HOW TO MAKE YEAST BREAD

Taken from the 1879 printing of Housekeeping in Old Virginia. This is perhaps the type of recipe used by Mrs. Lane. 

Good flour is an indispensable requisite to good bread. Flour either old or new, should always be sunned and aired before being used. Yeast made in the morning ought to be fit for use at night. To make a small quantity of bread first sift one quart of  flour; into that sift one teaspoonful of salt, next rub in an Irish potato, boiled and mashed fine, then add a piece of lard the size of a walnut and next a half teacup of yeast in which three teaspoonfuls of white sugar have been stirred. Then make into a soft dough with cold water in summer and lukewarm in winter. Knead without intermission for half hour when bread being kneaded or beaten. Then place it in a stone crock, greased with lard on the bottom, and set it to rise. In summer apply no artificial heat to it, but set in a cool place. The whole process, including both the first and...