Science in the Kitchen / A Scientific Treatise On Food Substances and Their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome Recipes

by E. E. Kellogg

Bread has been proverbially styled the "staff of life." In nearly all ancient languages the entomology of the word "bread" signifies all, indicating; that the bread of earlier periods was in truth what it should be at the present time,—a staff upon which all the functions of life might with safety depend.

Notwithstanding the important part bread was designed to play in the economy of life, it would be hardly possible to mention another aliment which so universally falls below the standard either through the manner of its preparation or in the material used.

Bread, to answer the requirements of a good, wholesome article of food, beside being palatable, must be light, porous, and friable, so that it can be easily insalivated and digested. It should not contain ingredients which will in any way be injurious if taken into the system, but should contain as many as possible of the elements of nutrition. Wheat, the substance from which bread is most generally made, contains all the necessary food elements in proper proportions to meet the requirements of nutrition, and bread should also contain them. The flour, however, must be made from the whole grain of the wheat, with the exception of the outer husk.

What is ordinarily termed fine flour has a large part of the most nutritive properties of the grain left out, and unless this deficiency is made up by other foods, the use of bread made from such material will leave the most vital tissues of the body poorly nourished, and tend to produce innumerable bad results. People who eat bread made from fine white flour naturally crave the food elements which have been eliminated from the wheat, and are thus led to an excessive consumption of meat, and the nerve-starvation and consequent irritability thus induced may also lead to the use of alcoholic drinks. We believe that one of the strongest barriers women could erect against the inroads of intemperance would be to supply the tables of the land with good bread made from flour of the entire wheat.

The superiority of bread made from the entire wheat or unbolted meal has been attested by many notable examples in history. In England, under the administration of William Pitt, there was for several years such a scarcity of wheat that to make it hold out longer, a law was passed by Parliament that the army should be supplied with bread made of unbolted flour. This occasioned much murmuring on the part of the soldiers, but nevertheless the health of the army improved so greatly as to be a subject of surprise. The officers and the physicians at last publicly declared that the soldiers had never before been so robust and healthy.

According to the eminent Prof. Liebig, whole-wheat bread contains 60 per cent more of the phosphate or bone forming material than does meat, and 200 per cent more gluten than white bread. To the lack of these elements in a food so generally used as white flour bread, is undoubtedly due the great prevalence of early decaying teeth, rickets, and other bone diseases. Indeed, so many are the evils attendant upon a continued use of fine flour bread that we can in a great measure agree with a writer of the last century who says, in a quaint essay still to be seen at the British Museum, that "fine flour, spirituous liquors, and strong ale-house beer are the foundations of almost all the poverty and all the evils that affect the labouring part of mankind."

Bread made from the entire wheat is looked upon with far more favor than formerly, and it is no longer necessary to use the crude products of the grain for its manufacture, since modern invention has worked such a revolution in milling processes that it is now possible to obtain a fine flour containing all the nutritious elements of the grain. The old-time millstone has been largely superceded by machinery with which the entire grain may be reduced to fine flour without the loss of any of its valuable properties. To be sure, the manufacture of fine white flour of the old sort, is still continued, and doubtless will be continued so long as color takes precedence over food value. The improved processes of milling have, however, enabled the millers to utilize a much larger proportion of the nutritious elements of the grain than formerly, and still preserve that whiteness is so pleasing to many consumers. Although it is true that there are brands of white flour which possess a large percentage of the nutrient properties of the wheat, it is likewise true that flour which contains all the nutritive elements is not white.

Of flours made from the entire grain there are essentially two different varieties, that which is termed unbolted wheat meal or Graham flour, and that called wheat-berry, whole-wheat, or entire-wheat flour. The principal difference between the two consists in the preliminary treatment of the wheat kernel before reduction, Graham flour containing more or less of the flinty bran, which is wholly innutritious and to a sensitive stomach somewhat irritating. In the manufacture of whole or entire-wheat flour, the outer, flinty bran is first removed by special machinery, and then the entire grain pulverized, by some of approved method, to different grades of fineness. The absence of the indigestible bran renders the entire-wheat flour superior in this respect to Graham, though for many persons the latter is to preferred.

How to Select Flour.—The first requisite in the making of good bread is good flour. The quality of a brand of flour will of course depend much upon the kind of grain from which it is prepared—whether new or old, perfect, or deteriorated by rust, mold, or exposure, and also upon the thoroughness with which it has been cleansed from dust, chaff, and all foreign substances, as well as upon the method by which it is ground. It is not possible to judge with regard to all these particulars by the appearance of the flour, but in general, good flour will be sweet, dry, and free from any sour or musty smell or taste. Take up a handful, and if it falls from the hand light and elastic, it is pretty sure to be good. If it will retain the imprint of the fingers and falls and a compact mass or a damp, clammy, or sticky to the touch, it is by no means the best. When and knead a little of it between the fingers; if it works soft and sticky, it is poor. Good flour, when made into dough, is elastic, and will retain its shape. This elastic property of good flour is due to the gluten which it contains. The more gluten and the stronger it is, the better the flour. The gluten of good flour will swell to several times its original bulk, while that of poor flour will not.

In buying white flour, do not select that which is pure white with a bluish tinge, but that which is of a creamy, yellowish-white tint. While the kinds of flour that contain the entire nutritive properties of the wheat will necessarily be darker in color, we would caution the reader not to suppose that because flour is dark in color it is for that reason good, and rich in nutritive elements. There are many other causes from which flour may be dark, such as the use of uncleansed or dark varieties of wheat, and the large admixture of bran and other grains; many unscrupulous millers and flour dealers make use of this fact to palm off upon their unsuspecting customers an inferior article. Much of the so-called Graham flour is nothing more than poor flour mixed with bran, and is in every way inferior to good white flour. Fine flour or made from the entire wheat may generally be distinguished from a spurious article by taking a small portion into the mouth and chewing it. Raw flour made from the entire grain has a sweet taste, and a rich, nutty flavor the same as that experienced in chewing a whole grain of wheat, and produces a goodly quantity of gum or gluten, while a spurious article tastes flat and insipid like starch, or has a bitter, pungent taste consequent upon the presence of impurities. This bitter taste is noticeable in bread made from such flour. A given quantity of poor flour will not make as much bread as the same quantity of good flour, so that adulteration may also be detected in this way. Doubtless much of the prejudice against the use of whole-wheat flour has arisen from the use of a spurious article.