A treatise on the art of making good wholesome bread of wheat, oats, rye, barley and other farinaceous grains / Exhibiting the alimentary properties and chemical constitution of different kinds of bread corn, and of the various substitutes used for bread, in different parts of the world

by Friedrich Christian Accum

“In looking back, for some hundred years, it appears that they adopted a certain plan, supposing that nature had given nothing in vain, and that every part of the wheat which may be called flour, was not only intended to be eaten by men, but that it really made the best bread, as that might be called the best, which is best adapted to general use, and in itself so fine, as to contain no parts of the coat, or husks of grain.”

“The inference which I mean to draw from what is premised, is to remind my fellow citizens of the unfortunate delusion of thinking that even the whole flour of the wheat is not good enough for them; that part of it must be taken away, and given to birds or beasts.”

“By this delusion, supposing a certain quantity of wheat appropriated to their use, (and this is the view they should see it in,) they lose one third part of the flour, and consequently have so much the less bread to supply their wants.”

“Is it not then monstrous to hear them complain? Is it not absurd to talk of poverty, and yet pay a seventh or eighth part more than they need, to gratify a fantastic appetite? Had it not been from the custom of eating whiter bread than the whole flour of the wheat will make, should we have thus imposed on ourselves? Would the miller or baker employ all his art to make the bread as white as possible, and oblige us to pay for this artificial whiteness? They tell the consumer, the whiter it is, the finer; and the finer, the more nutritive. Thus we become dupes so far as to overlook the essential good properties of genuine bread, made of all the flour of the wheat, and likewise the difference in the price.”

“We are taught to favour a gross delusion at the suggestion of interested persons, against our own substantial welfare. It is the interest of every one to be honest, and say nothing contrary to his real sentiments, as it is the duty of those who have knowledge, to inform such as are ignorant. Those who have never eaten bread of all the flour in a pure state, with the native taste of wheat, and the moisture which it preserves, can know nothing of the comparative excellence of it with respect to the whitened city bread which they have been accustomed to eat all their lives.”

“The dictates of the understanding will ever yield to the pleasures of the imagination: and the provident will be attentive to take the advantage of the extravagant. Thus it happens that the poor have been bewildered, and deprived of the object they sought.”

“The event depends on the good sense of masters and mistresses of families, and their right understanding of what they mean to eat, that is, of what parts of the wheat the bread they consume is made. If they are satisfied that the bread is more pure than what they used to eat, and sufficiently fine, we may presume, if they are in their right minds, they will prefer it for domestic use. Every family of fourteen or fifteen persons, consuming at the rate of one pound each, in a day, pays near 16s. a week: if they can save 2s. 6d. or 1s. 6d. it is an object: to a poor man who spends 5s. in bread, if he can save eight or ten pence, it may purchase two or three pounds of animal substance towards making one feast in a week.”

“In regard to the patriotic miller, he does not pretend to consult our good in preference to his own; on the contrary, he reasons very deeply, as if it were best for us to live on the essence of a leg of mutton, brought within the compass of a pint, than feed on such porterly food as the mutton prepared in the ordinary way of roasting or boiling. He maintains, that the finer the bread, though the quantity be smaller, the more nutritive.”

The wheaten bread, of the London baker, is acknowledged to be whitened by a mixture of alum, which serves to keep the loaf in better shape, renders it the whiter, and causes it to imbibe the more water to increase the quantity of the bread. Thus he consults his interest, without regard to the consumer: the whiter it is, the more adulterated; and, as constant experience proves, such bread, after it is two days old, becomes dry and husky.”

“If bread, made in a private family, of the same flour as the baker uses, will not be so white, we must suppose that there is an art of whitening; and that this would be no secret, if it were not pernicious.”