THE CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT 28? 



weight in the dough, and a barrel of hard-wheat flour will 

 make several pound loaves more than a barrel of soft-wheat 

 flour. The weight of the dough and the size of the baked 

 loaf are largely determined by the quantity and quality of the 

 gluten. One hundred pounds of flour will make about 160 

 pounds of dough and about 140 pounds of bread. The flavor 

 of the bread depends to a great extent upon the gluten and 

 oil of the flour. These two compounds give the desirable 

 " nutty" character so prominent in hard-wheat bread. 



At the present day, first-class bakers generally use but one 

 grade of standard flour for making bread. Every barrel of 

 such flour is numbered at the mills where it is made, and if 

 the quality should happen to be inferior, a report is made to 

 the mill, and from the number of the barrel the mill determines 

 the date when the flour was milled, its composition, and 

 whether other similar complaints have been made concerning 

 the same flour. The difficulty is thus located and remedied. 

 Flour of the first-class standard grades costs from 10 to 25 

 cents per barrel more than other flours which are often just 

 as good, and which are frequently used, although less reliable. 



Yeast. The making of leavened bread requires the use of 

 yeast, a fungous plant. Three forms of yeast have been used in 

 making bread: Brewer's yeast, which is that used by brewers 

 in malting; German yeast, also called dried or compressed 

 yeast, which consists of sporules only, and contains little mois- 

 ture and no gas; and patent yeast, which is a thin watery 

 liquid prepared from an infusion of malt and hops. 



Mechanical Processes. The most primitive method of mak- 

 ing bread consisted merely in soaking the whole grain in 

 water, subjecting it to pressure, and then drying it by natural 

 or artificial heat. Perhaps the simplest form of bread and the 

 rudest baking of modern times are found in the Australian 

 il damper. " Dough composed of flour, salt and water is made 

 into cakes, which are baked in the dying embers of a wood 

 fire. There have been no great modern improvements in ma- 

 chinery for making bread. A quarter of a century ago it was 

 still made and baked much as it was in ancient Greece. The 

 sponge was mixed and the dough kneaded by machinery, but 

 as yet there had been failure to make loaves by machinery. 



