MILLING AND BAKING EXPERIMENTS. 5 
In the manufacture of macaroni and similar products, although 
strong flours are not necessary, ordinary low-strength flours are 
not at all suitable. The essential requirements of wheat for making 
flour for these purposes are that it shall be hard in texture and 
of such character that it will pulverize into a coarse granular flour, 
or, as it is more often called, " semolina," and that this be gluten- 
ous, or high in gluten proteids. The first of these requirements seems 
to facilitate the mechanical part of the manufacture, while the 
second improves the quality of the product by preventing disin- 
tegration during cooking. 
LOAF VOLUME AND TEXTURE. 
This leads to a consideration of the measure of strength in flour. 
The definition of strength already given mentions two factors as of 
importance, namely, size and texture of loaf. A measure of the 
volume of the loaf gives the desired information as to size, and in 
the following pages this is expressed in cubic centimeters. The 
figures are comparative, as in every case 340 grams of flour were 
used for a loaf. It is more difficult to express texture in absolute 
terms, as it is dependent upon several related considerations. The 
uniformity, number, and evenness of distribution of cavities are 
the most important points. For a loaf to be of good texture the 
walls of the cells should be thin and nearly transparent. To ob- 
tain a measure of texture it has been found necessary to resort to 
an arbitrary scoring system based on the ideal as 100. 
WATER ABSORPTION. 
Capacity of water absorption is of some commercial importance 
and is determined by measuring the water added in mixing the 
dough. It is important because of its relation to the weight of the 
baked loaf. It might be considered as one element in the strength 
of flour if the definition were changed to include, besides require- 
ments for lightness and texture of loaf, a requirement for a high 
yield of bread per unit quantity of flour. 
METHODS USED IN DETERMINING MILLING AND BAKING 
QUALITIES. 
Determination of the milling and baking qualities of the different 
varieties was made with experimental or laboratory equipment 
rather than with the type of equipment used in commercial estab- 
lishments. The results obtained, however, are considered truly 
indicative of commercial values. 
The total quantity of wheat for the individual tests was 1,800 
grams, of which 1,500 grams were milled. From this quantity of 
wheat sufficient flour for two baking tests was produced, 340 grams 
of flour being used in each test. 
The type of experimental mill used is shown in Figure 1 and 
consists of four pairs of 6-inch rolls (three corrugated and one 
smooth), a sifter, and sieves appropriate for making the various 
separations of stock required. The system of milling used, although 
not the continuous automatic system employed in commercial mills. 
