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The English Bread Book

Frontispiece of the 1857 edition
Author	Eliza Acton
Subject	English baking
Genre	Cookery
Publisher	Longmans
Publication date	1857

The English Bread Book is an English cookery book by Eliza Acton, first published in 1857. The work consists of a history of bread making in England, improvements to the process developed in Europe, an examination of the ingredients used and recipes of different types of bread.

Book

In 1845 the former poet Eliza Acton published Modern Cookery for Private Families, a work that was aimed at the English middle classes. A chapter within the book provides bread making and recipes for various styles of bread. Acton undertook a re-write of the book in 1855, but was disappointed that she had not been able to add as much information about bread making into the work as she wanted to. Instead she decided, despite her increasingly poor health, that she would take on the subject in a new work, The English Bread-Book For Domestic Use. Published in May 1857, this is not a recipe book along the same lines as Modern Cookery, but is described by Hardy as "a serious, scientific study ... much darker in tone than her previous work". It consists of a history of bread making in England, improvements made in Europe, an examination of the ingredients used and recipes of different types of bread. Acton also included information about the adulteration of bread by flour millers and bakers of the time, which included the addition of alum and what she called "other deleterious substances". The book was focussed on British bread and, in her preface, Acton wrote "Bread is a first necessity of life to the great mass of the English people; being in part the food of all—the chief food of many—and almost the sole food of many more." She devotes a whole chapter to the approach to bread and bread making in France, Germany and Belgium, and the book contains recipes for German pumpernickel, French baguettes, Italian polenta bread, Turkish rolls and Indian breads.

Contents

The following list refers to the 1857 edition.

Preface

Contents

Part One

1. Bread, its value
2. Adulteration of bread, and its consequences
3. Large institutions established abroad
4. Gluten
5. To remove the taint of must from wheat
6. Different varieties of bread-corn

Part Two

1. Outline of bread making
2. General rules for baking bread
3. Making dough
4. Bread recipes