172 F. B. GUTHRIE AND G. W. NORRIS. 



quantities to produce a dough of a given consistency are 

 invariably those which produce a large well-piled loaf. In 

 using the term " invariably," we mean only to imply that in 

 our own experience flours with high water absorbing power 

 are strong flours. All the new strong-flour varieties of wheat 

 created by the late Mr. Farrer and those which Mr. Sutton 

 his successor, is making, have been chosen on account of 

 their high water absorbing capacity. In other words, 

 while this function is not perhaps a necessary condition of 

 strength it is nevertheless a fairly trustworthy guide, and 

 the water absorbing power of a flour can be regarded as a 

 measure of its strength in much the same way as the 

 amount of carbonic acid in the air of inhabited rooms is a 

 measure of the vitiation of such air. 



It has the additional advantage of being a test which is 

 readily applied and capable of fairly accurate determination 

 which cannot be said of the baker's judgment. The art of 

 baking depends so much on the skill of the individual that 

 it is a very difficult thing to get two bakers to agree as to 

 the baking quality of a flour to which they are unaccus- 

 tomed, and still more difficult to obtain fixed data for the 

 factors, size and shape, upon which accurate comparisons 

 may be based. We consider therefore that it is of importance 

 to determine the causes of the greater power possessed by 

 certain flours of absorbing water, and the following notes 

 embody the results of a few preliminary experiments in 

 this direction, which though not conclusive may nevertheless 

 throw some additional light on the subject. 



1. Note on the water absorbing power of different grades 

 of flour.— A sample of coarse middlings as produced by one 

 of the leading millers in Sydney, was taken for the experi- 

 ment. This product had a water absorbing power of 45*5 

 quarts per 200 lbs. sack and contained 9 # 66°/° gluten. The 

 gluten was yellow, coherent and elastic. 



