The Chemistry of CookeryWilliams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
The Chemistry of Cookery
Williams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Cooking
I should add that the ancient method of effecting the fermentation of
bread, which I understand is still employed to some extent in France,
differs somewhat from the ordinary modern English practice.
When flour made into dough is kept for some time moderately warm, it
undergoes spontaneous fermentation, formerly described as ‘panary
fermentation,’ and supposed to be of a different nature from the
fermentation which produces yeast.
Dough in this condition is called _leaven_, and when kneaded with fresh
flour and water its fermentation is communicated to the whole lump;
hence the ancient metaphors. In practice the leaven was obtained by
setting aside some of the dough of a previous batch, and adding this
to the next when its fermentation had reached its maximum activity.
One reason why the modern method has superseded this appears to be
that the leaven is liable to proceed onward beyond the first stage of
fermentation, or that producing alcohol, and run into the acetous, or
vinegar-forming fermentation, producing sour bread. Another reason may
be that the potato mixture above described, which is but another kind
of leaven, is more effectual and convenient.
Dr. Dauglish’s method (patented in 1856, 1857, and 1858) is based on
the fact that water under pressure absorbs and holds in solution a
large quantity of carbonic acid gas, which escapes when the pressure
is diminished, as in uncorking soda-water, &c. Dr. Dauglish places the
flour in a strong, air-tight iron vessel, then forces water saturated
with carbonic acid under high pressure into this; kneading-knives mix
the dough by their rotation. When the mixture is completed a trap at
the lower part of the globular iron vessel is opened. The pressure of
the confined carbonic acid above forces the dough through this in a
cylindrical jet or flat ribbon as required, and this squirted cylinder
or ribbon is fashioned by suitable cutters, &c., into loaves. The
compressed gas expands, and the loaves are smartly baked before the
expansive energy of the gas is exhausted. It is justly claimed for this
process that it is far more cleanly than the ordinary method of making
bread, as with suitable machinery such ‘aerated bread’ can be made
without handling.
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