The aim in bread-making should be to produce
an article rich in nutritive elements, palatable, and
easily digestible. The essential requisites for the
production of good bread are good materials, prop-
erly combined, together with careful management
during the processes by which they are converted
into the well-baked loaf.
Bread is generally made of wheat flour and
liquid, formed into a dough, and charged with some
gas to distend it, or, as we say, to make it light,
after which it is baked. Wheat flour is ordinarily
used in preference to that of other grains, because,
aside from the fact that wheat contains the most
correct proportion of food elements, its gluten is
in character different from and in quantity greater
than that found in most other grains, and is, for
these reasons, better adapted to the preparation of
light bread. It is the gluten of the flour which,
because of its tenacious properties, makes it pos-
sible to stretch and distend the dough by the aid
of some gas into a porous loaf. Even flours from
different kinds of wheat vary in the amount and
quality of gluten they contain. Flour made from
19
20 Healthful Cookery
the hard wheats is considered preferable for bread-
making.
The following table gives the average composi-
tion, according to Professor Woods, of the more
commonly used flours : —
Kinds of Flour
Spring
Wheat
Winter
Wheat
Graham
Entire
Wheat
Water
12. 1
10.7
13-1
12.0
Nitrogen
12.0
10.3
II. 7
I4.O
Fat
•9
•9
i-7
1.6
Starch and non-nitrogenous
elements
74-5
77-5
69.9
69.0
Fiber
1.8
1. 1
Ash
•5
.6
1.8
2-5
1 Moist
36-1
29.6
Drv
10.9
Q. I
Graham flour, which is unbolted wheat meal, is
generally made from winter wheat. Entire wheat,
whole wheat, and wheat berry are names used to
designate flours made by grinding the decorticated
wheat kernel. These flours are more commonly
made from spring wheat.
Whatever flour is used for bread-making, it
should be good of its kind.
Good flour will be sweet, dry, free from any
musty smell or taste, and when made into dough,
Breads
21
will retain its shape. Poor flour works soft and
sticky when kneaded.
Water and milk are the liquids generally used
for bread-making, and the usual method of charg-
ing the dough with gas is by fermentation through
the use of yeast.
Yeast. — The most convenient yeast is that sold
as compressed yeast, made from pure yeast-cul-
ture, to which is added a proportion of starch be-
fore compression, to add to its keeping qualities.
When fresh, this yeast is exceedingly strong, and
vigorous in action. The use of too much, how-
ever, is more likely to produce over-fermentation
than yeast of other kinds.
Many housekeepers prefer to manufacture yeast
for themselves. Essentially the same principle is
involved in their production; viz., the introduction
of a small quantity of fresh, lively yeast into some
mixture of starch and water, with or without the
addition of such other substances as will promote
fermentation or aid in preventing the yeast from
souring. The starch may be obtained from po-
tatoes or flour, or from a combination of both.
If no seed-yeast is obtainable, such may be se-
cured by covering a cup of raisins with water, and
keeping it in a warm place until fermentation takes
22
Healthful Cookery
Page 4
Presented as published in 1904. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The aim in bread-making should be to produce an article rich in nutritive elements, palatable, and easily digestible. The essential requisites for the production of good bread are good materials, properly combined, together with careful management during the processes by which they are converted into the well-baked loaf.
Bread is generally made of wheat flour and liquid, formed into a dough, and charged with some gas to distend it, or, as we say, to make it light, after which it is baked. Wheat flour is ordinarily used in preference to that of other grains, because, aside from the fact that wheat contains the most correct proportion of food elements, its gluten is in character different from and in quantity greater than that found in most other grains, and is, for these reasons, better adapted to the preparation of light bread. It is the gluten of the flour which, because of its tenacious properties, makes it possible to stretch and distend the dough by the aid of some gas into a porous loaf. Even flours from different kinds of wheat vary in the amount and quality of gluten they contain. Flour made from
20 Healthful Cookery
the hard wheats is considered preferable for breadmaking.
The following table gives the average composition, according to Professor Woods of the more commonly used flours:—
Kinds of Flour
Spring
Wheat
Winter
Wheat
Graham
Entire
Wheat
Water
12. 1
10.7
13-1
12.0
Nitrogen
12.0
10.3
II. 7
I4.O
Fat
•9
•9
i-7
1.6
Starch and non-nitrogenous
elements
74-5
77-5
69.9
69.0
Fiber
1.8
1. 1
Ash
•5
.6
1.8
2-5
1 Moist
36-1
29.6
Drv
10.9
Q. I
Graham flour, which is unbolted wheat meal, is generally made from winter wheat. Entire wheat, whole wheat, and wheat berry are names used to designate flours made by grinding the decorticated wheat kernel. These flours are more commonly made from spring wheat.
Whatever flour is used for bread-making, it should be good of its kind.
Good flour will be sweet, dry, free from any musty smell or taste, and when made into dough,
Breads
will retain its shape. Poor flour works soft and sticky when kneaded.
Water and milk are the liquids generally used for bread-making, and the usual method of charging the dough with gas is by fermentation through the use of yeast.
Yeast. — The most convenient yeast is that sold as compressed yeast, made from pure yeast-culture, to which is added a proportion of starch before compression, to add to its keeping qualities. When fresh, this yeast is exceedingly strong, and vigorous in action. The use of too much, however, is more likely to produce over-fermentation than yeast of other kinds.
Many housekeepers prefer to manufacture yeast for themselves. Essentially the same principle is involved in their production; viz., the introduction of a small quantity of fresh, lively yeast into some mixture of starch and water, with or without the addition of such other substances as will promote fermentation or aid in preventing the yeast from souring. The starch may be obtained from potatoes or flour, or from a combination of both.
If no seed-yeast is obtainable, such may be secured by covering a cup of raisins with water, and keeping it in a warm place until fermentation takes
Healthful Cookery