Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1918 — War Bread [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

War Bread

By Dr. Samuel G. Dixon

Omtnwinner of Health of Pehuylvama

Facing the great economies that must be practiced in the time of war and in the future as the population increases and the natural productions of the earth become depleted, it will be necessary for us to adjust what we have in the way of essentials. Especially is this so of foodstuffs.

It therefore becomes important to know what combinations can be made and the relative food value of such combinations with our standard foodstuffs. One of Phlladelphia’s able I chemists has given me a bread combination, which he has (worked up with his

wife’s co-operation. They use corn flour, which heretofore has been almost unknown in our domestic bakeries, and it would seem to open the way for a very large sav- a ing of our wheat flour. It must be distinctly understood first that there is a great difference between corn flour and corn meal. The corn flour In composition is practically the same as the corn meal, but it contains a little more protein and starch, and a little less moisture and fat, the shortage of fat being due to the fact that the germ is extracted before grinding. It must be further understood that you cannot replace all of the wheat flour with corn flour, as the corn contains no gluten, which is the constituent in wheat flour that makes it possible to obtain a raised dough. However, bread and rolls made with 20 per cent of corn flour have little or no corn taste, and this is the percentage, which has been found after long experiments, to produce the best bread. The same proportion can be used also for griddle cakes, pastry and cakes. To make bread as it is made in the average household, where a sponge is set and no accurate measure of the flour is made, the better plan is to mix a quantity of the two flours, keep it on hand and use the mixture instead of wheat flour. ' For a 20 per cent mixture, take one quart of corn flour and four quarts .of wheat flour, mix thoroughly, preferably by putting through • flour sifter three or four times. Of course, larger quantities may be mixed at one time, keeping the proper proportion. In pastry even larger proportions of the corn flour may be used. In making bread, pastry, etc., use this mixture in exactly the same proportions and treat it exactly as you would ordinary flour. Tn nutritive value the difference between the mixed flour bread and the all-wheat flour bread is very slight Their food value is practically the same, and if white corn flour is used the bread has the same appearance as the all-wheat bread. This bread has a decided advantage for every-day consumption over most of the war breads made of whole wheat, oat flakes, bran, etc, by being free of the roughage, and consequently

it is not irritating when used meal after meal, and day after day, and one would not be apt to tire of eating it every day. Corn flour can be obtained from grocers, or they can get it for you, as it is regularly on the market and is being made by a number of milling companies and in cost should be cheaper than wheat flour. It should be ground as fine, or nearly as fine, as the wheat flour which you are in the habit of using. This bread makes a 20 per cent saving of the wheat with no practical loss in food value and without any of the objectionable features of the coarser meals.