The lightness of aerated bread depends not only upon the amount of air incorporated in its preparation, but also upon the expansion of the air during the baking.  The colder the air, the greater will be its expansion upon the application of heat.  The colder the materials employed, then, for the bread-making, the colder will be the air confined within it, and the lighter will be the bread.  For this reason, in making batter bread, it will be found a good plan, when there is time, to put the materials together, and place the dish containing the mixture on ice for an hour or two, or even over night.  When ready to use, beat thoroughly for ten or fifteen minutes to incorporate air, and bake in heated irons.  Rolls and other breads made into a dough, may be kneaded and shaped and put upon ice to become cold.  Thus treated, less kneading is necessary than when prepared to be baked at once.

Many of the recipes given for the batter breads include eggs.  The yolk is not particularly essential, and if it can be put to other uses, may be left out.  The white of an egg, because of its viscous nature, when beaten, serves as a sort of trap to catch and hold air, and added to the bread, aids in making it light.  Very nice light bread may be made without eggs, but the novice in making aerated breads will, perhaps, find it an advantage first to become perfectly familiar with the processes and conditions involved, by using the recipes with eggs before attempting those without, which are somewhat more dependent for success upon skill and practice.

When egg is used in the bread, less heating of the irons will be necessary, and not so hot an oven as when made without.

If the bread, when baked, appears light, but with large holes in the center, it is probable that either the irons or the oven was too hot at first.  If the bread after baking, seems sticky or dough-like in the interior, it is an indication that either it was insufficiently baked, or that not enough flour in proportion to the liquid has been used.  It should be stated, that although the recipes given have been prepared with the greatest care, and with the same brands of flour, careful measurement, and proper conditions, prove successful every time, yet with different brands of flour some variation in quantity may needed,—­a trifle more or less,—­dependent upon the absorbent properties of the flour, and if eggs are used, upon the size of the eggs.

A heavy bread may be the result of the use of poor flour, too much flour, careless or insufficient beating, so that not enough air was incorporated, or an oven not sufficiently hot to form a crust over the bread before the air escaped.  Breads made into a dough, if moist and clammy, require more flour or longer baking.  Too much flour will make them stiff and hard.

The length of time requisite for baking aerated breads made with whole-wheat, wheat berry, or Graham flours, will vary from forty minutes to one hour, according to the kind and form in which the bread is baked, and the heat of the oven.