Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1893-08-19

are TO be found in dough which is be-
ing raised with yeast. They are
warmth. moisture and the organic mat
ter of the -four on which the germs,
after certain changes, feed.
Ii Is necessary to remember at this
point that yeast is germ growth, and
when introduced into n mix
ture of glucose or starch, in the pres.
ence Of warmth and moisture sets up n
fermentation. " the MIXTURE be a
starchy dough the yeast first changes a
portion of the starch into glucose and
then decomposes the glucose by chang.
ing it into two new substances, viz. car
bonic acid gas and alcohol.
Now the gluten, which is also a con-
s.ituent Of dough and moist starch,
affords, with the latter, an excellent
indus for the development of germs of
disease as well as for the yeast germs.
The germs Of cholera, as OF typhoid
fever, would, IL introduced INTO dough,
and very favorable conditions for their
growth.
I do not wish TO ''pose" as an alarm
list, MOI sm / willing To say there is
very much chance of the germs OF
typhus and Of cholera reaching the
stomachs OF the people who eat bread
which has been raised with yeast.
But / have not the slightest cause to
doubt hat other diseases have been
-nf -ns s ....s .a.a. ,s @.ss 4 s. sss sF. ~.
ing the dough In the Bread trough with
naked hands and arms. ! have no rea-
son to suppose bakers arc less liable to
disease than are other men,
and I kuow, rs every housewife knows.
yeast-raised bread must be worked a
long time. This is an exceedingly OBJ
~jectionable thing from the standpoint
OF a physician, for the reason that the
germs of disease which are in the air
and dust and on stairways and straps
in street cars, are most often collected
on the hands. Any person who has
ever kneaded dough understands the
way in which the dough cleans the
hands. This means that any germs
which may have found a lodging place
on the hands of the baker before he
makes up his batch of bread are sure to
find their way into the dough, and
once there, to find all the conditions
necessa ry for subdivision and growth.
This is equivalent to saying that we
must rely on heat TO kill these germs,
because II Is almost certain that they
will be there. Now, underdone or
doughty bread is a form which every
mau and woman has seen.
1t is a belief as old as the hills that
underdone bread is unhealthful. This
reputation has been earned for Ii By
the experience of countless generations
and no careful mother will wish her
children to eat bread hat has not been
thoroughly cooked. The reason given
for this recognized unhealthfulness has
been that the uncooked yeast dough is
very difficult TO digest. No one but a
physician would be apt TO think of dis
ease germs which have not been killed
during the process of baking as a cause
Of the sickness following the use of un-
cooked yeast bread. Yet this result
from this cause is more than probable.
] have not the slightest doubt that
could we trace back some of the cases
Of illness which we meet in our prac-
tice we would find that germs collected
by the baker have found their way
into the yeast bread, that the heat has
not been sufficient to destroy them, that
the uncooked yeast bread has been
eaten and with IL the colonies of germs,
that they have found their way into the
blood and hat the call for our services
which followed. has rounded off this
sequence OF events.
l have already pointed out that the
germs of disease are t. be found in the
air and dust. The longer any substance
TO be eaten Is exposed to the air, the
greater the chance that germs will be
deposited on il. Bread raised with
yeast Is worked down or kneaded twice
before being baked and this process
may take anywhere from -four hours 10
A., 49, ALa les. ~ anllat /
ing disease germs during this process
Of raising and IL has two periods of
working down or kneading during each
OF which it may gather the dirt con-
tanning the germs from the bakers
with yeast goes through this long pro-
cess of raising and kneading. SO no
bread save that raised with yeast has so
good a chance of gathering germs.
What Is meant by raising bread Is
worth a few words. The introduction
Of the yeast into the moist dough and
the addition of heat when the pan Is
placed near the fire produces an o
nous growth OF the yeast fungi-the
yeast germ" In other words. These
fungi effect a destructive fermentation
of q portion Of the starchy matter Of
the fiour-one of the most valuable
nutrient elements in the -four. The
fermentation produces carbonic acid
gas, and this, having its origin in
every lite particle of the starch
which il itself everywhere - the -four,
pushes aside the particles of the dough
to give itself room. This Is what is
called raising the bread"
IL needs but q glance to see that II
IL, In It's effects on the dough, purely i
mechanical. The dough. which was
before q closc-graincd mass, Is now full
Of little holes, aAd when cooked In
this condition Is what we ordinarily
call light. Thia porous quality Of
bread enables the stomach TO rapidly
and easily digest II. for the gastric
juices quickly soak into and attack III
from al sides. The fermentation OF
the dough, however. uses mp . portion