The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-29

Every morning in the year on secular
days. and sometimes, in periods OF spe-
cial activity. on Sundays and holidays
also, five sacks of yellow wheat Win
say an eighth of bushel in each' are
delivered to a keeneyed man In a great
office building in Minneapolis. bach
sack is from a great flour MILL whefe'
during the twenty-four hours, over Two
thousands of bushels of wheat Will be
ground into nine thousand barrels OF
-four. Owned by the same company
are five of these mills with a total ca
pacity daily of eighteen thousand bar
rels.
Not an ounce OF this flour may be
made save by the direction of TINS Keen
eyed man, who day by day, the year
through. tests these sacks OF wheat.
1t is his province to order any one OF
the mills to change its product at any
moment He is not a proprietor-he is
merely an-employee, but his will is law
at the mills If any mill is grinding out
-four that varies a hairs breadth from
the standard of that mill he knows 1t,
not by seeing the flour ground but by
having every morning at his dlsposaI
the samples of wheat which is TO be
from what state the wheat comes,
what name it bears, or whether 1t is
rich or poor in quality. His duty is TO
take the wheat and subject 1t TO the
most severe tests known to modern mill
ing. Millions of dollars are represented
in the yearly output that is ground I'M
der his supervision.
Daily this output is worth at whole
sale about $4,000 1t will thus be seen
20 ~ allow de-
terioration in the flour manufactured,
he would bring into i'll Tepute the pro-
duct of the mills, and this would do
more harm in week than the mills
could recover from in twelve month.
FLOUR TESTING IS INTRICATE
WORK.
A peculiarly interesting process it is
which this man superintends. He is
analyst, miller and baker all in ONE.
He has methods of mixing 1ourS and
baking bread-some of which it is the
province OF this paper to describe and
some Of which are secrets of his call
/ ing-that may be somewhat of a revela-
ton to the best bread makers of the
homes Of America.
Did you ever consider how wonderful
a thing a wheat kernel is as it stands
ready for the mill rollers? Down in its
lll0GIf1OSL n6dTl-COI6 - d germ, IlOSb
precious produce of the kernel, tiny
bit Of yellowish substance. Around this
IS a layer of starch. Again, in an
ellirse outside of this is a band of light
colored gluten, next there is band of
darker hued gluten and these two are
the most important parts of the kernel.
Outside of these is still another band or
envelop of starch and gluten mixed,
and then outside of all, the golden
brown husk the bran of commerce.
II is the duty of this tester or I'm
spector" as he is technically known,
TO take these samples of wheat each
/ day and ascertain first what proportion
of pure starch, and what Of mixed
starch and gluten they contain. The
germ at the center of the kernel is the
vital life principle; the gluten is the
most important commercial as well as
economic element, that which makes
for wealth of purse and health of body,
and mind as well.
In the inspection room at one hand
is a tiny roller mill. run by electricity,
duplicate in miniature of the grind
ing machinery of the large mill The
wheat from one Of the sacks is ground
in this mill, the steel rollers crushing
the kernels into a fiaky dust. Below
the rollers are silk sleeves which separ-
ate the bran from the flour. When the
flour has been secured it is washed
thoroughly-so completely that the
starch and the gluten are wholly separ-
ated. There must be not less than 46
per cent. of gluten in the flour to keep
up the required standard, and the in
spector knows when he has finished
his washing, by the amount of gluten
residuum, whether the wheat of the
day is up to the required standard in
this respect or not.
MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE
FLOUR.
The gluten thickens or solidifes into
a little patty, about the size of a tooth
some marshmallow, and about the
color Of maple sugar caramel, but
having more nutriment in it than all
the candy you could eat in a month.
1t is very nearly the color of the
wheat kernel as it lies in round disc
on the piece of silk where it has been
collected.
But not only must the inspector know
s by color, weight and consistency as to
the quality of-the gluten-he must bake
st as well. Bake gluten? Yes, indeed
and could invalids be fed on this baked
gluten, given them in such dilution as
They could stand, it would be Of great
aid to them. But it would be too ex-
pensive to come into general use. The
inspector has a queer way of baking
patty, puts it in the bottom of brass
tube eight inches long and three
fou-ths of an inch in diameter. The
cube is subjected to great heat, a little
water supply at the bottom keeping
the gluten from burning. A sliding
brass weight of eleVe-i and a half
ounces is let down in the tube upon
Ehe gluten. Slowly the mass expands
and rises, and the heavy weight is
forced steadily up the tube The
gluten tests itself, so to speak II
must bake itself up to a certain mark
on the tube IN yellowish, fake cylin-
der or it is not up to standard Some
times the patties are baked in bis
cult form, coming out delicate, por-
GUS, brownish mass. perhaps an inch
and a half in diameter.
Interesting as this part of the test
Ing is to one when watching the worl,
of the inspector, it is less so than the
baking test No matter how important
or how scientific other tests NAV be
this is the one in which the consumed
IS most interested. If the -four which
comes from the mills is poor it will
surely. be shown in the kitchen. grant
ing that those who bake know how to
bake.
BREAD BAKING THE GREAT
FLOUR TEST.
The inspector carefully weighs out
sixteen ounces of -four 1t must be
exact to the fraction of q gramme. He
mikes this with water in a white earth.
en- bowl, ten. ounces of water to the