A manual of home-making

The making of yea^t bread has a rertain fascination because siiwesa defK'nds largely on the ]>roper eon t ml of living organ- isms, or yeiist^s. If tiough is left for too long or is kept too warm, the yeast plants become weakened; then the bacteria that may be present grow and produce an acid, making the bread sour. The milk is scalded in order to kill any bacteria pres^ent. Proper baking of bread kills all bacteria, yeasts, and molds, and insures its keeping, if it is carefully handled and stored afterwards, INGREDIENTS The essential ingredients for yeast bread arc flour, yeast, liquid, and salt. Other ingredients often added for flavor, texture, or ktn^'ping quality arc sugar, shortening, and potatoes. In place of the custonxary wheat, corn, barley, oats, rice, po- tatoes, peanuts, or breadcnunbs may be used. In place of some of the wheat ordinarily used, corn, liarley, oats, riee, potatoes, peanuts, or breadcrurnljs may be used. The cereals may be ground and added witli the Hour, or they may be cookeil to a mush before they are added to the batter, Fhmr. The l>est bread flour is called strong floiu* and is made from hard spring wheat. This wheat is grown in the Dakotas, Min- nesota, a part of Iowa, Nebraska, northern Kansas, northern Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. A strong winter wheat is grown in a limited number of states, notably Kansas. A strong Ijread flour is slightly granular, has a creamy color, and gives bread of maximum volume. 495 496 A MANUAL OF HOME-MAKING i-m3^ WTieat and rye flours are particularly adapted to bread ing because they contain materials which, when mrn ' form an elastic substuiH'c, called gUitetK The gluten » ^ wi the pressure of heated gases in baking and fonns a franiew surroimding the other ingredients, A good yea^st I jreiwl general contains some wheat or rye Hour, although other cereals can wdl be used to a certain extent. The present complex standardized process of mxlljnfc whi 18 the result of a gradual remarkable development which in the daj^ when women %vere millers, the mill consisting two stones between which the grain wa,s grountK The pateni or roller, process now used produces a flour tlilTerent in col composition, and bread-making qualities. Although whe milled by the roller process fields a flour that gives a white I and consequently makes its appeal to the eye, the flour con less of the entire wheat kernel than that produced by the 01 method. The patent reduction, or roller, process is so named becaujie the wheat is reduced to flour hy being put through a series of ^ie^A rollei's. The wheat is first cleaned, and then gradual reduced to flnyr as it passe.*^ through a series of steel rollei e^ch pair adjusted to give a finer jiroiluct than the preeetlinj As tlie wheat passes through each set of if»llei*s, a little of it i reduced to flour anrl the remainder is called middlings, middlings are then carrifxl through the next roller; each the result i*s flour and middlings. The bran cannot be redii^ to flour but is flattened by the steel rollers and separatcnl froi the Hour, The quality of the flour that results from the blen ing of tlie flours oljtained from the diJTerent rollers depends the skill of the miller.