S'BC. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 385 



too hot if the flour chare black directly ; for then it will produce a thick 

 crust, often burnt, while the interior of the loaf is undenlonc. The crumb 

 is cooked iit tlie boiling-j)oint — •2\-2 decrees — and might be done in a.stcam- 

 chauiber as well as an oven, but for iJie crust, which we all love so well that 

 we arc not willing to dispense with it for any more economical mode of 

 cooking than the oven. 



Tlie heat of the oven swells a well-raised lump of dough to about double 

 tlio size by the expansion of carbonic acid gas, and by steam arising from 

 the moisture in the loaf, and by the vaporizing of alcohol, distilled out in 

 tiio process of baking, to an amount equal to about one quarter of oue per 

 cent, of the weight of bread. *A well-raised loaf of bread is more than half 

 cavities. The loss of weight in baking depends ujmn the (puility of the 

 ilour and size of the loaf. A one-pound li)af will generally require 1 Ih. (i oz. 

 of dough. A three-pound loaf reipiires 3 lbs. V2 oz of dough. A six-pound 

 loaf requires 7 lbs. of dough. This shows that it is tlie most economical 

 to bake large loaves. 



If you wish to prevent baking a hard crust, you can do so by rubbing the 

 loaf, after it is shaped for the oven, witii a little lard, just enough to varnish 

 the surface. The crust, however, if not burnt, is always eaten with satis- 

 faction, its agreeable bitter taste being jireferred by many persons. 



The crust, which is dry and crisp upon new bread, grows soft, and moist 

 after a day or two. Some housewives always wrap llieir h>aves in wet cloths 

 when taken from the oven, to prevent the crust from continuing to get dryer. 

 There is no need of this, because the moisture of the cruud) soon softens the 

 crust, and frequently leaves the crumb too dry. When this is the case, re- 

 turn the stale loaf to the oven in company with a dish tif hot water. 



The average quantity of water in well-baked wheaten loaves is about 

 forty-five per cent. The best flour contains six to ten per cent, of water. 

 The reason that spring wheat fliMir makes moister bread than winter wheat, 

 is because it contains more gluten, and that being once thorougidy wet in 

 mixing the dough, is retentive of the water, even after it has lost its tough, 

 adiiesivc qualities, in passing from dough into well-bakeil bread crund). A 

 ]iortion of the starch of the dough also p-tains water by being converted by 

 the baking process into gum. The loaf will retain mucli n>ore tuoisiure, 

 and conse(juenlly be better breail, if it crusts over immediately ui>on its 

 being i)laced in the oven, as it is then in a measure impervious to water, and 

 shuts in all tiiat the interior of the loaf contains. 



403. Tin KflfCt of Kncadin;. — Good bread can not be made by merely 

 inixiniT lloiir and water and veast. The nniss nnist be kneade>l so as to 

 be sure to bring every grain of flour in contact with its equivalent grain 

 of water, and so as to difluso the yeast uniformly throughout the miu-^, 

 or else the resulting gas will be liberated in exci-ss in one spot and not at all 

 in another. This is seen in hadly-kiicaded loaves in the large holes tiny 

 contain, and in a crust that easily detaches from the crund>, as though it had 

 been lifted up by intermd force. The air-cells in a wcll-kne«ided loaf aro 



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