Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1910 — Home Course In Domestic Science [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Home Course In Domestic Science

XL—The Process of Breadm&king.

By EDITH G. CHARLTON.

In Charge of Domestic Economy. I<*wa State College.

NEXT to milk there is no food more generally used by civilized nations than bread. To the

average housekeeper there Is probably no part of the regular cooking more Important or worthy of her best attention than breadmaking. To be able to make a well risen, good flavored, well baked loaf of wheat bread is the goal of the young aspirant for culinary fame. One has only to attend county fairs, farmers’ Institutes and meetings of other organizations where pantry stores and baked goods are entered in contest to see quickly that it is in the bread that the greatest interest centers. And all this is as it should be. for bread is one of our best staple foods. With the addition of'll little butter or eaten with a glass of milk. It furnishes a nutritious, well balanced diet upon which one could subsist and maintain good health for an indefinite length of time, provided one did not weary of the sameness. With a practical knowledge of certain principles governing alcoholic fermentation as produced in breadmaking, also some .knowledge of the difference in flours, and with careful at-

tention to these points, breadmaking is really a very simple process. Without this knowledge or attention there will ever be mystery and uncertainty about it, and there will always be indifferent results. There are only four ingredients absolutely necessary for the making of a loaf of raised wheat bread. They are good bread flour, fresh yeast.

liquid—either milk or water—and salt Other ingredients are often used, but they are not necessary. For Instance, shortening is sometimes added. This makes a richer loaf. Sugar, too, may be used in small quantity. This hastens the growth of the yeast plants. Potato water occasionally replaces the milk or water and makes a moist loaf, while potatoes and hop water form a mixture in which the yeast colonies are quickly started. But good bread can be made without the addition of any of these things. Flour Used In Breadmaking.

In order that we may have a well raised light loaf It is necessary to use a flour containing a large per cent of gluten. This is the flour made from the so called “bard” wheats. Such flour has less water than the flour made from the “soft” wheat, therefore, mixed with a liquid, gives a larger loaf. Gluten is a grayish, rubber-like substance found tn flour after the starch has been washed out It is the “gum” obtained from chewing a handful of wheat as known by most people who have spent their childhood in the country. This very character of gluten makes it accessory in breakmaking. It stretches and stretches, forming little pockets in which the gas is retained in the loaf until It is baked. The heat of the oven hardens the gluten quickly before it has had time to relax, and so the loaf keeps its puffed shape. Good bread flour should be white, with just a suggestion of yellow. After being pressed in the hand It should fall loosely apart. If It keeps the impress of the palm or remains in lumps it has too much moisture. When rubbed between the thumb and finger there should be a slight grittiness; It should not feel too smooth or powdery.

What la Yeaatf This useful agent in breadmaking is as old as the hills, and its action' is better understood when one is familiar with it. Yeast is a microscopic plant, consisting of a single round or oval cell. The rapidity with which it grows and reproduces Itself gives it much of its importance. It reproduces either by sending out buds which break off as new plants or by forming spores which will grow into new plants under favorable conditions. Like all plants, yeast requires heat, moisture and food in order to grow. The degree of heat at which it grows best is from 75 to 90 degrees, and this is the temperature at which bread should be kept throughout the process of making, if It were not for the liquid used in bread making the yeast would not have sufficient moisture and would not grow any more than it does in the dry cake. The food of the yeast plant is sugar, and this is obtained by a chemical change being produced in the starch of the flour, changing part of it into sugar. This results in a fermentation the products of which are alcohol and carbon dioxide gas—the gas which makes the bread light The average bouae-

keeper is familiar with yeast or leaven In three forms—that which she makes herself by combining potatoes, flour, hop water and a ••starter” left from a previous baking; also the dry and compressed yeasts. The last two are practically the same, the dry yeast having been mixed with more flour or cornmeal in order to preserve the plants for a longer time. The chief difference between these three forms of leaven is in the number and kind of yeast plants which they contain. The compressed yeast—the small square cake which comes wrapped in tin foil—contains the largest number of plants and so is able to produce the greatest amount of gas in a given time, making it possible to finish the bread in fewer hours. The commercial yeasts are supposed to be what is known as a “pure culture”—in other words, one variety of plants—therefore is more uniform in strength and composition. Yeast plants exist in the air, and it is upon these we depend in making “salt rising” bread. The flour and water with a little salt are mixed into a batter, then set aside in a warm place to ferment It contains sufficient gas to make into dough when full of holes or when like a sponge, and this fermentation has been caused by the action of the wild yeasts in the air. The Process of Breadmaking.

