Book of American Baking / A Practical Guide Covering Various Branches of the Baking Industry, Including Cakes, Buns, and Pastry, Bread Making, Pie Baking, Etc.

by Various

MILK VALUE IN BREAD
BY W. E. BREEZE, OF LONDON

Of course, we all know that wheat grown under certain conditions varies, and, as the climate and soil differ, so does the gluten, as is exampled between comparison with a soft and a strong flour. In the same way it applies to milk. The composition of fat in new milk is determined by the breed, climate, food and health of the cow. A really rich milk would produce as much as ¾ ounce to 1 ounce of fat to the pint, especially just now, when the animals are kept up and fed pretty well. They give less milk, but it is much higher in quality. In summer, when there is plenty of grass, the cows give more milk, and, on the whole, more fat, but the percentage is not so high as it is just now. In Holland, for instance, milk is poor, and more deficient in fat, because the pastures are more moist and watery. Whether the various fancy brown breads do or do not carry out, as they are reputed to do, all the properties accorded to them I am not prepared to say. Time must be given for a suitable trial, and if they are are not found suitable we must turn our attention to something else. A milk loaf of a favorable quality is generally being inquired for, but I am sorry to have to record that the majority of bakers do not treat it with the same respect that they accord to its rivals. Its rivals are sold under certain conditions. You must not adulterate it in any sense, for if you do you are liable to prosecution. But the old milk bread is not standardized as to its composition, and there is hardly a bread-maker who does not sell “milk bread.” I may also safely venture to say that the milk added to the bread is as varied in quantity as there are purveyors of the commodity. There is no stipulated or understood quantity, and in consequence the quality of the loaf suffers.

During my experience I have known and seen bread sold as “milk bread” which had never seen the sight of milk, but, on the other hand, there are other bakers who are most particular and have the most liberal quantity of milk, the result being they produce a beautiful and most honest loaf. I have seen other bakers who put in about six quarts of milk, and the bread is made up in fancy shapes and weights, and styled fancy bread. There is no recognized standard for the quantity of milk used per sack. Whether it is of sufficient importance to the trade that such a loaf should be made and sold is another matter. But I wish to put before you the value of milk in bread-making, and also to emphasize the benefits which, in my opinion, are derived from bread made with the addition of milk. I have eaten brown bread which has set up irritation in the stomach, but this has never happened to my knowledge when the bread has been made with good sweet full cream milk. I am convinced if this milk bread were kept before the public, made, of course, from the proper ingredients and in proper proportion, there would be no doubt as to the best loaf to be obtained at fancy prices, a loaf which would leave the baker an equal, if not better, profit than we obtain to-day for our fancy browns. In 1908, at the London Exhibition, for the first time, a milk powdered loaf won the first prize in the milk bread competition, and thus beat the new milk itself. That bread looked very nice, and its color was excellent, the weight sent in being about 2 pounds. It is true there is no recognized standard shape for milk bread, so several shapes were sent in, the competitors seeming to satisfy themselves to produce an ordinary loaf with milk in it. I do not know whether it would be possible for the manufacturers to suggest lines upon which shape and quality could be combined to produce a standard milk loaf. I do not know whether I am asking too much, but in time it would not amount to anything more than asking for a cottage loaf, a crumby or tin loaf. If manipulated and produced properly, it would increase it dietetic value, and be a different commodity, with changed properties, and yielding nourishment in a new and concentrated form.

Dry Milk.

I do not say that the combination I have spoken of is a correct one or not, but I do not think it should beat the use of full cream milk, for I have always noticed a distinctive delicate flavor with the new milk in comparison with the dried article, and I did not intend to treat of dried or condensed milk, but only of new milk, skimmed milk and separated milk. To make my subject more complete, I will, after all, first touch upon dried milk. This is a very useful and unvarying commodity. It is fairly quick in solution in warm water, and is convenient, especially in cases where really good dairy milk is scarce or unobtainable. Its fat and sugar are more or less varied, or practically nil, and as dried milk is minus lactic acid, the flavor being sometimes interfered with by evaporation, I cannot recommend it in preference to good new milk. Of course, with a little doctoring, you may improve some faults, but the delicate flavor of new milk is not so pronounced.

Condensed Milk.

I will now pass on to condensed milk. Sweetened condensed milk is a most desirable substance from an economic and handy point of view. It may be used in water alone or in conjunction with separated milk. Of course, you use it for what it is worth. If used separately, milk fat, or some other fat, such as good sweet lard or neutral fat, will have to be used to make up the deficiency, the usual quantity being about one small tin and 3 ounces of fat per gallon of water.

Buttermilk.

We will now pass on to buttermilk, which you all know is very useful in the manufacture of soda and powdered goods, as the lactic acid already formed has the property of softening the gluten in the flour, thereby rendering the goods soft and mellow. As, however, I am concerned with bread-making, we will leave the powdered goods alone. I have had some very good results from condensed milk by keeping it active, and not allowing it to lag. It seems to have a bleaching effect, and from a nutritive point of view comes very near to new milk. Again, the proteids of the milk and mineral matter are practically digested by the action of the lactic organisms, and new milk undergoes no change during fermentation in the dough. The changed condition in the buttermilk is of great advantage, and lactic acid adds flavor to bread made with compressed yeast. There is no reason to suppose that bread made with buttermilk will go sour sooner than that made with fresh milk if the fermentation is managed properly. To use buttermilk in bread-making the milk must be fresh—not more than twenty-four hours old. Old milk will not do, and when fermentation is started the dough must be attended to and baked in a good oven. Of course, I am not going to advise a novice to use buttermilk, or he would most probably be doomed to failure, but I have indicated the possibilities of the use of buttermilk. I will give you an analysis of buttermilk and also of new milk. New milk contains 4.0 per cent of fat, 3.6 of proteids, 4.5 milk sugar, 9.7 of ash or mineral matter, 87.2 per cent. of lactic acid. Buttermilk has the following proportions: Fat 0.8, proteids 3.7, milk sugar 3.8, ash or mineral matter 0.7, H₂O 90.85, lactic acid 0.85. The production of lactic acid is limited to the proportion of milk sugar present. I have not made large quantities of bread with buttermilk, but have treated certain quantities as a hobby to try what I could really do with it, and the results were quite satisfactory.