People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1893 — SOME SANITARY ASPECTS OF BREAD MAKING. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SOME SANITARY ASPECTS OF BREAD MAKING.

BT CTBUS EDBOBT, M. D., Health Commissioner, New York City. It is necessary, if one would understand the sanitary aspects of bread making, to fully comprehend the present theory held by scientists of germs and the part played by them in disease. The theory of disease germs is merely the name given to the knowledge had of those germs by Ynedieal men, a knowledge which is the result of innumerable experiments. Being this, the old term of a “tbaOry” has become s misnomer. A germ of a disease is a plant, so small that 1 do not know how to express intelligibly to the general reader its lack of size. When this germ is introduced into the blood or tissues of the body, its action appears to be analogous to that which takes place when yeast is added to dough. It attacks certain elements of the blood or tissues, arjd destroys them, at the same time producing new substances. But the germs of the greater part of the germ diseases, that is, of the infectious and contagious diseases, will develop or increase in number without being in the body of a human being,

provided always you give them the proper conditions. These conditions are to be found in dough which is being raised with yeast. They are warmth, moisture and the organic matter of the flour on which the germs, after certain changes, feed. It is necessary to remember at this point that yeast is germ growth, and when introduced into a mixture of glucose or starch, in the presence of wafcnth and moisture sets up a fermentation. If the mixture be a starchy dough the yeast first changes a portion of the starch into glucose and then decomposes the glucose by changing it Into two new substances, viz., carbonic acid gas and alcohol. Now the gluten, which is also a constituent of dough and moist starch, affords, with the latter, an excellent nidus for the development of germs of disease as well as for the yeast germs. The germs of cholera, as of typhoid fever, would, if introduced into dough, find very favorable conditions for their growth. I do hot wish to “pose” as an alarmist, nor am I willing to say there is very much chance of the germs of typhus and of cholera reaching the stomachs of the people who eat bread which has been raised with yeast. But while I am not afraid that cholera and typhus will be greatly spread by yeast-raised bread, I have not the slightest cause to doubt that other diseases have been and will be carried about in the bread.

I have met journeymen bakers, suffering from cutaneous diseases, working the dough in the bread trough with naked hands and arms. I suppose I need scarcely say this was put a stop to in very short order. I have no reason to suppose bakers are less liable to cutaneous diseases than are other men, and I know, as every housewife knows, yeast-raised bread must be worked a long time. This is an exceedingly objectionable thing from the standpoint of a physician, and for the reasons that the germs of disease wb ich are in the air and dust and ofi stairways and straps in street cars, are most often collected on the hands. So well do physicians know this that there is no ablution practical equal to that which they undergo before they perform any kind of surgical operation. Any person who has ever kneaded dough understands the way in which the dough cleans the hands. In other words, this means that any germs which may have found a lodging place on the hands of the baker before he makes up his batch of bread are sure to find their way into the dough, and once there, to find- all the conditions necessary for subdivision and growth. This is equivalent to saying that we must rely on heat to kill these germs, because it is almost certain that they will be there. Now, underdone or doughy bread is a form which every man and woman has seen. It is a belief as old as the hills that underdone bread is unhealthful. This reputation has been earned for it by the experience of oountless generations, and no careful mother will wish her children to eat bread that has not been thoroughly cooked. The reason givemfor this recognized unhealthfuluess has been that the uncooked yeast aough is very difficult to digest, and this reason has value. No oue but a physician would be apt to thiuk of disease germs which have not been killed during the process of baking as a cause of the sickness following the use of uncooked yeast bread. Yet this result from this cause is more than probable. I have not the slightest doubt that could we trace back some of the eases of illness which we meet .in our practice we would find that germs collected by the baker have found their way into the yeast bread, that the heat has not been sufficient to destroy them, that the uncooked yeast bread has been eaten and with it the •etaaiwi of germs, that they hare

found their way into the blood and that the call for our services which followed, has rounded off this sequence of events. I have already pointed out that the germs of disease are to be found in the air and dust. The longer any substance to be eaten is exposed to the air, the greater the chance that germs will be deposited on it. Bread raised withyeast is worked down or kneaded twice before being baked and this process may take anywhere from four hours to ten. It has, then, the chance of collecting disease germs during this process of raising and it has two periods of working down or kneading during each of which it ipay gather the dirt containing the germs from the bakers hands. As no bread save that raised with yeast, goes through this long process of raising and kneading so no bread save that raised with yeast has 60 good a chance of gathering germs. What is meant by “raising” bread is worth a few words. The introduction of the yeast into the moist dough and the addition of heat when the pan is placed near the fire produces an enormous growth of the yeast fungi—the yeast “germ,” in other words. These fungi effect a destructive fermentation

