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

nI-y times; no more, no less, He
Knows that fifty pulls will give it just
the requisite amount of mixing He
bias mixed up a little additional dough,
meanwhile, and on a marble slab he
tests its color. Then, rolling it out
thin and placing it on a piece of plate
glass, he looks at it from the under
side to test the color from that point
of view as we'll as from the top.
And then comes the baking-still
more interesting, if that may be. All
the bread is baked by electric heat,
the most even and certain heat known,
say those who make flour testing their
lie study. In the testing room of one
OF the great Minneapolis mills / saw,
rocked away in a vault. the first cleo
trlc oven ever constructed, now dis
placed by others more complste and
modern. First the dough is put away
10 rise, in case much like that of an
Incubator. This case is supplied with
electric heat While the yeast is do
ing its leavening work, the dough is
Kept from so to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
When risen, it is taken from the case
at given moment, put into the Rus
STA iron baking tin and placed in the
electric oven. This oven is an ingeni-
Gus affair, having on the inside Of the
nat, cylindrical box revolving shelf
on Which the baking pans are placed
one by one, for the inspector has been
making ready for quite a number OF
separate loaves. Below the shelf are
the electric wires from which comes
the heat. At first the heat is $50 de-
ereeS Fahrenheit, but this is gradually
increased to 400 degrees, where it is
kept while the loaf is baking. When
the loaf comes out it is rich golden
brown, light in color, and yet not too
light; much the same hue as the kernel
of wheat itself.
Now this bread making has not been
an all-night raising, halliday BAKING
event. 1t has been mixed, pulled,
raised and baked in less than three
hours. AT the end of sixty minutes
the loaf is found to be baked through
and through, with no trace of dough or
heaviness Then it must be weighed
and measured 1t must be so many
inches high. so many long; so many
inches around it one way, so many the
other This loaf of bread is subject to
iron-clad rules from the time it enters
the tiny mill as wheat until 1T STANDS
before the inspector a finished loaf
When the loaf has cooled it is cut
| open for inspection. 1t must be OF just
! the right hue, inside as well as out. II
the inspector finds it has peculiarly
!
I too much starch, too little gluten. 1our
ideal flour does not make the chalky
white bread so many people have come
to consider the best.
FRAUDS IN FLOUR DETECTED.
All around the inspectors rooms are
shelves on which are glass Jars OF sam
pies of each days -four Each sample
! is labelled with the details of the va
| rio
months. If in that time dealer IN
Liverpool, or Havana, or New York, OF
some little Iowa town, for that matter
reports that his patrons complain OF
the -four. ground on a certain date. a
request is made for a sample Of the
flour
When it is received the inspector
subjects it to precisely the same tests
he gives to all his flour. Then, after
he has washed and baked and color
tested it, he takes the little record jar
showing what the flour of the mills
was like on the day of the manufacture
of this particular lot of flour, and
compares this record with that of the
test of the -four under suspicion. I'm
mediately he knows from the agree.
ment or the disparity of the two f1ours
whether the two are identical or not
and whether the consumer has made
groundless complaint, or whether some
INSCRIPTIONS dealer is trying to palm
off an inferior grade of -four upon the
consumer.
One day a consumer in a western
state complained that his -four, bought
under a well-known brand. was far be
low the standard set by the manufac-
turer of this brand. A sample of the
flour was requested. Thorough analy'
ses were made The unerring tests
showed that il was a loW-grade -four
unquestionalbly Investigation showed
that the INSCRIPTIONS dealer had beer
collecting the cloth sacks bearing upor
them the printing of the standard
brand, had been filling them with
poorer flour, and had been selling the
-four as though it were made by the
firm whose brand was on the sacks
The test of the inspector told the whole
story of deception and led to the de-
lection of the fraud.
In the work of testing flours the
greatest care must be exercised thai
the flour shall not be exposed to ths
contamination of odors. Flour is one
of the most susceptible absorbents o.
odors known. 1t will take up the odol
of kerosene, for instance, if 1t is lef
some time exposed near to the oil
even if there be no contact. 1t is es
pecially susceptible to the odor of the
pineapple, and, in fact, it shows a re
markable affinity for any fruit of pun
gent fragrance. The testing of flour!
has become one of the most importan
departments of the great wheat grind
ing industry. 1t has proven of i'm
mense value to mill owners, and it ha!
a. definite advantage for the consume
who wants his flour always to be o
the same grade.
w. S. HARDWOOD.