124 F. B. GUTHRIE, 
NOTE on toe ABSORPTION or WATER sy tHe GLUTEN 
or DIFFERENT WHEATS. 
By F. B. Gururig, F.c.s. 
Chemist to the Department of Agriculture; Acting Professor of 
Chemistry, Sydney University. 
[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, June 3, 1896.] 
THE property possessed by flour of absorbing water, known 
technically as the strength of the flour, is known to vary con- 
siderably in different samples. In order to produce a dough of & 
given consistency, flour from different grain takes up quite differ- 
ent proportions of water. This is a factor of the greatest’ impor 
tance to the bread-maker and consequently to the bread consumer 
as well as to the miller and farmer, since upon it depends the 
volume and lightness of the baked loaf. 
In the course of an investigation into the milling qualities of 
different wheats,! it was observed that the water-absorbing powe? 
of the flour from different grain, varied in many cases quite 
independently of the gluten content. As it is not unusual to 
regard these two properties as identical, and to assume that the 
strength of a flour depends upon the quantity of gluten it contains, 
I append a few examples of the discrepancies then observed. The 
figures relating to strength are expressed as quarts of water 
absorbed’ ‘by a sack of flour of 200 ibs., the weight adopted in this 
Colony. 
Gluten Pee eee pe aa 
Triticum Polonicum... 5 
Medeah LS 15°59 . 16 7 
maior Fife ie ne  120e ee 
Amethyst ee 4 1208 22 OES 
Australian Poulard.... ae 22118? 6. et 
White Essex oe oe a. 4000. 5 Oe 
bs an Straw as 8 StS 
8:58 ... 40°9 
Neches Champion... a -- a20 
1 Agricultural Gazette of N. 8. Wales, March, 1806: 
