BREAD. 



BREAD. 



of indifferent flour, is materially improved by j 

 the addition of a little carbonate of magnesia, I 

 in the proportion of twenty to thirty grains to | 

 the pound of flour; it requires to be very in- 

 timately mixed with the flour. Salt, which, in 

 small quantity, is absolutely necessary to the 

 flavour of the bread, is used by fraudulent 

 persons as an adulteration ; for a large portion 

 of it added to ,dough imparts to it the quality 

 of absorbing and retaining a much greater 

 quantity of water than it otherwise would, thus 

 making the loaf heavier. The taste of such 

 bread is a sufficient index to its bad quality. 

 It is rough in its grain. (Domestic Economy, 

 vol. i.) A long list of other articles which 

 are said to be used in the adulteration of bread 

 might be given, but no advantage could result 

 from such a statement. 



Making bread at home is an operation very 

 easy of acquirement; and, doubtless, most of 

 our farming friends are fortunate in possess- 

 ing worthy helpmates or experienced servants 

 who provide the families with this daily ne- 

 cessary. To such a practical method of per- 

 forming the art would be deemed needless; 

 but others of our readers, who may not have 

 considered the expediency of this bread, its 

 superior salubrity, its decided economy, and 

 the feasibility of its preparation, may be pleased 

 f o meet with its details. We may refer them, 

 therefore, to the Quar. Journ. of Jlgr. (vol. ix. 

 pp. 289 and 583), a work which is probably in 

 .he hands of the greater number of the British 

 farmers; or they may consult with advantage 

 my of the works cited at the end of this ar- 

 :icle, for our limits will not permit us to go 

 into the particulars. The writer there states, 

 '.hat the addition of potatoes is wholly unne- 

 cessary, unless it be the intention of a house- 

 wife that her product shall resemble that of 

 the baker in insipidity and whiteness ; both 

 qualities will result from the use of that root, 

 which enters largely into the composition of 

 all bread that is purchased. Notwithstanding 

 the prejudice in favour of the use of potatoes, 

 it has been proved, by careful calculation, that 

 although even a third part of the flour be 

 exchanged for potatoes, so immense is the 

 quantity of water which they contain, that the 

 substitute would cause a loss rather than a 

 gain. 



Substitute for wheat flour. Various sub- 

 stances have been used for bread, instead of 

 wheat. In the year 1629-30, when there was a 

 dearth in England, bread was made in London 

 of turnips. And again in 1693, when corn 

 was very dear, a great quantity of turnip bread 

 was made in several parts of the kingdom, 

 but particularly in Essex. The process is, to 

 put the turnips into a kettle over a slow fire, 

 till they become soft ; they are then taken out, 

 squeezed, and drained as dry as possible, and 

 afterwards mashed and mixed with an equal 

 weight of flour, and kneaded with yeast, salt, 

 and a little warm water. A series of interest- 

 ing experiments were made some y%ars ago j 

 ty the Board of Agriculture to determine | 

 what were the best substitutes for whealen 

 flour in the composition of different kinds of 

 bread. For this purpose, all the sorts of grain, 

 &c. commonly sold in the markets in London 



were procured, ground into meal, and baked 

 in various proportions into bread; such as 

 wheat, rye, rice, barley, buckwheat, maize, 

 oats, peas, beans, and potatoes. Many of these 

 form the principal nourishment of mankind 

 in various countries. Buckwheat, made into 

 thin cakes, is the chief article of food in Bre- 

 tagne and parts of Normandy. Rice nourishes, 

 probably, more human beings in the East than 

 all other articles of food taken together ; and, 

 for its bulk, is supposed to be the most nutri- 

 tious of all the sorts of grain. Maize is a 

 principal article throughout the south of Eu- 

 rope, and is made into bread in Italy and in 

 America. Peas and beans have rarely, it is 

 believed, been used alone as bread ; but, it is 

 suspected, they enter largely, though clandes- 

 tinely, into its composition in various districts. 



To ascertain the respective qualities of all 

 these grains, and to discover their operation 

 on each other, in correcting by means of one 

 the defects of another, would be an inquiry 

 deserving great attention, but it has not yet 

 been experimentally investigated. With al- 

 most all the several kinds of grain enumerated, 

 experiments were made on seventy sorts of 

 bread. But as all these sorts were made at 

 once, by several bakers, in order to be ex- 

 amined at the same time, the execution, it is 

 observed, was by no means such as gave the 

 Board of Agriculture, who instituted the in- 

 quiry, satisfaction. One general result, how- 

 ever, was, that very few, if any, of the loaves 

 then exhibited, were too bad for human food 

 in times of scarcity ; and it may be observed, 

 that though at first a change may prove dis- 

 agreeable, yet the practice of a few days soon 

 reconciles the stomach to almost any species 

 of food, by which, at least in the same country, 

 other individuals can be supported. These 

 experiments were followed by others, which I 

 will explain under distinct heads. 



Rice. Of all the mixtures, none has made 

 bread equally good with rice, not ground, but 

 boiled quite soft, and then mixed with wheaten 

 flour. One-third rice and two-thirds wheat 

 make good bread; but one-fourth rice makes 

 a bread superior to any that can be eaten, better 

 even than all of wheat; and as the gain in 

 baking is more than of wheat alone (since rice 

 contains 85 per cent of starch), there can be 

 no doubt of its nutritive quality. Rice bread 

 thus formed is sweetish to the taste, and very 

 agreeable ; but, as the proportion of gluten is 

 considerably less than in wheaten bread, it is 

 less nutritive. Excellent biscuits are formed 

 of the mixture. 



Potatoes. The experiments made with this 

 root were similar. It makes a pleasant pala- 

 table bread with wheat in the proportion of 

 one-third, but one-fourth still lighter and better. 

 Specimens of barley and potatoes, and also of 

 oats and the same root, made into bread, were 

 submitted to the Board, which promise well. 

 In some cases the potato was not boiled, but 

 merely grated down into a pulp and mixed 

 with wheaten flour, in which mode it made 

 excellent bread. It has been found by other 

 trials, that good bread may be made from 

 equal quantities of flour and potato meal, 

 which has been greatly the practice in those 

 T 2 221 



