1826.] on the Art of Baking Prmd. 277 



yb<As a matter of curiosity, the mode now mentioned as having 

 Ineen successfully employed in rapidly gasifying the dough of 

 gingerbread, was tried upon the dough of plain bread, to see 

 whether it might there have the effect of proving a complete 

 substitute for the common yeast-fermentation. The result was 

 in the highest degree favourable, and the biscuit which had been 

 the subject of the experiment was as light and pleasant as if it 

 had been prepared upon the fermentation-system. This experi- 

 ment was more, however, a matter of curiosity, as already 

 mentioned, than of much practical utility ; for although the 

 present process of the baker is slow and somewhat tedious, yet 

 it is also cheap, and simple, and sure ; and it is only in those 

 comparatively rare cases, when, either from want of yeast, or 

 from deficiency of time, it would be impossible to have recourse 

 to fermentation, that the use of the process here suggested 

 might be a matter of some advantage to the manufacturer. It 

 should not be omitted to mention, that the presence of the 

 neutral salt, the tartrate of magnesia, necessarily formed by that 

 vmion of the acid and alkali which furnishes the supply of car- 

 bonic acid gas, was found to impart to the simple bread a 

 slightly vapid taste ; but the addition of a very trifling quantity 

 50f sugar is quite sufficient to conceal this. There is subjoined 

 m a note, the process followed in preparing biscuit with these 

 ingredients, which is indeed so simple, as scarcely to require 

 any particular explanation.^' 



BadQ in the form of the thin parliament cakes, from a dough composed of the following 

 g^ddieSits: 



ofir-n; t. Flour 1 pound. 



J.-, r-, Treacle h pound. 



V . Raw sugar J pound. 



' Butter 2 ounces. 



Carbonate of magnesia :J ounce. 



Tartaric acid ^ ounce. 



; Ginger | ounce. ^ 



Cinnamon | ounce. 



-*i"' Nutmeg 1 ounce. 



This composition differs from the one which is employed in the preparation of ordi- 

 nary parliament cakes, not only in regard to the use of a substitute for potash, but also in 

 containing a larger proportion of butter, and in subtracting one-third of the treacle, the 

 place of which is supplied by an equal weight of sugar. These alterations, I tliink, 

 materially improve the relish of the bread as a piece of confectionary ; but they are 



' rather unfavourable to its full expansion in the process of baking. 



ii<. f The dough was prepared with the following ingredients : 



■■^ '" Flour 1 pound. 



Butter 3 ounces. 



Sugar 2 ounces. 



Carbonate of magnesia ^ ounce. 



t« Rff'T.rsf;" Tartaric acid ^ ounce. 



'^ Thfe flour, previously mixed with the pulverized carbonate of magnesia, the sugar, 

 "^ • ahd the butter, was made into dough with cold water, holding the tartaric acid in solu- 

 tion ; and the dough, after its preparation, was set aside for about half an hour, in order 

 'to allow the acid to act to the necessary extent upon the carbonate of magnesia. It 

 was then rolled out into biscuitSj and b^ked^ in the usual manner, in the oven. 



