e. Dry the substances educed as above, by a gentle heat, and weigh them. The weight of the albumen may be taken with that of the gluten, as it possesses about the same nutritive value, and also because it has been asserted by some persons that the former substance is in reality gluten, and not albumen. By dividing the given weights by 10, the per-centage value of the sample is obtained. The pieces of filtering paper employed should be carefully dried and weighed before using them, and the same degree of heat should be employed for this purpose as that to which they will be afterwards exposed in the drying of the substances resulting from the operations.
Obs. The above method of ascertaining the actual value of any sample of flour as an article of food, though not strictly accurate, approximates sufficiently to the truth for all practical purposes, and is well adapted to the wants of the baker and large purchaser. In many cases it will only be necessary to perform the first part of the process (a), which will give the per-centage of the most important constituent of the flour; the rest being of minor consequence.
In addition to what has been already stated in the article on Bread, it may be useful to mention that a pound of the best flour, from thoroughly dried wheat, will take 10 fl. oz. of water to form it into ordinary dough, or 9 fl. oz. to form it into bread dough. Under the old parliamentary acts, a sack of flour (280 lbs.) was presumed to produce 80 loaves (quartern or quarter-peck), the weight of which, within 48 hours after being baked, was to be 4 lbs. 51⁄2 oz. each. At the present time fully 92 loaves, weighing 4 lbs. each, are produced by the London bakers from one sack of flour, when honest weight is given; but as the latter is rarely the case, and the bread is frequently ‘slack’ or ‘under-baked,’ and thus contains more water than good bread ought to do, a much larger product is commonly obtained. The dough loses about 1⁄7th of its weight in baking, if in batches; but fully 1⁄6th, if baked in small loaves, and placed in the oven separately. The best bread contains about 1⁄4-1⁄6th of its weight of added water; and common bread, often much more than 1⁄4th. The proportion of water in the London bread has greatly increased during the last few years, owing to the introduction of the fraudulent plan of making the dough with rice jelly or moss jelly. This is the reason why the bread of some bakers suffers such a loss of weight in a few hours after being taken from the oven. A 4 lbs. loaf of bread purchased from a baker at Lambeth, after remaining on the sideboard of a sitting-room for 24 hours, was found to have lost no less than 61⁄2 oz. by evaporation, and in two days longer its interior cells were covered with green mould, and the whole was unfit for food. The bakers, aware of these facts, are particularly careful not to bake more bread than they can dispose of whilst ‘new,’ and are in the habit of refusing to weigh their bread before selling it, when it is more than 10 or 12 hours old, although they are liable to be ‘fined’ for such a refusal. See Bread, Cakes, Farina, &c., also below.
Flour, Baked. Syn. Farina tosta, F. tritici tosta, L. Prep. From wheat flour, carefully baked in a ‘slack’ oven, until it acquires a pale-buff hue. Astringent; used to make food for infants troubled with diarrhœa. See Farina.
Flour, Barley (Prepared). Syn. Farina hordei preparata, L. Prep. (Ph. Bor.) From barley flour, compressed into a tin cylinder until the vessel is 2-3rds full, which is then suspended at the upper part of a still 2-3rds filled with water, and after the ‘head’ is fitted on, the water is kept boiling for 30 hours (2 days of 15 hours each). Lastly, the upper layer being removed, the rest is reduced to powder, and kept in a dry place.
Flour, Boiled. Syn. Triticina, Farina Preparata, L. Prep. From fine flour, tied up in a linen cloth as tight as possible, and after it has been frequently dipped into cold water, the outside of the cloth is dredged over with flour, until a crust is formed round it, to prevent the water soaking into it whilst boiling; it is then boiled for a long time, and when cold, it is divided into small oblong pieces. For use, it is reduced to powder, either by grinding or grating it, and is then prepared like arrow-root. It forms a good diet for children, in diarrhœa, &c.; and as it may be easily prepared at home, it has the advantage of being free from adulteration.
Flour, Jones’s Patent. Prep. From kiln-dried flour, 1 cwt.; tartaric acid, 101⁄2 oz.; mix thoroughly; after 2 or 3 days, add, of bicarbonate of soda, 12 oz.; lump sugar, 1⁄2 lb.; common salt, 11⁄2 lb.; mix, and pass the compound through the ‘dressing-machine.’ It is necessary that the whole of the ingredients should be perfectly dry, and separately reduced to fine powder before adding them to the flour. By simply mixing it with cold water, and at once baking it, it produces light, porous bread.
Obs. We have already had occasion to pay a passing tribute to the excellence and usefulness of Jones’s Patent Flour.[314] It is, indeed, invaluable to every household, as furnishing the means of producing, with great economy, and extemporaneously, not merely cakes, puddings, pastry, and fancy bread, but the ‘staff of life’ itself, household bread, of a purity, flavour, and lightness, seldom, if ever, met with in that purchased of the bakers.
Flour, Sewell’s Patent. a. (No. 1.) Flour, 1 sack (280 lbs.); hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 1·14), 45 oz.; mix, by adding the acid in a ‘spray,’—b. (No. 2.) To the last, add (expertly) bicarbonate of soda, 39 oz.; mix thoroughly, and pass the whole through a sieve or ‘dressing machine.’
Obs. This flour is used as the last, to which, however, it is inferior in quality. No. 1 will keep 5 weeks. No. 2 will keep a month. Jones’s flour will keep good in a dry place for years. If No. 1 is alone employed for the dough, to each pound of the flour, 65 gr. of bicarbonate of soda, with salt q. s., must be added. The patentee claims for his invention the merit of the soda and acid being converted into culinary salt in the process of making up the flour and baking the dough.[314]