally added, and some add about half a pint of water blood warm, but this is not essential;—then stir wheat flour or meal into the milk till it forms a moderately thick batter; and then cover it over, and place it where it will remain at a temperature of from 60° to 70° F. till it becomes perfectly light. It should then be used immediately: and let it be remembered that dough made with this yeast will sour sooner than that made with other yeast; and also that the bread after it is baked will become extremely dry and crumbly much sooner than bread made with other yeast. Yet this bread, when a day old, is exceedingly light and beautiful: albeit some dislike the animal smell and taste which it derives from the milk.”
Det låter ju onekligen som det har sina nackdelar, i synnerhet på den tiden då man inte kunde frysa sitt bröd. Och nog skulle jag dra’ mig för att starta en ny surdeg, varje gång jag behövde bröd, för det låter ju inte som man kan hålla liv i den mellan varje bak. I synnerhet inte som man måste ha sådan framförhållning att vetet hinner torka innan man mal det:
”The best way, therefore, is, for every family to raise or purchase a sufficient quantity of the best new wheat that can be produced by proper tillage in a good soil, and put that away in clean casks or bins, where it will be kept perfectly dry and sweet; and, according to the size of the family, take, from time to time, as they need it, one or two bushels, and wash it thoroughly but briskly in two or three waters, and then spread it out on a drying sheet or table, made for the purpose, and which is considerably inclined, so that the water remaining with the wheat will easily run off.
The skin or bran of the wheat is so well protected by its own oily property, that little or no water will penetrate it, unless it be suffered to remain in the water much longer than is necessary. Being thinly spread out upon the sheet or table in a good drying day, it will be sufficiently dry in a few hours for grinding. And I say again, let any one who loves good bread, wash his grain a few times in this manner, and he will be very reluctant to return to the use of bread made of unwashed grain.”
Bodde man inte på en gård med egen kvarn var man tvungen att traska iväg till byns kvarn.
Och tänk hur stora familjerna var, därtill kom tjänstefolket — och som här 30 gäster:
Framför hvarje talrik lågo knif och gaffel med hornskaft och matsked af silfver. Riktiga jättar till brödkorgar, på hvilka voro , upplagda: hårdt bröd, framugnsbröd, tunnbröd, limpa, vörtbröd och jäst kakor, stodo på brickor färdiga att kringbjudas. »Smör tårtan» middagens förnämsta rätt, kockmors stolthet och nämndemansmors fröjd, stod för sig sjelf på ett bord. »Den hade lyckats alldeles obegripligt. »Öfver fem qvarter i fyrkant, var den två tum vidare än någon dittills i byn åstadkommen tårta, och
»sviskonfyIlningen var så stadig, att den höll att gå på.»
ur ”Från land och stad” (1884) av Alfhild Agrell
https://litteraturbanken.se/författare/AgrellA/titlar/FrånLandOchStad/sida/7/faksimil
Framugnsbröd har jag aldrig hört talas om — var det bröd bakat i den svagare värmen, längst fram i ugnen?
Bakers kneading dough to the sound of a flute, found at Thebes, Boeotia, 6th century BC (terracotta)
Och nu har jag ett antal stickspår att utforska — blir jag inte fast på någon bibana, kanske jag återkommer med en rapport.
A box of National Biscuit Company graham crackers, c. 1915, which was priced at ten cents.
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