DEC 45 
R28 
Domestic (Sccmoimj 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
THE STAFF of LIFE. 
HE GIEMISTnV OF B0E1D. 
Baking Powders Harmless. 
ALUM SHOULD BE FORBIDDEN. 
Sour Bread ; Pure Yeast. 
WHOLESOME BREAD. 
THE LOAF-GIVER, 
BREAD FOREMOST. 
Relative Merits Between Entire Grain 
and New Process Flour. 
Hot Bread. The Graham Loaf. 
Perfect Bread ; Hop Yeast Bread ; 
Water Bread ; Salt-Rising 
Bread ; Recipes. 
THE CHEMISTRY OF BREAD MAKING 
DR. PETER COLLIER. 
Rarity of good bread ; wliatbread and flour 
are; properties of the latter; yeast and its 
action; constituents of baking powders\ a 
good loaf and how to make it. 
It is a remarkable fact, which I think no 
one will question, that there is no article of 
food in more general use or of greater 
nutritive value than bread, and yet there is 
nothing which would appear to be more 
difficult to prepare, judged from the results 
which are generally found upon our tables. 
Nothing is rarer than first-rate bread, al¬ 
though there is much to criticise concerning 
the cooking of meats and nearly every form 
of food. There are a dozen of our American 
girls who may justly pride themselves upon 
their ability to go into the kitchen and pre 
pare a good loaf of cake or some other dish, 
to one who can furnish for the table a good 
loaf of bread. This ought not to be, and 
there is no good reason why it should be, 
since the preparation of good bread is a 
matter than which there is nothing easier, 
provided only that care and attention to the 
principles of its production, take the place of 
the rude “rule-of-thumb” methods which 
characterize our kitchens. I recall, as an 
illustration, an actual case where a recipe 
was given for the preparation of some dish, 
(I forget what, but ’tis no matter), in which 
the novice was directed to use, along with 
the other ingredients, “a good lump of butter, 
and then a little lump afterwards.” That 
this is hardly an exaggeration any one must 
admit who will spend a few moments in run_ 
ning over the published recipes for the count, 
less dishes which are prepared as food. 
WHAT IS BREAD? 
In its most restricted meaning, bread is pre¬ 
pared by mixing up flour with water into a 
stiff dough, having introduced into the mass 
some yeast or other substance which causes 
the dough to swell up or “rise”, and then bak¬ 
ing the mass in an oven. 
WHAT IS FLOUR? 
Wheat flour, which alone we shall consider, 
is the pulverized grain of wheat, freed from 
a large portion of the outer shell of the wheat 
kernel. This outer portion constitutes what 
is known as bran. By the later and improved 
processes of grinding the wheat, there are pro¬ 
duced a large number of products, including 
several grades of flour, the discussion of 
which need not now delay us. 
THE RURAL MEW-YORSCIR. 
COMPOSITION 
of Flour. 
An average sample 
of flour is composed 
of:— 
Moisture. 
. 10.84 per cent. 
Starch . 
. 68 28 “ 
Oil . 
. 2.40 “ “ 
Sugar. * .. - 
.. 4.16 “ “ 
.57 “ 
100.00 
The gluten is the characteristic principle of 
wheat flour. The other cereals contain very 
little or none of it. It is one of the nitrogenous 
compounds which are found in the vegetable 
world, but in certain of its properties it dif¬ 
fers from the other members of this remark¬ 
able group. The other cereal grains contain 
similar nitrogenous compounds, but none of 
them contain more than a trace of this which 
is so characteristic of wheat. If we take a 
little wheat flour and moisten it with water, 
we may work it into a stiff mass of dough, 
from which, by continued working and knead¬ 
ing in cold water, we may wash out the 
starch almost completely, and we shall have 
left a tough, semi-transparent mass, which, in 
its moist state, constitutes about 30 per cent, 
of the weight of the flour, and which upon 
drying loses about three fifths its weight and 
becomes like a piece of horn. This is the im¬ 
pure gluten and it is to its presence in wheat 
flour that many of the peeuliar properties of 
dough are due. The nitrogenous matters of 
the wheat consist of several different com¬ 
pounds, at least three in all. The writer 
found as an average of ten samples of winter 
wheat 1015 per cent, of albuminoids, of 
which 2.40 per cent, or 23.6 per cent, of the 
total amount, was soluble in water; and in 
five samples of spring wheat there was an 
average of 12.41 per cent, of albuminoids, of 
which 3.74 per cent, or 30.1 per cent, of the 
total amount, was soluble. The well known 
difference in the flour of winter and spring 
wheat is thus explained by the difference in 
chemical composition. 
