378 



DOMESTIC ECOXOMT. 



[CnAP. IV. 



" But the advantages of tlic ])rocess are not limited to matters relating to 

 health. It is valuable because bread can be prepared by it in the short 

 space of half an hour, tiius saving much time and labor. It is valual)le, also, 

 because tlie materials are not perishable, and may be rendered available in 

 places and at times when yeast and other ferment is not within rcacli — as at 

 sea, for example, or in country retirements ; and it is still more valuable as 

 regards economy. The cost of the chemicals is counterbalanced by that of 

 tlie yeast, salt, and alum, otherwise employed ; but were it not so, tiiey 

 M'ould form an altogether unimportant item in the price of bread; while by 

 their use a saving is effected in the flour of not less than 13 per cent. In 

 the common process much of the saccharine part of the flour is lost bj' being 

 converted into carbonic acid and spirit, and thus waste is incurred solely for 

 tlie purpose of getting carbonic acid to raise the dough. By the new method 

 waste is avoided, and the gas obtained in a manner equally cfiicacious. 

 And it is a striking instance of the successful application of ciiemical piii- 

 losophy to the common arts of life, for fermentation destroys a part of the 

 flour or meal, so that 280 lbs., which make 300 lbs. of bread by fermenta- 

 tion, give 380 lbs. by the new process." 



390. Soda vsi Yeast, and Bread without Yeast. — Without taking any part 

 in the controversy about the healthiness or unhealthiness of soda bread, we 

 will give extracts from the opinions of its advocates as follows : 



" Soda is a caustic alkali in its uncombined state. It is the base of com- 

 mon salt. In this form it is daily taken into our stomachs with food, and 

 also administered regularly to domestic animals by the careful husbandman. 

 Let \is remember that notwithstanding the chlorid of sodium has been used 

 from time immemorial by man, and always eagerly sought after by wild 

 animals, it has also met opposers among ultra hydropathists. It is therefore 

 not so astonishing that the bicarbonate, which is what is used in cookery 

 and of recent introduction, should find many opposers. 



" Potash is an alkali extracted from wood ashes by percolation, and for 

 culinary purposes is combined with two equivalents of carbonic acid, and 

 sold under the name of saleratus. The chemical natures and physiological 

 effects of the two bicarbonates are so nearly identical that I shall not keep 

 up the distinction in treating of them, though from the fact that the bicar- 

 bonate of soda is dryer and more easily reduced to powder, it is preferable. 



" To secure the desired effect of bicarbonate of soda, it is necessary to use 

 it in connection with some acid which, by combining with the alkali, sets 

 free the carbonic acid, in form of gas, at the time of baking. Sour milk, 

 which contains lactic acid, is best. The lactic acid, having a stronger aflin- 

 ity for the soda than the carbonic acid has, combines with it, forzning 

 lactate of soda, a neutral salt, possessed of no caustic proj^erty whatever; 

 while the gas, disengaged, fills the bread with minute cells and thus renders 

 it light and palatable. 



" In the absence of sour milk, tartaric acid or cream of tartar should be 

 used. If tartaric acid is used, tartrate of soda results ; a harmless substance 



