Quality in Wheaten Flour. 



43 



therefore, that the concentration of sugar in the uncombined water 

 may easily get beyond the proportion at which the optimum pro- 

 portion of gas can be obtained. It follows also that, in certain 

 cases, sugar can be added advantageously when an increased 

 production of gas is desired ; it can also be added advantageously 

 in some cases when it is desirable to retard fermentation. 



It may be asked whether the same principles apply in other 

 cases of enzymic action. Can beneficial enzymic action be assisted 

 or undesirable enzymic action retarded on such lines? Are there 

 any reasons for believing that conditions favourable or unfavour- 

 able to alcoholic fermentation equally affect enzymic action? Has 

 sugar a direct effect on the physical state of the gluten? 



Mr. Whymper (in the Starch Section of the last International 

 Congress of Applied Chemistry) showed by photo-micrographs 

 and lantern slides that only a very small proportion of the starch 

 particles is attacked by diastase. The small or smaller grains 

 were shown to be unaffected by the diastase. Mr. Simpson has 

 shown that, under certain conditions, a small proportion of flour 

 converted into sugar a quantity of ungelatinised starch equal to 

 8 per cent, of the weight of the flour, but that under identical 

 conditions the same quantity of the same flour converted a quantity 

 equal to 400 per cent, of its own weight into sugar when 

 gelatinised starch was used. It seems, therefore, that the cellulose 

 envelope of the starch cells is the impediment to the maximum 

 effect of diastatic action. 



These points have a direct bearing upon a point which arises in 

 milling concerning fine versus coarse dressing — whether it is 

 desirable to make a lively granular flour or a softer feeling flour 

 consisting of much smaller particles. The latter should contain 

 a much large proportion of fissured cells than the former. 



The author has found that flours made from wheat produced 

 in very hot, dry climates, as a rule, yield relatively small quantities 

 of gas in panary fermentation. The starch so produced by Nature 

 becomes so stable and so resists disintegration that in fermenting 

 flour made from such wheats under old. conditions of milling 

 proper diastatic action is not produced ; by the skilful application 

 of water, or by adding either malt extract or proper yeast foods, 

 or by a combination of these methods, the miller can and should 

 produce flour capable of making better and more nutritious bread. 



Four years ago the author found that if an aqueous extract of 

 bran be added to the water used in bread-making it has a marked 

 effect in increasing the size of loaf from certain flours, the effect 

 being substantially the same even if the extract be boiled. After 

 analysing this extract and adding the various constituents found 

 therein to many flours during the processes of bread-making, he 

 found that when sugar was added it operated in ways already 



