Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 144, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1911 — Shall Bread Be Baked in the Home [ARTICLE]

Shall Bread Be Baked in the Home

By Prof, Henrietta W. Calvin

Household Economics Department, Purdue University

Prof. Henrietta W. Calvin, Household Economics Department, Purdue University. All intelligent women are now Interested in discussing questions relating to Industries In the home, and those that can, with advantage, be taken out from the home and be earned on in large factories or centers. In regard to the production of bread, certain factors must be considered, as, comparative cost of home produced article and that purchased'; comparative quality and comparative cleanliness and general sanitary condition. In considering the cost of home produced bread, it may be figured ah follows: Cost of flour—four tokveo—3 lbs <ll Cost of liquid—l ft.—sklmmilk 02% Cost of yesst—l CSJce compressed 02 Cost of salt, sugar and lard .01 Total cost of materials |.IC% Total cost of mVerials for one loaf. .04% To the cost cf materials must be added the cost of fuel, which will be used In the baking. If gas at one dollar per thousarfl is used, it will add two cents to the cost, making each loaf cost |.04%. If gasoline, at IT cents per gallon la used, this will result in a fuel tost of .01% for Tour loaves. If the Ordinary coal range is used, the actuG cost of baking will vary with the übe made of other parts of the range at the same time, since a thrifty houseWtfe will bake while cooking other fbods or while Ironing. If no other use is made of the range heat, then the -«st of baking win be nearly the same as when gasoline Is used. Thus it Is figured that the actual cash cost of one loaf of home-made bread will be .04%, if made with compressed yeast Homemade yeast will save about one-third of a cent In each

loaf, or the actual cost will be about .03%. This loaf will weight one pound. A baker’s loaf weighs about thirteen ounces and will cost five cents, that is, four pounds of baker’s bread costs 25 cents or four pounds of home-made bread costs about 18% cents, or a gain In money saved of nearly seven cents. The time required for making bread Is about one hour. There are many hours of a housewife’s time that do not net her seven cents saving. There is little doubt but what the majority of housekeepers can so manage their duties that home baking will pay from the cash standpoint. A wage earning woman, such as a teacher, cannot afford to make her own bread, If it is considered from the money side only, nor could the overworked mother “afford” it If seven cents was all that was gained. Then we come te consider the question of quality. The highest grade of materials have been used in the homemade article, it has the highest nutritive value. It, if rightly made, is sweet, well baked, palatable and attractive. Baker’s bread Is too often slightly acid, over-raised and undter baked. Under-baked bread contributes to dyspepsia and all it’s attendant evils. So it pays to make good home-made bread for digestive reasons. Watch the baker's wagon being loaded In the early morning hours. The coat, the gloves that were worn when the horses were harnessed, are still on. The bread Is piled high upon the sleeves of that arm. The bread is handled by those gloves. Is the bread wagon very cleah? Does the man pile a good deal of bread on the front box and then pass the lines over It? In the hot summer days, do the files rise from the filth of the road when the wagon stops and swarm Into the wAgon? Are you certain that the bakeshop kitchen Is as clean as your own? Did you ever find something unattractive In your bread? Perhaps It pays to make home-made broad because of better sanitary conditions. Money is not the only measure of worth. The seven cents gain is but a part of the total gain.