Science in the Kitchen: A Scientific Treatise On Food Substances and Their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome RecipesKellogg, E. E. (Ella Ervilla)
Science
Science in the Kitchen: A Scientific Treatise On Food Substances and Their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome Recipes
Kellogg, E. E. (Ella Ervilla)
Cooking, American; Diet; Vegetarianism
Good yeast bread, while it should be firm and preserve a certain amount
of moisture, will, when cold, crumble easily when rubbed between the
fingers. If, instead, it forms a close, soggy mass, it may be regarded
as indigestible. This is one reason why hot, new yeast bread and biscuit
are so indigestible. In demonstration of this, take a small lump of new
bread, gently roll it into a ball, and put into a glass of water, adding
a similar quantity of stale bread of the same kind also. The latter will
crumble away very soon, while the former will retain its form for hours,
reminding one of its condition in the stomach, "as hard as a bullet,"
for a long time resisting the action of the gastric juice, although,
meanwhile, the yeast germs which have not been killed in the oven are
converting the mass into a lump of yeast, by which the whole contents of
the stomach are soured. A soluble article like salt or sugar in fine
powdered form is much more easily and quickly dissolved than the same
article in solid lumps, and so it is with food. The apparent dryness of
stale bread is not caused by its loss of moisture; for if carefully
weighed, stale bread will be found to contain almost exactly the same
proportion of water as new bread that has become cold. The moisture has
only passed into a state of concealment, as may be demonstrated by
subjecting a stale loaf inclosed in a tightly-sealed receptacle to a
temperature equal to boiling heat in an oven for half an hour, when it
will again have the appearance of new bread.
Hot bread eaten with butter is still more unwholesome, for the reason
that the melted grease fills up the pores of the bread, and further
interferes with the action of the digestive fluids.
WHOLE-WHEAT AND GRAHAM BREADS.--The same general principles are
involved in the making of bread with whole-wheat and Graham flours as in
the production of bread from white flour. Good material and good care
are absolutely essential.
Whole-wheat flour ferments more readily and rises more quickly than does
white flour, hence bread made with it needs more careful management, as
it is more liable to sour. The novice in bread-making should not
undertake the preparation of bread with whole-wheat flour, until she has
thoroughly mastered all the details of the art by practical experience,
and can produce a perfect loaf from white flour.
Breads from whole-wheat and Graham flours require less yeast and less
flour than bread prepared from white flour. A slower process of
fermentation is also advantageous.
Such breads will be lighter if at least one third white flour be
employed in their manufacture. When the bread is made with a sponge,
this white flour may be utilised for the purpose. Thus the length of
time the whole-wheat flour will be undergoing fermentation will be
somewhat lessened, and its liability to become sour diminished. This
plan is a preferable one for beginners in bread-making.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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