Chemical Properties of Wheaten Flour. 45 



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, substantially 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 bake- 

 house. 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 appetising, 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 determined 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 served. 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. 



VIII. 



THE CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF WHEATEN FLOUR. 



By Dr. E. Frankland Armstrong, 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) cellu- 

 lose, (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 



* The term protein is the modern equivalent of the older terms proteid or 

 albuminoid. 



D 



