Domestic science (Clark, Cornell home economics)

Purchasing Flour. If possible buy the best. Washburn's Extra and Pillsbury's Best are wellknown bread flours. St. Louis is the popular brand of winter wheat, or pastry flour. Use bread flours made from spring wheat in all articles that call for yeast. To tell the difference between bread and pastry flours, take a handful of bread flour, close your hand and then open: the flour will not keep any shape, and feels like sugar as it passes through the fingers. Pastry flour taken in the same way retains the impression of the hand, and feels soft. The proteid element of wheat is called gluten. It has a grayish white color. It is tough and elastic to the touch and is insoluble in water. Bread should be made from flour that contains the right amount of gluten, because gluten expands and holds the gas developed in the dough by yeast fermentation. A visit to a flour mill is the best demonstration of the process of making flour. This could be made during the weeks the classes are studying wheat; and thus lead up to the flour lesson — muffins, bread, etc. The best flours are of a yellowish white. Manufacture of Flour. This is a very complicated process, and the methods change every year, but the principles are — first, cleaning the wheat, and separating the perfect grains from the imperfect ones; second, the grinding, and third, the bolting or process by which the bran is separated from what is called the "middlings" and then the different grades of flour from each other. Modern methods of milling would be a very interesting topic for the week's reading. These may then be discussed in Domestic Science periods. Fine flour mills are located at Minneapolis, Minnesota. "The Washburn's Extra" and the " Pillsbury 's Best" manufacturers of flour send sample bottles of flour to people wishing to know more about flour and milling processes. Pictures and descriptions of these mifls would be valuable in the notebooks pupils should be making. The processes of flour making would make interesting reading and language lessons for the week that the class takes wheat for a lesson in Domestic Science. The germ injures the color and affects the keeping qualities of the flour, if it is ground with the wheat. In these various reductions about 70% of the grain is saved for good and 30% becomes bran and shorts. Varieties of Flour — Graham. This is often an inferior flour mixed with coarse bran. Strictly speaking, it is made of flour from well cleaned and dusted wheat, groimd but not bolted. Entire Wheat Flour. This contains all the ingredients of the wheat grain, except those of the outer covering. Gluten Flour. This is made from the outer portions of the endosperm lying near the exterior of the grain. It contains more proteid than the inner portions. The composition of gluten flour is: moisture 13.98%, gluten 54.62, crude fibre .52, proteid 13.3, carbon 17.03, ash or mineral .55. Adulterations. Beans, peas, rye, barley, rice, are used for adulteration, which may be detected by size and shape of starch grain as seen through a microscope. Household Suggestions. For small famihes buy whole wheat by the bag or ^ bbl., Haxall or other bread flom- by the barrel, and the best St. Louis flour for pastry by the bag. Keep flour in a cool dry place, for in dampness it absorbs moisture and the gluten loses its tenacity. Good flour is creamy, yello-nish white and when made into a dough is elastic, easily kneaded, and keeps round puffy shape. Muffins — Home Recipe. 2 c. flour, ^ tsp. salt, 3 tsp. baking powder, 2 t|?sp. sugar, 2 tbsp. shortening (melted), 1 egg, 1 c. milk. School Recipe. 2 level tbsp. flour, ^ tsp. sugar, 1 S.S. baking powder, ^ s.s. salt, ^ tsp. shortening, 1 egg, 1 tbsp. milk.