This article is in no sense an explanation of all the scientific technicalities of breadmaking because the subject is too big and complicated to be thoroughly treated in a column or two. It is simply an attempt to outline some of the principles to be observed and to give a few helpful suggestions to women who may not have a satisfactory method of their own. The following recipe is for bread made with compressed yeast, and when care is taken to maintain an even temperature, about 80 degrees, throughout the process the bread should be ready for the oven in about four hours from the time it is started. The special advantage of the compressed yeast is that it is more rapid, and when it is used bread need not be set overnight. Compressed Yeast Bread.

Add two tablespoonfuls of shortening (butter or lard), one tablespoonful of sugar and one teaspoonful of salt and one cake of compressed yeast dissolved in three tablespoonfuls of cold water to one pint of scalded milk or one-half milk and one-half water. Then stir in flour until dough is stiff enough to beat vigorously. Turn on molding board and knead until dough does not stick to the board, using more flour as necessary, a little at a time. Put in a well greased bowl and brush surface lightly with melted butter to keep from crusting over. Cover with towel and let rise again until double its size (about three hours). At the end of that time mold into rolls or loaves and put into greased pans, brushing the surface with melted butter. Cover as before and set to Hse until double its size; then bake. Bread should be baked as soon as It is sufficiently light, and the oven should be hot enough to brown flour in fifteen minutes, about 300 degrees. At this temperature ordinary sized loaves of broad should be browned all over.

Bread should be turned from pan as soon as taken from oven and placed uncovered in such a position that all sides will be exposed to the air, not allowing It to come in contact with anything which will give it an unpleasant odor or taste. When cold It should be put Into a box or jar to which the air can have access and be kept in a dry, cool place. This amount of yeast will raise three times as much flour and other ingredients if longer time is given for it to become light One point in which many first class breadmakers often fail is in the baking. Bread to be thoroughly digestible should be thoroughly baked. The ordinary sized loaf requires from one hour and a quarter to one hour and a half to bake sufficiently, and. that this may be accomplished without burning, the oven should not be too hot In the beginning. The bread should riot begin to brown nntll after the first ten minutes.

Many changes take place in bread during the baking. The yeast plants are killed by the high temperature, the gas expands, making the loaf still lighter, the fermentation is stopped, the alcohol is driven off and a large amount of the moisture is evaporated. Also the browning of the crust increases the ease with which the loaf is digested, and the action of the yeast on the gluten is also supposed to aid its digestion. Whois Wheat Bread. Scald a cupful of milk, take from the fire and add a beaping teaspoonful of salt, a level teaspoonful of sugar and a tablespoonful of shortening. Add a cupful of cold water to the scalded milk and when the mixture is lukewarm add one-half yeast cake that has been dissolved In one-half cupful of lukewarm water. Beat In enough whole wheat flour to make a rather thin batter, beat well, cover and set aside until light Then stir in as much more whole wheat flour as you can beat in with a spoon. It must be stiff. Beat well, turn into greased tins, let rise until light, then bake an hour in a moderate oven. Diabetio Bread. Take one quart of sweet milk, one heaping teaspoonful of good butter, one-fifth of a cake of compressed yeast beaten up with a little water and two eggs well beaten. Stir in gluten flour until a soft dough is formed. Knead as in ordinary bread, put in pans to raise and when light bake in hot oven. There are plenty of people who obey the law because they can’t afford to break it It is quite as necessary to know when not to talk as it Is when to stop.