In cases where loaves are sold by weight, a flour with a high percentage of tenacious gluten is often preferred, since it permits of the forming of loaves containing a maximum percentage of water. With a flour rich in gluten it is not difficult to make a palatable loaf which does not bear any evidence of an excess of water, containing as much as 40 percent of moisture. The baking of bread is an art which is most successfully practiced by professionals, and the American method of home bread making does not always lead to the happiest results. The ideal flour for bread making is one which contains a sufficient quantity of gluten to make a porous and spongy loaf, but not one which permits an excessive quantity of moisture to be incorporated in the loaf itself. =Average Composition of Different Varieties of Flour.=--Analyses of a great number of samples of different varieties of flours lead to the following data, which may be accepted as a very close approximation of the average variety of different grades of flour offered upon the American market: -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ | | PRO- | PRO- | | | | TEIDS | TEIDS | | | MOIS- | N × | N × | MOIST | NAME OF FLOUR. | TURE. | 6.25. | 5.70. | GLUTEN.| -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |_Perct._|_Perct._|_Perct._|_Perct._| Patent flour, | 12.77 | 10.55 | 9.62 | 25.97 | Bakers’ and family flour,| 11.69 | 12.28 | 11.20 | 34.70 | Common market flour, | 12.28 | 10.18 | 9.28 | 24.55 | Miscellaneous flour, | 12.73 | 10.45 | 9.52 | 26.80 | Self-raising flour, | 11.45 | 9.75 | 8.89 | 26.97 | Gluten flour, | 12.99 | 13.30 | 12.13 | 39.68 | -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ | | | | STARCH | | | | | N × | | DRY | | | 6.25. | NAME OF FLOUR. | GLUTEN.| OIL. | ASH. | [26] | -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |_Perct._|_Perct._|_Perct._|_Perct._| Patent flour, | 9.99 | 1.02 | 0.44 | 74.76 | Bakers’ and family flour,| 13.07 | 1.30 | 0.57 | 73.87 | Common market flour, | 9.21 | 1.30 | 0.61 | 75.63 | Miscellaneous flour, | 10.22 | 1.08 | 0.49 | 75.23 | Self-raising flour, | 9.65 | 0.70 | 4.45 | 73.66 | Gluten flour, | 14.84 | 1.05 | 0.55 | 72.11 | -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+