Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/363

BRE chalk, lime, and whiting to the flour, and bakers of mixing alum with the dough. There is much reason to suspect, that these practices are but too prevalent. It has been asserted, that the adulteration of bread is owing to the legal distinctions in the qu; of it, and to our making colour the Standard of goodness. Dr. Dar- win cjserves, that where much alum is mixed with bread, it may- be easily distinguished by the eye : when two loaves so adulterated has v stuck together in the oven, they break from each other with a much- smoother surface, where they had adhered, than those loaves do which contain no alum. An excellent method of making bread ct rice is, by boiling thr. e- fourths oi wheaten flour and one- fourth of rice separately. The rice should be well boiled, the water squeezed out (which may be afterw: - ds used as sta.eh for hnen, for there can be no better), and the mass should then be mixed with the flour. It is made in the same manner as common bread, and is very nutritive. One pound and a half of flour mixed with half a pound of rice, will produce a loaf weighing from three pounds to three pounds two ounces, which is greater than tiiat obtained by baking bread of wheat flour only. Rice has also been tried in the same proportion with barley, and makes good bread for labouring people ; but the gain in baking is by no means equal to that obtained by mixing it with wheat. — See IIice. Another mode of preparing bread with, all the bran, the result of which we have stated under the head of Bran, is as follows : " Take seven pounds seven ounces of bran and pollard, and fourteen bre r 33I quarts of water, and boil the whole very gently over a slow fire. When the mixture begins to swell and thicken, let it be frequently stirred, to prevent its boiling over, or burning either at the bottom or sides of the vessel. After having boiled two hours, it will acquire the consistence of a thin pudding. Now put it into a clean cloth, and squeeze out the liquor : take a quart of this, mix it with three pints of yeast, and set the sponge for twenty-eight pounds of flour. The mass, bran, and pollard, even aiter the liquor has been separated, will be found to be above four times its original weight ; it is then to be placed near the fire. In about two hours, the sponge will sufficiently risen. The bran and pollard, then lukewarm, should be mixed with the flour ; and, after adding half a pound of salt, the whole must b; wed kneaded, with one quart of the bran liquor. Thus prepared, the dough is form- ed into loaves, and baked for two hours and a quarter in a common oven. The bread, when cold, will weigh one half more than the same quantity of flour would, without the addition of the bran. It the bran-water only is used, and the bran itself (which, by the boiling, increases considerably iri weight) is not added to the dough, the increase of bread will still be considerable ; but not more than one-third of the increase obtained, when all the bran is used. The great advantage of eating pure and genuine bread must be ob- vious. Every part of the wheat, which may be called Hour, was not only intended to be eaten by man, but it really makes the best bread, since that may be called the best which is of most general use, and 5>0