of a portion of the starchy matter of the flour—one of the most valuable nutrient elements in the flour. The fermentation produces carbonic acid gas, and this, having its origin in every little particle of the starch ■which is itself everywhere in the flour, pushes aside the particles of the dough to give itself room. This is what is called raising the bread. It needs but a glance to see that it is, in its effects on the dough, purely mechanical. The dough, which was before a close-grained mass, is now full of little holes, and when cooked in this condition is what we ordinarily call light. Thin porous quality of bread enables the stomach to rapidly and easily digest it, for the gastric juices quickly soak into and attack it from all sides. The fermentation of the dough, however, uses up a portion of the nutrient elements of the loaf. If it be possible, therefore, to produce a light porous loaf without this destruction and without the “kneading” process, which fills the dough with germs and filth, and without the long

period during which the raising process goes on, the gain in food and the gain in the avoidance of the germs is exceedingly plain. But while we can easily see the dangers which attend the use-of yeast it is certain that the vesiculating effect produced by it on the dough is to the last degree perfect. By this I mean that every particle of gluten produces its little bubble of gas and that therefore the bread is properly raised - that is, it is raised everywhere. It is apparent that if we are to substitute any other system of bread making we must have one which will give us, first, mechanical'results equally as good, that is, that will produce minute bubbles of carbonic acid gas throughout the mass of dough. Now it is in no wgy difficult to producp carbonic acid gas chemically, but when we are working at bread we must use such chemicals as are perfectly healthful. Fortunately these are not hard to find.

The evils which attend the yeastmade bread are obviated by the use of a properly made, pure and wholesome baking powder in lieu of yeast. Baking powders are composed of an acid and which, if properly combined, should when they unito at once destroy' themselves and produce carbonic acid gas. A good baking powder does its work while the loaf is in the oven, and having done it, disappears. But care is imperative in selecting the brand of baking powder to be certain that it is composed of non-injuri-ous chemicals. Powders containing alum or those which are compounded from iqapure ingredients, or those which are not combined in proper proportion or carefully mixed and which will leave either an acid or an alkali in the bread, must not be need.

Jfc is well to sound a note of warning in this direction or the change from the objectionable yeast to an impure baking powder will be a case of jump* ing from the frying pan into the fire. The best baking powder made is, as shown by analysis, the “Royal.” It contains absolutely nothing but cream of tartar and soda, refined to a chemical purity, which when combined under the influence of heat and moisture produce carbonic acid gas, and having done this, disappear. Its leavening strength has been found superior to other baking powders, and as far as I know, it is the only powder which will raise large bread perfectly. Its use avoids the long period during which the yeast made dough must stand in order that the starch may ferment and there is also no kneading necessary. The two materials used in the Royal, cream of tartar and soda, are perfectly harmless even when eaten. But they are combined in exact compensating weights, so that when chemical action begins between them they practically disappear, the substance of both having been taken up to form the carbonic acid gas. More than this, the proper method of using the powder insures the most thorough mixing with the flour. The proper quantity being taken, it is mixed with the flour and stirred around in it. The mixture is then sifted several times and this insures that in every part of the flour there shall be a few particles of the powder. The salt and milk or water being added, the dough is* made up as quickly as possible and moulded into the loaves.

These are placed iq the oven and baked. But the very moment the warmth and moisture attack the mixture of cream of tartar and 6oda, these two ingredients chemically combine and carbonic acid o c leavening gas is evolved. The consequence may be seen at a glance, the bread is raised during the time it is baking in the oven, and this is the most perfect of all conceivable methods of raising it. Here, then, there is no chance for germs of disease to get into the dough and thence into the stomach, more than that the bread is neoessarily as sweet as possible, there having been no time during which it could sour. This involves the fact that the bread sp made will keep longer, as it is less likely to be contaminated by the germs that affect the souring process. It will be strange if the crowds of visitors to the world’s fair do not greatly increase the number of contagious disease, which we will have to treat. Under these circumstances is it not folly of follies to open a single channel through which these germs may reach us? Is it not the part of wisdom to watch with the greatest care all that we eat and drink, and to see that none but the safest and best methods are employed in the preparation of our food? To me it seems as though there could be but one answer to questions like these. I have shown the danger of using the yeast raised bread, and with this I have shown how that danger may be avoided. The ounce of prevention which in this case is neither difficult nor expensive is certainly worth many pounds of cure, and the best thing about it is that it may be relied on almost absolutely. Those who during the coming summer eat bread or biscuits or rolls

made at home with Royal .baking powder may be sure they have absolutely stopped one channel through which disease may reach them. . Note. —Housekeepers desiring information in regard to the preparation of the bread which Dr. Ed son for sanitary reasons so strongly urges for general use, should write to the Royal Baking Powder Company, New York.

“DISEASE GERMS FOUND THEIR WAY INTO THE YEAST BREAD."

BREAD WITHOUT YEAST—“THE MOST PERFECT OF ALL CONCEIVABLE WAYS OF RAISING IT.”