This soluble portion of the albuminoids pre¬ 
sent in flour, plays a very important part in 
the matter of bread-making. It dissolves in 
the water with which the flour is moistened, 
and is distributed thus through the mass. 
Upon heating m the oven, this soluble albu¬ 
men is coagulated, inclosing the starch grains 
which were ruptured by the heat of baking, 
and the carbonic acid gas, prisoned in the 
mass, preserves the porous character of the 
loaf, which when eaten is thus readily per¬ 
meated by the digestive fluids of the stomach. 
It is obvious that a temperature must be 
secured through the mass of dough sufficient 
to produce these results as otherwise the in¬ 
terior of the l"af would collapse upon remov¬ 
ing the loaf from the oven, a not unusual 
accident in baking loaves of bread and cake. 
WHAT IS YEAST? 
If we allow a mass of dough to remain for 
a tew days in a warm place, it will enter into 
a process of fermentation as it is termed, and 
if this mass of fermented dough is mixed 
with a large mass of moistened flour, it is 
found that this process of fermentation is 
rapidly communicated to the whole mass ana 
within a few hours the dough rises, as it is 
termed, this being due to the formation 
through the mass of innumerable bubbles of 
carbonic acid gas, which entangled in the 
dough cause it to swell up. Upon examina¬ 
tion with the microscope, this process of fer¬ 
mentation is found to be associated with the 
rapid growth of a very low order of vegeta¬ 
tion called the yeast plant, consisting of cells 
which grow by continuous budding of new 
cells upon other cells already formed. These 
cells of the yeast plant are so small as to 
be carried about in the air everywhere when 
the temperature is such as to maintain their 
vitality, and coming in contact with any 
substance, as our first mass of dough, which 
affords them a good place tor development, 
they rapidly increase in number until the en¬ 
tire mass becomes filled with them. Such a 
mass becomes the leaven used for ages in the 
preparation of bread. It is simply a con¬ 
venient way of preserving and utilizing the 
yeast-plant. An interesting phenomenon asso¬ 
ciated with the growth of the yeast-plant is 
the formation of alcohol and carbonic acid 
from sugar, and it is due to this fact that 
yeast is used in the preparation of the bread 
for the oven. But other methods of render¬ 
ing the dough porous and light have been 
adopted. Sour milk and saleratus have been 
in common use for a century, the lactic acid 
of the sour milk setting free the carbonic acid 
in the saleratus. Bicarbonate of soda (cook¬ 
ing soda) has been mixed with the flour and 
a sufficient quantity of hydrochloric acid 
added to the water used in moistening the 
flour, to liberate the carbonic acid and form 
with the soda, common salt. 
Also water charged with carbonic acid has 
been used in mixing up the dough under pres¬ 
sure in iron cylinders, the carbonic acid ex¬ 
panding upon being liberated from the pres¬ 
sure and thus lightening the mass. The so- 
called aerated bread is thus prepared without 
the use of yeast or the loss by fermentation of 
any portion of the flour, as is of course the 
case when yeast is employed. 
BAKING POWDERS. 
