The tests of good bread are that it should have a flinty, light-brown crust, should crack on application of a fracturing force ; its crumb or the whole loaf should rise again when compressed to a moderate degree ; it should be spongy on fracture, and the bubbles of the sponge should be uniform in size ; it should be white in colour, agreeable in smell and taste, sweet and nutty. Paniflcation, then, consists in the transformation by ferments of starchy and albuminous matters, the induction of an alcoholic fermentation of sugar contained or produced in, or added to, the dough, the evolution of carbonic acid gas, of which much escapes, while enough is retained to impart to the dough ultimately a porous, spongy condition ; in this state it is kept by the viscid gluten ; the condition is made permanent by heat, and bread is the result. The starch in bread is partly soluble as starch or as I 'A RIO US KINDS OF BREAD 381 dextrine, partly fixed or insoluble, but can be made by secondary influence soluble entirely. A little alcohol remains in the bread, and evaporates slowly. When it is kept, baked bread undergoes a change, by which it becomes stale or rough, and thereby less appetizing to most people. This change is of some importance in cookery, as stale or dry bread is suitable for many operations for which fresh bread would be, or is supposed and stated to be, unsuitable. Bread contains on an average more than a third of its weight in the shape of water. Different observers have found in 100 parts 62’8 parts of dry bread to 37’2 of water ; 63-7 to 36-3 ; 554 to 44-6 ; 64 to 36. 100 lb. of flour yield on an average 135. lb. of bread, the limits of variation being between 130 and 137‘7 lb. The so-called aerated bread made by the process of the late Dr. Dauglish is not subjected to fermentation, but is raised by air previously compressed somewhat by mechanical means. In it but little dextrine and sugar are formed, and the albuminoids are not much changed except by the heat- ing. Bread and cakes raised by baking-poxoder are made porous by carbonic acid evolved from carbonate or bicar- bonate of soda by an acid or an acid salt. Of acids, the tartaric is most commonly employed ; of acid salts, the acid phosphate of lime, and alum. The phosphate and soda mixed intimately with flour produces the so-called self- raising floxLr, first imported from America, while alum and bicarbonate constitute the Norfolk baking-powder. Meat bread is wheaten bread with which a quantity of cooked and minced meat has been incorporated, in such a manner that it disappears from sight, and is dissolved in the crumb. Fresh dough will in this way assimilate an amount of meat corresponding to 1 lb. upon 2 lb, of flour. It will dissolve much more, up to 1 lb. of meat to the dough of 1 lb. of flour, but the bread is not so good. The bread is darker in colour than white wheat bread, has a 382 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY fine crust, excellent taste, and is highly nutritious. It constitutes, in fact, with a certain amount of fat, a perfect food. It is very digestible, and can be eaten and assimilated with extraordinary facility by persons who suffer from disease or derangement of the digestive organs. It is raised with the aid of four-tenths of an ounce, or 175 grains, of compressed yeast to the pound of flour. CHAPTEE XXX. GRIDDLE-CAKE, DUMPLINGS, PORRIDGE, MACARONI, AND NOUILLES.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The tests of good bread are that it should have a flinty, light-brown crust, should crack on application of a fracturing force ; its crumb or the whole loaf should rise again when compressed to a moderate degree ; it should be spongy on fracture, and the bubbles of the sponge should be uniform in size ; it should be white in colour, agreeable in smell and taste, sweet and nutty. Panification, then, consists in the transformation by ferments of starchy and albuminous matters, the induction of an alcoholic fermentation of sugar contained or produced in, or added to, the dough, the evolution of carbonic acid gas, of which much escapes, while enough is retained to impart to the dough ultimately a porous, spongy condition ; in this state it is kept by the viscid gluten ; the condition is made permanent by heat, and bread is the result. The starch in bread is partly soluble as starch or as I 'A RIO US KINDS OF BREAD dextrine, partly fixed or insoluble, but can be made by secondary influence soluble entirely. A little alcohol remains in the bread, and evaporates slowly. When it is kept, baked bread undergoes a change, by which it becomes stale or rough, and thereby less appetizing to most people. This change is of some importance in cookery, as stale or dry bread is suitable for many operations for which fresh bread would be, or is supposed and stated to be, unsuitable. Bread contains on an average more than a third of its weight in the shape of water. Different observers have found in 100 parts 62’8 parts of dry bread to 37’2 of water ; 63-7 to 36-3 ; 554 to 44-6 ; 64 to 36. 100 lb. of flour yield on an average 135. lb. of bread, the limits of variation being between 130 and 137‘7 lb. The so-called aerated bread made by the process of the late Dr. Dauglish is not subjected to fermentation, but is raised by air previously compressed somewhat by mechanical means. In it but little dextrine and sugar are formed, and the albuminoids are not much changed except by the heating. Bread and cakes raised by baking-powder are made porous by carbonic acid evolved from carbonate or bicarbonate of soda by an acid or an acid salt. Of acids, the tartaric is most commonly employed ; of acid salts, the acid phosphate of lime, and alum. The phosphate and soda mixed intimately with flour produces the so-called self-raising flour, first imported from America, while alum and bicarbonate constitute the Norfolk baking-powder. Meat bread is wheaten bread with which a quantity of cooked and minced meat has been incorporated, in such a manner that it disappears from sight, and is dissolved in the crumb. Fresh dough will in this way assimilate an amount of meat corresponding to 1 lb. upon 2 lb, of flour. It will dissolve much more, up to 1 lb. of meat to the dough of 1 lb. of flour, but the bread is not so good. The bread is darker in colour than white wheat bread, has a fine crust, excellent taste, and is highly nutritious. It constitutes, in fact, with a certain amount of fat, a perfect food. It is very digestible, and can be eaten and assimilated with extraordinary facility by persons who suffer from disease or derangement of the digestive organs. It is raised with the aid of four-tenths of an ounce, or 175 grains, of compressed yeast to the pound of flour. CHAPTEE XXX. GRIDDLE-CAKE, DUMPLINGS, PORRIDGE, MACARONI, AND NOUILLES.

The spirit of cookery