862 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Two durum wheats were included in the investigation and the results, ac- 

 cording to the author, show concIusi%ely that the common custom of regarding 

 all these wheats as of one quality is absurd. " While the ordinary Goose (or 

 Wild Goose) can not be recommended for bread baking, the Kubanka pro- 

 duced admirable bread, which, however, differs in some ways from that pro- 

 duced from most of the other wheats. The Kubanka dough must be made 

 rather stiff in order that it may not be too sticky to handle conveniently. It 

 rises very well, producing a large loaf of very fine texture and of good form. 

 The crust is somewhat unusual, being of a rich brown color and having a 

 tendency to be thin and tough. The inside color of the bread is quite yellow, 

 but this gives an appearance of richness and can only be objected to on the 

 grounds of prejudice. Taking all its characteristics into consideration, . . . 

 the bread produced from this sample of wheat was of excellent quality." 



Of the winter wheats, Dawson Golden Chaff was rather low in strength but 

 produced good bread of pale api)earance and rather compact character. Padi 

 wheat, the author considers unworthy of general cultivation, particularly on 

 account of the greenish-yellow color of the inside of the loaf. Reference is 

 also made in the report to the characteristics of other varieties tested. 



As regards the effect of storage on quality, it was found that flour stored 

 a year improved in every respect, " taking up a larger amount of water, re- 

 taining more, giving a loaf of larger volume and of better shape, crust, texture 

 and color. The behavior of the dough in the oven was most remarkable. 

 While in the first tests, with a water absorption of 59 per cent the dough had 

 a tendency to fall, after the 12 months' keeping, although the water was in- 

 creased to 02 per cent, the dough had the ability to rise to a most remarkable 

 degree when put into the oven. The sample of flour was kept for the 12 

 months under dry conditions in a glass-stoppered bottle. It would appear that 

 this astonishing change in baking strength must have been due to an improve- 

 ment in the quality of the gluten, as it could scarcely be explained on any 

 other supposition." 



The author does not consider appearance a trustworthy indication of quality. 

 " There is no doubt some justification for the preference of bright samiiles of 

 grain, that is, those which are free from blemishes, usually caused by frost 

 or rain; but it is quite uncertain in many cases to what extent the actual 

 quality of the interior of the kernel has been lowered when there is evidence 

 of injury to the bran. It is often highly probable that the interior of the 

 berry is in essentially perfect condition even though the bran may be dull and 

 unattractive." 



Contrary to the opinion of some other investigators, it was found that flours 

 mixed in equal proportions gave, when baked, results which were a very close 

 average for the varieties used. 



In the principal tests reported bread was uniformly made with a large pro- 

 portion of yeast, so additional investigations were undertaken to determine 

 whether the method influenced the quality of the product, but none of the 

 variations tested materially changed the rank of the different flours as already 

 determined. 



The author also studied the quality of the flour when used with baking 

 powder. "All the flours tested produced biscuits of about the same volume and 

 though they differed somewhat in character and considerably in color, the 

 differences were not so striking as those observed in bread. It appears that 

 almost any flour will make tea biscuits of fair quality. The experiments show 

 that the flours tested had sufficient strength of gluten to attain the necessary 

 volume when the gluten had not been subjected to the prolonged influence of 

 the yeast fermentation, and when the quantity of gas evolved was not very 



