BREAD. 



For the formation of bread, a certain degree 

 of fermentation, not unlike vinous fermenta- 

 tion, is requisite, care being taken to avoid the 

 acetous fermentation, which renders the bread 

 sour, and, to most persons, disagreeable. This 

 fermentation is called panary. If dough be left 

 to itself ip. a moderately warm place (between 

 80 and 120), a degree of fermentation comes 

 on, which, however, is sluggish, or, if rapid, is 

 apt to run into the acetous; so that, to effect 

 that kind of fermentation requisite for the pro- 

 duction of the best bread, a ferment is added, 

 which is either leaven, or dough in an already 

 fermenting state, which tends to accelerate the 

 process of the mass to which it is added, or 

 yeast, the peculiar matter which collects in the 

 form of scum upon beer in the act of fermenta- 

 tion. See YEAST. Of these ferments, leaven 

 is slow and uncertain in its effects, and gives 

 a sour and often slightly putrid flavour to the 

 bread. Yeast is more effective, and, when 

 clean and good, it rapidly induces panary fer- 

 mentation; but it is often bitter, and sometimes 

 has a peculiarly disagreeable smell and taste. 

 Bread well raised and baked differs from un- 

 fermented bread, not only in being spongy, less 

 compact, lighter, and of a more agreeable taste, 

 but also in being more easily miscible with 

 water, with which it does not form a viscous 

 nass; and this circumstance is of great im- 

 portance to health. All, then, that is essential 

 t) make a loaf of bread, is dough to which a 

 certain quantity of yeast has been added. This 

 nass, or sponge, in the language of the baker, 

 i put into any convenient mould or form, or 



is merely shaped into one mass; and, after 

 being kept for a short time in rather a warm 

 place, so that fermentation may have begun, it 

 ' > subjected to the process of baking in a pro- 

 per oven. Carbonic acid is generated, and the 

 viscidity or texture of the dough preventing 

 the immediate escape of that gas from the in- 

 numerable points where it forms, the whole 

 mass is puffed up by it, and a light porous 

 bread is the result. Along with the carbonic 

 acid alcohol is evolved, but the quantity is so 

 insignificant and the spirit so impure as not to 

 be worth notice; thence the attempts which 

 tiave been made to collect it upon a large scale 

 have entirely failed in an economical point of 

 view. 



The general process of making household 

 bread is this: To a peck of meal or flour is 

 to be added about three ounces of salt, half a 

 pint of yeast, and three quarts of water, cold 

 in summer, but warm in winter, and temperate 

 between the two: the whole being then well 

 kneaded in a bowl or trough, and being set by 

 in a proper temperature, rises in about an hour, 

 according to the season. It is then moulded 

 "nto loaves, and put into the oven to be baked, 

 'n placing the dough aside, it is proper to cover 

 t; this is termed setting the sponge, and it under- 

 goes a second kneading before it is baked. 



For French bread, take half a bushel of fine 

 lour, ten eggs, a pound and a half of fresh 

 cutter (the eggs and butter, however, are very 

 seldom used), and the same quantity of yeast 

 ised in making the finest rolls or manchet; 

 md, tempering the whole mass with new milk, 

 pretty hot, let it lie half an hour to rise ; which 



BREAD. 



done, make it into loaves or rolls, and wash 

 these over with an egg beaten with milk, tak- 

 ing care that the oven is not too hot. 



Other flour, besides that of wheat, will, under 

 similar circumstances, undergo panary fer- 

 mentation ; but the result is a heavy, unpala- 

 table, and often indigestible bread; so that the 

 addition of a certain quantity of wheat flour is 

 almost always had recourse to. It is the gluten 

 in wheat which thus peculiarly fits it for the 

 manufacture of bread, chiefly in consequence 

 of the tough and elastic viscidity which it con- 

 fers upon the dough. 



Wheat flour is composed chiefly of starch 

 and gluten ; the proportion of these and other 

 substances which it contains, according to 

 Vogel, are 



Starch - 



Gluten ... 

 Gummy sugar 

 Vegetable albumen 



- 24-0 



- 5-0 



- 1-5 



Sir H. Davy states, that wheat sown in au- 

 tumn contains 77 per cent, of starch, and 19 

 of gluten ; while that sown in spring yields 70 

 of starch and 24 of gluten. The wheat of the 

 south of Europe contains a larger proportion 

 of gluten than that of the north ; and hence its 

 peculiar fitness for making macaroni and ver- 

 micelli. Oats yielded, according to Davy's 

 analysis, 59 of starch, 6 of gluten, and 2 of 

 saccharine matter; while the same quantity of 

 rye gave only 6-1 parts of starch, and half a 

 part of gluten. 



Like all other farinaceous substances, bread 

 is very nourishing, on account of the gluten 

 which it contains ; but if eaten too freely, it is 

 productive of acidity, which deranges the in- 

 testines, and lays the foundation of dyspepsia. 

 Stale bread, in every respect, deserves the pre- 

 ference over that which is newly baked ; and 

 persons troubled with flatulency, cramp of the 

 stomach, or indigestion, should abstain from 

 new bread, and particularly from hot rolls. 

 Bread made from the best flour is necessarily 

 costly, but is more wholesome for those per- 

 sons who are liable to a relaxed state of the 

 bowels. Brown bread, on the contrary, is the 

 cheapest and most desirable for persons whose 

 habit of body is of the contrary nature : but 

 there is an intermediate kind made from flour, 

 in which the finer portion of the bran is retain- 

 ed, called locally " seconds," which is prefer- 

 able to either of the above. (Qwar. Jour. Jlgr. 

 vol. ix. p. 585.) It is a prevailing idea that 

 yeast reproduces itself, just as seeds reproduce 

 similar seeds. But chemical investigation has 

 shown that such an opinion is not to be enter- 

 tained. See YEAST. 



The species of bread in common use in a 

 country depends partly on the taste of the in- 

 habitants, but more on the'sort of grain suita- 

 ble for its soil. The superiority of wheat to 

 all other farinaceous plants in the manufacture 

 of bread is so very great, that wherever it is 

 easily and successfully cultivated, wheaten 

 bread is used to the nearly total exclusion of 

 most others. Where, however, the soil or cli- 

 mate is less favourable to its growth, rye, oats, 

 &c., are used in its stead. A very great change 

 for the better has, in this respect, taken place 

 in Great Britain within the last century. It is 



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