HOME ECONOMICS AND EDUCATION 589 



tion. Germ flour has poor agglutinating properties, and little power 

 of expansion, and produces a poorly raised, dark-colored loaf. 



Pastry. The soft flours are generally used for making pastry, 

 and are, consequently, called pastry flour. It does not follow, how- 

 ever, that good pastry cannot be made from the stronger flours. In 

 fact, it is possible ; but more shortening must be used to get results 

 obtainable from the softer winter wheat flour. The greater gluten 

 content, expansive powers, and good color of the stronger flours are 

 not necessary requisites for pastry purposes; and, consequently, it 

 would not appear to be good practice to purchase these more expen- 

 sive flours and then use larger quantities of shortening in order to 

 obtain the same results that may be secured by the use of the cheaper 

 flours and less shortening. Practically the matter resolves itself into 

 one of cost. 



Losses of Material in Bread Making. In whatever way bread is 

 made there is always some loss of materials in the process beyond that 

 of the flour and dough accidentally lost in the mixing and molding, 

 and these losses are especially noticeable in bread made with yeast. 

 In experiments carried on at the Minnesota and New Jersey Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Stations it has been estimated that anywhere from 

 1.5 to 8 per cent of the nutrients in the flour may disappear in this 

 way. The yeast plants require a certain amount of nitrogenous ma- 

 terial for their growth, but fortunately feed to some extent on other 

 substances of less nutritive value than protein, and thus occasion only 

 slight loss of valuable food material. A small proportion of the fats 

 also disappear, probably volatilized by the heat of baking. The 

 greatest loss occurs in the carbohydrates. It has been seen that dur- 

 ing the process of fermentation part of the starch is changed to car- 

 bon dioxid and alcohol ; in the later stages small amounts of volatile 

 acids are also formed from the decomposition of carbohydrates. In 

 tests in which care was taken to prevent loss the equivalent of 1.68 

 per cent of the carbohydrates was lost in this way. When bread is less 

 carefully made the loss is likely to be much greater. 



Of course part of these losses are inevitable, and the superior 

 lightness, flavor, and keeping qualities of well-made yeast bread more 

 than compensate for them. Evidently the art of producing a well- 

 raised and at the same time the most nutritious loaf depends on 

 letting the fermentation continue just long enough to avoid soggi- 

 ness and heaviness, and no further. 



Composition of Bread. The composition of bread depends pri- 

 marily upon that of the flour from which it is made. If milk and but- 

 ter (or lard) are used in mixing the dough, as is commonly the case, 

 their nutrients are, of course, added to those of the flour; but when 

 only water and flour are used the nutrients of the bread are simply 

 those of the flour. In either case, however, the proportions of the nu- 

 trients in the bread are smaller than those in the flour, because part 

 of the moisture from the water or the milk used in mixing the dough 

 is present in the bread after baking, that is, a pound of the bread 

 would contain less of any of the nutrients than a pound of the flour. 