Of late years the use of “ baking powders’ 
as they are called has become very extensive 
as a ready method of obviating the necessity 
of yeast. These are simply the soda and 
cream of-tartar used extensively for years 
past, but mixed in the proper proportions for 
immediate use. For the most part these 
powders consist of bicarbonate of soda and 
bi-tartrate of potash in the proportions 
necessary for their mutual decomposition 
with the liberation of the carbonic acid com¬ 
bined with the soda. There is usually added 
about 15 per cent, of starch to prevent the 
powders from caking. W hen pure and when 
properly used these powders are effective and 
convenient. I have analyzed very many 
samples of these products and found that 
there is practically little difference in the 
value of several of the leading brands in the 
market, and they are equally free from any¬ 
thing injurious. The use of alum, however, 
by some of the manufacturers should be for¬ 
bidden by law. 
HOW TO BAKE. 
In baking, the bread should be placed in an 
oven heated to about 500 F. the first effort be 
ing to expand the gas in the numberless cavi¬ 
ties of the loaf, thus greatly increasing its 
lightness, and then the nitrogenous portion of 
the dough is, as it were, coagulated and 
rendered sufficiently firm to maintain its 
form, while some of the starch is heated so as 
to form a soluble compound dextrine, in the 
crust of the bread. The heat within the loaf 
does not exceed that of boiling water, and 
barely suffices to destroy the yeast plant in 
case that was used in its production. A 
good loaf should contain few large cavities; 
it should be sufficiently baked to regain its 
form after pressure without being readily 
compressed into a dough; it should flake off 
when pulled apart, showing the effect of suf¬ 
ficient kneading, and should not have been 
kept so long before baking as to have been 
permitted to enter upon the acetic fermenta¬ 
tion, thus producing sour bread. 
Besides the peculiar yeast plant which at 
least accompanies, if it does not cause, the 
alcoholic fermentation of the sugar, by which 
alcohol and carbonic acid are produced, there 
are other low orders of vegetable life which 
closely resemble yeast, but the development 
of which is associated with the production of 
other undesirable products. The importance 
therefore of having a pure yeast is obvious, 
and fortunately we have an article in the 
compressed yeast sold now nearly every¬ 
where, which practically leaves nothing bet¬ 
ter to be desired. This consists of a mass of 
nearly pure yeast cells, practically free from 
any contamination with other forms. With 
its intelligent use the production of good and 
wholesome bread should soon become the 
universal rule in our kitchens. After keep¬ 
ing for a short time bread loses its moist, 
spongy character and becomes dry and brit¬ 
tle, being easily powdered in the fingers. 
This production of stale bread is found not to 
be due to the drying up of the loaf through 
loss of moisture, but to a union of the water 
with the nitrogenous and starchy portions 
of the bread. This may easily be proven by 
reheating in the oven a loaf of this stale 
bread, when it will be found to again resume 
its moist and spongy condition and this may 
again and again be repeated so often as the 
bread becomes stale. 
THE STAFF OF LIFE. 
DR. T. H. HOSKINS. 
The “loaf-giver? the “best" flour; bread 
from new-process flour and Graham bread ; 
our likings a good guide to the choice of 
food. 
It is said by the philologists that the 
original Saxon form of our English word 
“Lady” meant “Loaf-giver.” The essential 
democracy of the Germanic tribes is here in¬ 
dicated, as well as the departure from it 
which has followed increase in wealth in the 
modern nations derived from that old stock. 
But we see, too, a tendency to return to the 
basic ideas of the race here in free America, 
where already the word “lady,” as well as its 
companion word, “ gentleman,” tends more 
and more to become indicative of character, 
rather than of an artificial social importance, 
based upon mere wealth. 
Essentially, there can be no higher dignity 
than that which attaches to the woman who 
is the loaf-giver to those who are dependent 
upon her for “ the physical basis of life;” 
and it is indicative of no degeneration of type 
that never more than to-day have women 
been interested in the quality of house-hold 
bread. Everywhere the housewife puts this 
foremost, as the one thing that must be 
“good,” whatever of failure may be tolerated 
in other things. It is a commercial fact of 
the first importance that the American work¬ 
ingman insists (unquestionably at the dictate 
of his “better half,”) upon the first quality of 
flour, in his provision for family needs. 
