Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-11-18
The Science Of Bread Baking.

There is. it has been said, philosophy
in ..,e cooking of an egg. The poet Pope,
who was an observant man, remarked
that the vulgar boil, the learned roast an
egg. II this adage be taken as sound i'll
principle, it leaves us all. or most of us,
at the disadvantage of being considered
vulgar And yet a poached egg, one
fried in butter, which comes near roast
inc. and best of all one roasted in an
oven, are all superior, both in flavor and
in digestibility, to the boiled egg-espec-
tally to one that has been overlooked
and is about as indigestibIe as so much
leather.
But to cook an egg is a very much sim
pier matter than the baking of bread,
which is based on truly scientific princi-
pies. and the method taken has very
much to do with the success of tn opera
ton. Flour consists mostly of starch.
with sufficient gluten to make the loaf
stiff enough to stand up when it is baked.
and which has a most important result in
the digestibility of the breau. Good bread
consists of an nnumberable number of
cells, which go to make it light. The
construction of these cells is very curl
Gus instance of a natural performance,
due to the method by which the bread is
maze. The starch of the flour when wet
forms a paste, the glu~en in it making
an infinite number of cell membranes
about the gathered particles of starcn.
The yeast. mixed in the flour, acts on this
starch and forms chemical combination
by means of the fermentation set up by
the rapid production of hydrate of the
starch. The solution of the sugar is then
effected, and this change is ACCOMPANIED
by the production of a large quantity of
carbonic acid gas and some alcohol. The
caroonic acid gas produced by these
changes is Unused through the mass,
forming minute bubbles, which are held
like so many bladders by the tenacious
gluten. Thus the dough swells and ex-
pands, and becomes a cellular soft mass.
commonly known as the sponge. This eff
feet is aided by the gentle heat by which
the housewife raises the. sponge. When
this fermentation is sufficient, and the
dough has swelled to the right point, the
sponge is worked over or kneaded into
loaves: This kneading mixes the sponge
more intimately, and forces the larger
bubbles into smaller ones, scattering
them through the mass as completely as
possible.
soon as the fermentation has proceeded
to the right point, and has produced
sufficient quantity of the carbonic acid
gas 20 give the bread the fine, spongy
GENTLY carried through, the bread is solid
and heavy, and not filled with cells as it
should be. In the oven the heat has, a
gas in the cells. and the loaf swells to
about twice the size of the sponge as it
was put into the oven. 1t also converts
the water in greater par. into steam,
| which has it's effect on the bread in ex-
banding it and making it light.
| The outer part Of the loaf is the sweet
est. for the reason that there is more of
| the sugar from the flour in Al, and a part
of this is changed into caramel by the
| heat; and this gives the brown color to
| the crust. But not all of the sugar is so
converted; a part of the starch is con-
verted by the heat into gum. and this Is
changed into peculiar substance known
water, and gives the color, as well as the
peculiar aroma, to that very desirable
beverage for sick persons known as toast
| water. This change occurs in the toast
ing of bread. and is the, cause, of the
pleasant flavor of toasted bread. If the
| neat of the oven is too great (350o is the
right point, the crust becomes hard and
| impervious to the escape of the steam.
and the bread is wet and soggy. The in
terror OF the bread, however, does NOT
rise ab be the boiling Ing or evaporating
| rying off or neutralizing the heat, and
this stops the fermentation by killing
the yeast germs. by which all these
| from the setting of the sponge until the
final baking has been begun. The bitter
taste of the yeast of course has been de-
stroyed by the heat: In the whole proc
ess about per cent of the starch is
converted into gum, and some of it into
sugar. The gluten has not been decom-
posed, but loses its toughneSs, unites
closely with the starch, and becomes cas-
lily digestible.
Newly-baked bread is moist, but as it
becomes stale it seems to become dry.
1t does not dry, however; as is shown
when the economical housewife puts the
| stale loaf into warm oven for a short
time, when it Becomes moist again and
freshened, and appears like new bread.
The finished bread has nearly half it's
| weight of water in 1t, and it is owing to
this fact that a barrel of flour makes
nearly twice it's weight or bread. Flour
rapidly deteriorates in quality by age. I'M
less kept perfectly dry. 1t absorbs
water and this moisture impairs the gu-
the, which is indispensable to the light
ness of the bread; and besides this, 1t
changes some of the starch into sugar
and gummy matter known deXtrine,
and then the bread is heavy and sodden
Bakers are said to revive old flour by
adding salt and alum to it, which has the
effect of causing the dough to hold more
water than it otherwise would, and this
is a justly Objectionable adulteration.
But by adding q parts of lime water to
100 parts Of flour, and then adding. pure
water sufficient to make the dough, the
old -four is made equal to new. Knowi-
edge of this fact we owe to the we'll
known German chemist T.iabip 5,. -.