WINNIPEG, 1909. 779 
the degree of stability the dough possesses, as if a dough be particularly 
stable the baker should be able to handle it satisfactorily, even if he add 
a larger proportion of water. This is only partially true; if two flours be 
carefully tested there comes a point at which the maximum slackness of 
dough is reached in each case, but even then one dough may be more stable 
than the other, may be tougher and more resilient—that is to say sub- 
stantially better than the other. The consistency of the dough has to depend 
not upon the percentage of water it contains but upon its stability— 
that is to say upon the facility with which large masses of dough can be 
handled in the bakehouse. To get optimum results some flours should carry 
a relatively low and others a relatively high percentage of moisture, so that 
each shall produce the best results in bread. The baker is under no legal 
or moral obligation to the consumer to guarantee the water content of his 
goods, and if as a result of additional water, skilfully added, it is possible 
to produce better bread because it is better aerated or rendered more appe- 
tising, the addition of water needs no further justification. 
It is obvious that the yield of bread per sack will depend very largely 
upon the quantity of water which any given flour will absorb and retain. 
The variable limit as to what water various flours will take will be deter- 
mined by commercial practice and competition. There cannot be one uniform 
standard for the moisture which flours themselves should contain. The 
optimum figure will vary greatly according to many conditions and can 
only be determined satisfactorily by the miller and his skilled advisers. 
These two points of quality in wheaten flour should therefore be regarded 
as essentially different one from the other, although in most cases they are 
closely correlated. In the author’s opinion each country or district should 
produce those wheats which return the greatest yield of wheat fit for human 
food. In that way the grower gets in all probability the best financial 
return and the public interest is best sérved. It is well known that in 
certain districts better financial returns can be obtained by the grower if he 
produce wheats which are not highly esteemed in commercial circles. 
8. The Chemical Properties of Wheaten Flour. 
By E. Franxuanp Armstrona, Ph.D., D.Sc. 
Wheaten flour is composed of (1) starch, (2) proteins’ of several kinds 
and small quantities of (3) fat, (4) sugar, (5) cellulose, (6) mineral matters. 
In addition, air-dry flour contains from 9 to 16 per cent. of (7) moisture. 
Although starch is the predominating constituent, amounting to about 
70 per cent., most attention has been directed to the proteins. When flour 
is made into a dough and the starch removed from this by agitation 
with water, a sticky, elastic mass of a light-brown colour remains; this 
is known as gluten and consists almost entirely of protein. 
The definition of ‘strength’ now generally adopted (see Humphries, 
p- 775), based as it is on the character of the final product—the loaf— 
covers so many factors that it cannot be strictly correlated with chemical 
composition. It is, however, to be supposed that the determination of 
certain factors or groups of factors should enable some idea of the relative 
baking values of flours to be gained in the laboratory; experience has 
confirmed this view. The chemist requires the miller and the baker to 
define, as precisely as possible, the particular points they look for in a 
satisfactory wheat or flour. Mr. Humphries has rendered great service by 
his attempts to do this. 
1The term protein is the modern equivalent of the older terms proteid 
or albuminoid. 