That this is sometimes carried to a wasteful 
and absurd excess is merely due to lack of 
knowledge, and a consequent wrong standard 
of excellence. The idea that “whiteness” is 
the thing in bread, which is primary and 
fundamental, has lead, and is constantly lead¬ 
ing, to unnecessary expenditure. It depends 
upon too great a confidence in the sense of 
sight, as a guide in the choice of food, and is 
a part of the same delusion which makes us 
choose the red apple or peach, even when 
decidedly inferior to less showy sorts. The 
sight, being the first sense to receive an im¬ 
pression of external objects, will inevitably 
control choice, unless training and experience 
correct its errors. 
I am asked by the Editor to say something 
of the relative merits of bread made from the 
‘new-process” flour, and that made from the 
entire grain, and perhaps the above remarks 
are rather too long a prologue. Among the 
more refined and cultured portions of our 
people there has prevailed a belief that flour 
made from the whole grain.—“Graham,” as 
it has been called, in remembrance of the 
American apostle of vegetarianism—is the 
most wholesomo. This belief has been taken 
advantage of by cunning millers, to help them 
get rid of large quantities of inferior wheat, 
utterly unfit for making good flour of any 
sort, and so Graham bread has had hard work 
to sustain itself, and its use is mostly confined 
to the production of a sort of hot biscuit call¬ 
ed “gems,” which are supposed to be less hurt¬ 
ful than other bread of that class. Here it 
might be well to say (if there were a chance 
of getting it believed) that the only reason 
why hot bread is injurious is that we like it too 
well,and eat too much of it. This will be found 
co be the case with almost every kind of 
food regarded as “hurtful,” and yet few 
have seemed to think of that explanation of 
the matter. Otherwise than as it tends to 
over-eating, our likings are a good guide to 
the choice of food; and I am convinced that 
if good fruit were always and everywhere 
as cheap and accessible as bread and meat our 
likings would rarely mislead us to our hurt. 
If good fruit were provided abundantly, at 
every meal, few would be tempted to over-eat 
in any dangerous direction. 
While I do not take much stock in the no¬ 
tion sometimes put forward that Nature, in 
clothing the wheat kernel with a branny 
husk, intended that we should eat it so, and 
attached a penalty to refusal,—because I fear 
the logical consequence of extending the prin¬ 
ciple to all sorts of grain and nuts,—yet in the 
case of wheat there is not much objection to be 
made, if the grain is well cleaned before it is 
ground, and is itself of the first quality. Yet 
I think it both vain and useless to insist upon 
this point, while it is often claimed and 
with truth, that in decorticating the wheat 
before grinding, as the new process does, we 
remove a portion of the important elements of 
the grain, necessary to make it a perfect food, 
yet with the vast and varied dietary of the 
American people there is not likely to be any 
real deficiency on the whole. As a matter 
of mere economy, however, there can be little 
doubt that the outer layers of the cell-struc¬ 
ture of the wheat grain give us the cheapest 
supply of calcic, phosphatic and nitrogenous 
food-material which we can get; and it is pos¬ 
sible that fastidious people with a limited 
dietary, chiefly of bread, may really suffer 
from mal-nutrition in this way. And natural¬ 
ly it seems that such people are the ones who 
take to “bran bread”,—as our sturdy farmers 
and work-people are apt to stigmatize the 
Graham loaf. But where bread and meat and 
fruit go freely together to constitute our food, 
there is little danger of elementary deficiency. 
Nature has provided against this, by making 
us soon tire of any sort of diet, however 
agreeable for a while, which is not complete 
in its constitution—that is, which does not 
contain a full supply of all the essential ele¬ 
ments of nutrition. 
Briefly, in conclusion, it may be said with 
full truth that flour made of sound, well 
matured and well cleaned wheat, whether 
with or without a portion of the outer coat¬ 
ings, is good enough. But the most economi¬ 
cal bread, and the bread which is alone suited 
to use as an exclusive or nearly exclusive diet, 
must contain all the substance of grain, except 
the very outermost layer of cells constituting 
the bran;—and such flour will always be of a 
creamy rather than a chalky white, and will 
make a tenacious dough,tough enough to bend 
