THE ETHICS OF FOOD— BREAD 541 



whether it should be in a slow relatively cool oven or in a hotter 

 quicker oven. The latter method is obviously the more rational, 

 as the object of baking is to distend the gluten cells as far as 

 possible by the rapid expansion of the enclosed gas before they 

 are fixed in size by heat. There is no doubt the baker might 

 with advantage produce loaves with a little more crust than 

 appears to be his practice at the moment. 



In order to appreciate the controversies connected with the 

 bread question it is necessary to pay some attention to the 

 process of milling. 



Wheat consists of the embryo or germ amounting to about 

 I "5 per cent, of the whole, the starchy kernel which makes up 

 85 per cent, and the outer envelope or bran equivalent to i3'5 

 per cent. In the milling process it is very difficult to pulverise 

 the bran completely, consequently it has been the miller's 

 first object to remove it. The bran consists of several layers 

 which yield in turn various mill-products — bran, pollards, 

 sharps and middlings — representing different fragments from 

 without inwards. 



Formerly, in the old method of stone grinding, the germ was 

 left in the flour but it is now removed as offal. The reason for 

 this is twofold : the oil in the germ is very liable to become 

 rancid and so spoil the keeping properties of the flour — a matter 

 of great importance — whilst the soluble enzymes of the germ act 

 on the starch and gluten and cause the loaf to darken in colour 

 and become yellow in the oven. The flour is derived from the 

 endosperm and before grading is termed " straight run " — it 

 amounts to about 70 per cent, of the weight of the original grain. 

 Usually it is further graded into " patents " and " households or 

 seconds flour " and other subdivisions, the milling process being 

 so controlled that the lowest grade of flour is derived from the 

 outermost layers nearest the bran. As a consequence the lowest 

 grade is slightly richer in protein than the patents flour. Certain 

 food reformers have persistently advocated the use of bread 

 made from the ground entire wheat berry, though without 

 success, for the simple reason that the human digestive apparatus 

 very soon rebels at the bread, though for the moment it may be 

 pleased with it on account of the fullness of the flavour and the 

 variation from white bread. 



The term semolina has been used in the recent crusade as 

 if it represented a particular part of the wheat berry. In 



