Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-17
Some Facts of Great Importance to
Bread Eaters.
RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
How to Obtain the Best for the
Least Money.
ADVICE TO HOUSEKEEPERS

| Written for The Evening Star.
| Our daily bread is the subject of most
| important scientific investigation lately be-
gun by the Agricultural Departments large
corps of food experts.
To teach the poor man how to obtain the
best bread for the least money; to teach
the dyspeptic the relative digestibility of the
various STATS of life; to teach the house
wife valuable points in scientific bread
making; to teach the general public how TO
detect the evils of the bakeries. These
are the prime purposes of this work.
The stomachs of people selected from diff
| ferent walks of life have been fed various
qualities of bread and subjected to scrutin-
| Gus study These subjects were required to
| eat in a dining room so arranged that their
| meals should be partaken of under condi-
tons as nearly normal as possible. The
| food of each man was kept separate. The
| evening before each experiment began, the
| subjects We're given supper of milk only.
During the two following days their food
was limited chiefly to the bread to be in
vestfgated and generally milk. butter and
coffee with sugar. Each man was given
as much of this limited diet as he wanted.
| Whenever a new loaf OF bread was needed
| it was weighed and quartered, one quarter
| being analysed by a chemist. In fact, all
| food furnished was weighed and analysed.
| Afterward all not eaten was similarly test
ed, as was that eaten, but not retained by
| the digestive system. By simply subStract
| ing the weights and ingredients of food
thus rejected by the stomach from the to-
| tai food furnished, the amount actually d.
| gested was determined. White, graham and
! entire wheat bread were in this way COM
| pared.
| White Bread Most Dfsestible.
| White bread yielded the highest percent
| age of digestible nutrition. Entire-wheat
| bread made from flour not containing the
| three outer layers of bran ranked next.
| Graham bread, from the whole wheat grain,
| gave the lowest percentage Of digestible
| nutrition. This result will be great sur
prise to dyspeptics, among whom the eating
| of Whole-wheat or entire-wheat breads has
| become a fad. Wheat fourS containing
| part of the bran were discovered to fur
nish the body more mineral matters than
| fine white flour.
All grains from which the world makes
! its breads were analysed and examined
under the microscope. Cutting grain of
wheat In half with a very delicate knife
and putting the open portion under the
| microscope the cross-section showed six
very thin outer skins, the layers of bran.
| The first five of these were found to con-
| tain very little except a woody fiber. This
was burned, and in its ashes We're found
| phoSphOric acid, potash and small amounts
! of other mineral matters. The bottom lay
| er found to weigh more than the five
| outer layers put together Analysis showed
| terror of the wheat contained large quanti
| ties of starch, gluten, full of nitrogen, and
| a little sugar. At the lower end of the
grain was seen an oval. seed-lke knot,
containing nitrogen, sugar and a very large
| proportion of fat. 1t IS this part of the
| grain which develops into a new plant.
Just how each of these parts of the wheat
| grain is distributed in the body deter
mined for the edification of the bread eater.
| 1t was found that the nitrogen in the bot
| tom layer of bran in the white interior and
| in the germ goes together with the gluten,
| to build tissue in our bodies and to give US
| energy. The food value of these is similar
| to that of the white of egg and lean of
meat. The starch and sugar, found mainly
| in the white interior of the grain, give us
warmth and produce more energy for our
| muscular work. The fat in the germ gives
US fuel for our bodily fires. The mineral
matters in the bran do little more than aid
| in the forming of our bones and teeth. The
| white inside of the grain is therefore the
most important part of the -four. Its rich
| starch is the chief source of nutrition in
| bread. and the easily digested gluten, rich
as tissue former, gives the ciinging, elias
| tic body of dough which expands when
| filled with yeast and holds the gas of the
| latter, not allowing it to burst through and
| escape. 1t Is discovered that the more of
! this gluten the flour holds the more bread it
/ will make. Hence housewives should select
strong flour, rich in this important con-
! stituent, rather than weak deficient
| therein.
|
| Whole wheat bread is less digestible than
| that made of the white of the grain alone
most probably because the bran is filled
| with sharp, rough particles which irrltate
! the membranes Of the intestines and thus
| hasten food through them. The part of
| the bottom bran layer which contains its
| nitrogen does not seem to be thoroughly
| digested. The fat in the germ of the grain
when ground into whole wheat flour Is apt
| 70 o.
called entire wheat f1ours 1t is discovered
| that only the former contains the whole
wheat ground up. This, invented by DR..
| Sylvester Graham, an American physician,
is made by simply washing and cleansing
the grain and then grinding 1t all between
| two stones. Entire wheat flour is found
| to be made by running grain through
machine which removes the three outer lay
| ers of bran. In this way the supposedly
useful under layer is retained. The best
white -four is now made by removing the
| bran from wheat and then running it
| through five or more pairs of rollers, set
! nearer and nearer together.
Valuable rules by which the housekeeper
can judge good bread flour offhand are
| given the basis of these Investigations.
Its color should be white, with a faint, yell
lowish tinge. After being pressed in the
| hand, it should fall loosely apart. If it
| stays in Jumps it has too much moisture
in it. When rubbed between the fingers it
should not feel too smooth and powdery,
| but its individual particles should be vague
| teeth it should crunch little. Its taste
should be sweet and nutty without a sus-
| picion of sourness.
| Wheat is the best bread maker of all
| grains. This conclusion is arrived at after
| experimenting with all Of the cereals out
| of which the worlds daily bread is made.
| Rye gives a less elastic and clingng loaf,
heavier and not so well raised. Rye bread
is found to be second in Importance to
| wheat bread, but less digestible. Barley
and oats produce less gluten and contain
still more ndigestible matter. Corn contains
more fat but less tissue building materials
| than wheat. Its -four contains no gluten
and this is why the housewife cannot use
it alone in making a good loaf, raised with
| yeast.
Yeast Lives In the Atmosphere.
Into the very depths of yeast-making
| these government experts have delved.
Few bread-eaters realize that yeast is in
| reality a mass of tiny plants widely dis
| tributed in the atmosphere around us. If
| a dish of malt extract be exposed to the
air, the yeast plant soon finds the liquid
| and takes root therein causing what is
| known as alcoholic fermentation. Good
| teetotalers do not realize that with every
| Of "a a