394- CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



the bran, provided it be duly fermented, 

 seems to us to be more wholesome, and also 

 more savoury, than that which is made of 

 pure flour." 



The materials of which loaf bread is prin- 

 cipally made, are the seeds of farinaceous 

 vegetables : wheat, rye, and barley, are the 

 only gramineous substances of which loaf 

 bread can be made. Potatoes, oats, beans, 

 peas, rice, maize, millet, buck-wheat, &c. con- 

 taining no gluten, cannot be converted into 

 bread without the admixture of a certain 

 quantity of flour. The component parts of 

 wheaten, barley, and rye flour, are starch, 

 gluten, and saccharine mucilage. First, amy- 

 laceous fecula, or starch of wheaten flour, 

 forms the most nutritive part of grain : Se- 

 condly, gluten is the principal substance con- 

 tained in wheaten flour, and is absolutely ne- 

 cessary for the production of good, well-risen, 

 light and porous bread, the quality of the 

 bread being exactly in proportion to the 

 quantity of gluten contained in the flour : no 

 other flour but that of wheat contains it in 

 any considerable quantity. Flour could not 

 be made into bread without gluten, and the 

 dough rises in consequence of this substance. 

 Thirdly ; saccharine mucilage is soluble in 



