Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/504

BJUJiAD. 4r44 BREAD. than ordinary yeast bread, but still is somewhat porous, owing probably to fermentation started by bacteria accidentally present in the Hour and acquired from the air: it is sweet and by no means unpalatable, but probably the nutritive value of its protein is lower than Dr. Graham supposed. fllutcn bread, if properly made, contains the gluten of the Hour, from which more or less of the starch has been removed. To make it, strong flour and water are made into dougli, which is pressed and strained under a stream of water until the starch has been worked out; it is then kneaded again and baked. It makes a light, elas- tic loaf, frequently proscribed for diabetic pa- tients, from wliose diet it is considered desirable to exclude starch. The acratrd bread so popular in London is made by a method invented by the English physi- cian Dauglish in 1850. According to this method, the water used for wetting the dough is directly charged with the requisite amount of carbon dioxide gas and then mixed with the flour in a specially constructed machine. The flour is in- closed in a tiglit box, moistened with the charged water, thoroughly kneaded by machinery, mold- ed into loaves and put directly into the oven. The advantages claimed for this form of l)read are : ( 1 ) There is no loss of flour tlirough fer- mentation; (2) the process is much more rapid; (3) the cost of machinery and gas is less than that of yeast; (4) the process is more sanitary, the bread requiring no handling; (5) the bread is absolutely pure, containing only water, flour, and salt. Sometimes a little fermented barley infusion, or wort, as it is called, from a brewery, is put into tbe water. Tliis aids it in absorbing the gas, renders the gluten more elastic, and improves the flavor, of the bread. The so-called salt-rising bread is interesting as an illustration of self-raised bread. In it the ferments originally present or acquired from the air produce the fermentation which leavens it. To make it, warm milk and cornmeal are mixed together into a stiff batter, which is left at blood heat until the whole mass is sour; that is, until the ferments present have prodiiced fermentation througliout. Next a tliick sponge is made of wheat flour and hot water, in which a little salt has been dissolved. This sponge and the sour batter are thoroughly kneaded together and set in a warm place for several liours. The leaven- ing action started in the batter spreads through the dough and produces a light, porous loaf, wliieh many persons consider very palatable. Such bread is quite free from acidity, as the presence of the salt prevents imdesirable fermen- tation. Various forms of 'raised biscuits,' 'hot bread,' etc., are ma<le in the household by adding short- ening, milk, eggs, etc., to the dough, or by modi- fying in some way the process followed. Using sirxla and cream of tartiir, or baking-powder, in making biscuits, shortcakes, etc., the iirocess is iutrinsically the same as in making ordinary white bread, except that the baking-jiowder or its substitute does the work of the yeast. Such breads do not require to be kneaded or set to rise, and bake yen,' quickly, hence are very con- venient when yeast is not obtainable or time is limited. They never become so light and porous as yeast-made bread, however, and dry very quickly. An interesting variety of bread made without leavening is known as Maryland or beaten bis- cuit. A rather stifl' dough is made from flour and water, or milk, with shortening and salt added. It is kneaded and then beaten or pound- ed, being fie(pieiitly turned over and over until it looks liglit and jiufly. The biscuits are then formed and baked. The folding and pounding of the dough incloses small (|iuuitities of air in numberless little blisters. These expand in bak- ing and make the biscuit light and porous. The different kinds of bread from other grains than wheat, as 'corn bread,' "brown bread,' "rj'e bread,' 'gems,' etc., which are made in many households, vary somewhat in dilTerent regions, but they all follow the .same principles which govern the bread-making from wheat flour; that is, the flour or meal is mixed to a dough with water or milk, and some leavening substance is generally added to make the dough porous. Eggs, sugar, shortening, etc., may be added, giving ri.se to the numerous varieties with which we are all fa- miliar. Digestibility. The digestibility of bread is a very important matter, which has been often studied by methods of artificial digestion and by experiments with man. Among the best known of the latter are those conducted by Jleyer and Voit, of Munich. Four kinds of bread were used: (1) Rye bread, raised with a leavening powder; (2) bread made from a mixture of rye and wheat flours, and raised with yeast; (3) fine white bread raised with yeast, and (4) coarse whole- wheat bread, which the Germans call 'pumper- nickel,' raised with yeast. The third of these — fine white brpad — yielded the highest percentage of digestible nutrients: next came the wheat and rye bread; then the bread raised with leavening powder, and last, the pumpernickel, which is too eoar.se to be justly compared with whole-wheat bread such as is made in the I'nited States. The fine white bread was the lightest; next to it stood the rye and wheat, and next, that raised with the powder: the same order these breads took with regard to digestibility. These experi- ments show, not so much the comparative value of ditTerent flours, as that the digestibility of bread de))ends largely upon its liglitness. A number of exiieriments have been recently made, especially by Snyder, and by Woods and Morrill, on the digestibility of bread from differ- ent grades of flour ground from the same lot of wheat. The average result of a number of such e.xperiments follows : Digestibility ok Dukad prom Different Kinds OF FLOCB KIND OK FLOUR 1 S ^ II 1 Whit^ bread from standard pat- % 86.3 80.4 77.6 % 66.4 55.8 68.0 % 97.6 94.1 88.4 90.1 85,6 80.7 According to the chemical analysis of graham, entire-wheat, and standard patent liours milled from the same lot of hard Scotch Fife spring wheat, the graham flour contained the highest and the jiatent flour the lowest percentage of