8 BULLETIN 455, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table IV. — Moisture content of wheat dried at different temperatures and the 

 results of baking tests of flour made therefrom. 





Moisture content (per 

 cent). 



Length 

 oftime 

 in drier. 



Baking tests of flour. 



Description of 

 sample of wheat. 



Before 

 drying. 



After 

 drying. 



At 

 rolls. 



Water 



Volume 

 of loaf. 



Score. 



Remarks con- 

 cerning crumli. 





absorp- 

 | tion. 



Texture Color of 



of loaf, crumb. 



Natural 



Dried at— 



140° F 



160° F 



180° F 



13.3 



13.5 

 13.7 

 13.4 



13.4 



8. 9 12. S 

 8.4 13.3 

 7.3 ! 10.5 



Hours. 



li 

 H 



Per cent. 

 55.9 



56.2 

 55.9 

 55.9 



C.c. 

 2,003 



2,050 

 2,040 

 1.933 



94.0 



93.0 

 93.5 

 92.5 



100 



97 

 97 

 95 



Slightly gray. 



A little grav. 



Do. 

 Gray. 



There was not very much difference between the bread made from 

 the natural wheat and that from wheat dried at 140° and 160° F. 

 The bread made from the wheat dried at 180° F. was slightly inferior 

 (fig. 3). The loaf made from the natural wheat had a smaller vol- 



Fig. 3. — Loaves of bread from natural wheat, from wheat dried at 180° F., and from 

 wheat dried at 140° F. : A, Bread from natural wheat, with a loaf volume of 2,003 c. c. 

 and a texture of 100 : B, bread from wheat dried at 180° F., with a loaf volume of 1,933 

 c. c. and a texture of 95 ; C, bread from wheat dried at 140 J F.. with a loaf volume of 

 2,050 c. c. and a texture of 07. 



ume than either of the loaves from the wheat dried at 140° and 160° 

 F., but had a slightly better texture and color. These differences 

 can easily be attributed to the nature of the test and are within the 

 range of experimental error. Moreover, it is extremely difficult to 

 mix 6,000 bushels of wheat (four cars in this case) in such a manner 

 that samples of the flour taken during the process of milling will 

 give exactly duplicate results in a baking test. The differences ob- 

 tained from these three lots might have been due to actual differences 

 in the samples, which are likely to be found in tests of this kind. 



