158 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



MIDDLESEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



The grains which we use for bread consist mostly of starch, 

 gluten and sugar. The object of forming them into bread, is 

 to effect such a change in them as shall render theni palatable 

 and more easily digested. The grain i^ first pulverized and 

 then sifted, to separate the different qualities of the meal. The 

 external, or woody portion of the grain, is the bran. The inner 

 part is the flour. The gluten is tougher and more difficult to 

 grind. The finest and whitest portion, obtained by repeated 

 sifting, consists of a larger proportion of starch. The darker 

 colored part is richer in gluten, and as the nutritive properties 

 are in proportion to the gluten, this portion makes the most 

 nutritious bread. 



When flour is mixed with water, kneaded into dough and 

 baked, it will be tough and clammy. If spread out into a thin 

 sheet, it will be hard and horny. In neither case will it be 

 palatable or easily digested. To avoid these results, and to 

 form a light, spongy dough, different methods are adopted. If 

 a paste of flour and water be permitted to stand some days in a 

 warm place, it commences to putrify, and grows sour. If a 

 small portion of this be incorporated into fresh dough, the 

 decomposing gluten acts upon the sugar of the flour, and 

 excites what is called the vinous fermentation, changing tlie 

 sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid. 



The carbonic acid is set free in the form of minute bubbles of 

 gas throughout the whole substance of the dough, and bein'g 

 retained by the adhesive gluten, it causes the whole mass to 

 swell or rise. These bubbles form the pores or small cavities 

 which, in well-made bread, are small and uniform, but if the 

 dough is too watery, or not well kneaded, or if. the flour is too 

 fine, are sometimes large, irregular cavities or holes in the 

 bread. If the fermentation is carried too far, the vinous 

 fermentation passes into the acetous fermentation, and the 

 alcoliol is changed into vinegar, and the dough becomes sour. 



This may be corrected by the addition of carbonate of soda or 

 magnesia, whicli neutralizes the acid, forming an acetate of soda 

 or magnesia, which gives no disagreeable taste, and acts as a 

 gentle laxative, and is wholly unobjectionable. By fermentation 



