Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

"The baking of flour which has been made from germinated grain ought to be proceeded in with much greater rapidity than that of flour from uninjured grain; because, the gluten of such flour having been more or less destroyed, the process of its fermentation goes on much more quickly. The water employed ought to be cooler; the paste should be kneaded more firmly (made stiffer, in fact), and divided into loaves of less thickness. The batch should be put into the oven a quarter of an hour sooner after it is completed. The oven should be hotter; the bread should be left in it forty-five minutes, instead of an hour, as in ordinary cases; and it ought not to be given out for consumption until two or three days after it is baked.

"By attending to these directions, bread will be obtained from germinated corn, which, without being as good as that made from the best flour, will yet be sufficiently salubrious, and of sufficiently good appearance. It is necessary to observe, however, that it is only from the flour of such corn as has been very slightly germinated, that bread of the above description can be obtained, unless the corn has been dried before being ground. But when corn, even greatly germinated, has undergone such previous desiccation, it will yield a flour capable of making much better bread than

flour from corn which, though less germinated, has not had the benefit of drying.

"It deserves to be noticed, that it is vain to employ a greater quantity of yeast, in the hope of improving the fabrication of the bread. The paste, deprived of gluten, is unable to retain the effects of the fermentation excited by the yeast. The bread has a good enough external appearance; but, in proportion as there has been an excess in the quantity of yeast, its consistency is so much the less, and all the bad qualities of the flour, in respect of flavour and taste, are more fully developed."

Professor Donovan further states, that it has been proved by a series of experiments that the addition of from twenty to forty grains of the carbonate of magnesia of the shops (calcined magnesia has a quite different effect) to a pound of the flour of germinated wheat, "materially improves it for the purpose of making bread." The dough, he says, "rises well in the oven; and after being baked, the bread is light and spongy, has a good taste, and keeps well." It is commonly believed that bakers mingle often magnesia with inferior flour, to improve its appearance; and it perhaps may be so; but-though equally a fraud-it is less objectionable than alum; and in seasons when the entire corn-crops of a country have been seriously injured by an excess of humidity, any

F

wholesome means of converting the flour of damaged grain into eatable bread becomes of infinite value. It must, however, always be remembered that it is only when the corn is dried before it is "garnered," that any good result will be obtained. Nothing will effectually remove the taste of must or mould from flour; therefore every precaution should at once be taken to secure the grain itself from the destructive attack of either. A portion of sound flour, mixed with that of sprouted or malted wheat, will render it more easily convertible into bread of fair quality and nutritious character than magnesia or any thing else can do; for a certain amount of gluten will then be supplied to the dough, and will assist the fermentation, while it gives the bread increased value as food.

CHAPTER VI.

DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF BREAD-CORN (KNOWN AS THE CEREALIA, OR CEREAL GRAINS).

Wheat.

Rye. - Barley. - Oats. - Maize. -Rice.-Their relative Importance, and Adaptation to different Climates.

UNDER the article "Gluten" some explanation has already been given of the reasons which render wheat of so much higher value to us than any other variety of corn. It is so not only on account of the greater facility with which it may be made into bread, but because it supplies us likewise with excellent and wholesome food in a multitude of other forms. One of the most delicate and most nutritious of these is the macaroni which is now largely imported here from Italy, and which is manufactured from the choicest part of large hard-grained wheat, called there grano duro. This macaroni is in a great measure a substitute for bread to the people of Naples and other parts of the Italian States; and it is well suited to their climate, being extremely light and easy of digestion, yet containing so much nourishment of a very pure quality, as to constitute

most valuable diet. Invalids who cannot digest bread, can almost live on the macaroni, when most thoroughly boiled, and it is for that reason it is mentioned here.

Enough has been said already in the previous pages of the hard-grained wheats, to prove their nutritious value; and the comparative prices of those grown here, or imported from foreign countries, will show the estimation in which all varieties brought into our great corn-marts are held. Most of our leading public journals furnish regular lists of these, which will afford the reader all needful information on the subject, as thus:It will be seen that the supplies from Kent and Essex are reported always as bearing a superior price to all other English wheat; and those from Dantzic stand much higher than any other: which may be received as proof that they are the best.

"If we except the Russian, which is inferior,* the wheat of the Continent is in general superior

* A new, and exceedingly fine variety of Russian wheat has recently been imported and sold in London at a very high price indeed; and I have been informed by the manufacturer, that the excellent preparation called soujee is made from a peculiarly hard wheat grown in Russia: it would, therefore, appear that the climate of some parts of that country is not unfavourable to the production of a superior quality of the grain.

« PreviousContinue »