Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/505

* BREAD. 445 BREAD. total protein. (See Vhe.t. ) But according to the results of digestion ex|K'riments with these flours the proportions of digestible or available protein and available energy in the patent flour were larger than in either the entire-wheat or the graham Hour. The lower digestibility of the pro- tein of the latter is due to the fact that in both these flours a considerable portion of this con- stituent is contained in the coarser particles (bran), and so resists the action of the digestive juices and escapes digestion. Thus, while there actually may be more protein in a given amount of graham or entire-wheat flour than in the same weight of patent flour from the same wheat, the body obtains less of the protein and energy from the coarse flour than it does from the fine, be- cause, although the including of the bran and germ increases the percentage of protein, it de- creases its digestibility. The digestibility of first and second patent flours, as shown by experiments made at the same time as those noted above, was not appre- ciably different from that of standard patent flour. The degree of digestibility of all of these flours is high, due largely to their mechanical condition: that is, to the fact that they are finely ground. ■Judged both by composition and digestibility, good bread is a wholesome, useful food. As com- pared with most meats and vegetables, bread has practically no waste, and is quite completely di- gested. It is too poor in protein to be fittingly used alone, but when used with due quantities of other foods, it is invaluable, and well deserves its title of 'the staff of life,' Statements of a popu- lar nature are frequently met with on the un- wholesomeness of hot bread. The fact that bread is hot has doubtless little to do with the matter. New bread, especially that from a large loaf, may be readily compressed into more or less solid masses, and it is possible that such bread would be much less finely masticated than crumbly, stale bread, and that, therefore, it might offer more resistance to the digestive juices of the stomach. However, when such hot bread as rolls, biscuit, or other form in which the crust is very large in proportion to the crumb, is eaten, this objection has much less force. There is little difficulty in masticating the crust, and it is doubtless usually finely divided. Impebfections and iMPrRiTiES IX Bread. One of the most common and dangerous faults in bread is heaviness and sogginess. In wheat bread this may be caused by the use of cheap flours. poor in gluten, which cannot absorb all the water put into the dough, or, to state it another way, by the use of too much water in proportion to the flour; by too little or by too poor yeast, or by insuflicient kneading, rising, or baking. Ilepvy bread is popularly considered one of the mos. indigestible of foods. When chewed it rolls itself into solid lumps, which give the saliva and gastric juices very little chance to work upon them. Occasionally the crumb of fresh broad breaks when cut, instead of separating cleanly inider the knife. According to .Tago, harsh, dry flours, not sulTiciently fermented, may be the cause of this, or the dough may have lost its tenacity by being overworked. .Another he small, even pores which it should show. These occur in ovcrkncaded or overraised dougli. or if they are found just below the crust they indicate that the oven was too hot and that the crust formed be- fore the carbon dioxide had finished expanding. Sometimes bread-makers are troubled by what is known as "sticky' or '.slimy' bread. In such cases biead three or four days old takes on a light-brown color and a peculiar taste and odor. Gradually, too, it becomes sticky or slimy, until it may be pulled into strings, sometimes several feet in length. The tnmble appears to be caused by the common potato bacillus ilidcilltis mesen- tericus yulgattis) . a minute organism which finds its way into the materials of the dough, survives the baking, and, growing in the bread, causes it to decompose. Recent experiments show that the bacilli enter the bread with the yeast, which in the cases in- vestigated was a variety of the compressed yeasts ordinarily on the market. It was also proved that the bacilli will survive the lieat of baking. Accordingly, if yeasts are not carefully made, such trouble may occur at any time, but espe- cially when the weather is warm and favorable to the growth of the bacilli. The best safeguards are to keep the bread in a cool place and to bake only as much as can be consumed within a day or two. Not infrequently, especially in damp weather, mold forms on the outside, or even in the inside of bread. Mold, like yeast, is a minute plant whose spores (or seeds) are floating about every- w'here in the air. ready to settle down and grow wherever they find a moist. siitable home for themselves. The best practical way to protect bread from them is to keep it in a dry, air-tight bo.x. But all these faults seem insignificant com- pared with sour bread. This is due to acetic, lactic, or, in the worst cases, butyric acid given off by undesirable bacteria, which get into the bread with the yeast or in some other way. Besides these acid-producing bacteria, various others may occur in bread, mostly harmless, but some of them very curious in their effects. Host striking among these is the Micrococcus prodifi- iosus, a minute organism which makes blood-red spots in the dough and whose presence gave rise to many interesting superstitions during the iliddlo Ages. The adulterants most commonly met with in bread are mineral salts mixed into the dough for the purpose of producing a good-looking loaf from poor flour, .luni is the most common of the.se. Soda is often used in bread to prevent souring, and. as it does not lessen the value, can liardly be called an adulterant. In breads made from special flour, poor in gluten — oatmeal, bar- ley, etc. — soda is resrarded as necessarv in the production of a sweet, well-raised loaf. See also Barley; Bi-okwheat: Flour: Maize; Rice; Rte; Whe.t: Adtt.teratiox. For further information consult ; .Taco, Thr ftd- cnce and Art of Brend-Malcinq (London, ISO.t) ; Church. Fond firainx of India, with supplement (London. 1901) : Boutroux. he pnin et la pnnifi- cntion (Paris, 1807) ; Ooodfellow. /)iV^p<tc Va^i/e of lircnd (London and New York. 1892) ; Korer, Bread and Brrad-Makinq (Philadelphia, 1809) :' Von Bibra, Die Oetrcidearfcn und das Brod (Nuremberg, ISfil ) ; Section on Bread-Makinsr, Richards, C7iemt.<(/ri/ of CooA.-cn/ (Boston, 1804)7 Abel, Practical Sanitary and Economic Cookery