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

Mix a little starch with water and divide the mixture equally in two beakers.

Heat one portion to the boiling point; the starch then forms with the water, a thick, gelatinous, somewhat semi-clear liquid. The boiling causes the interior of the cell to swell, thereby bursting the cellulose envelopes.

The structure of the starch cell has been completely disrupted. The starch becomes gelatinized.

In the other beaker after a little while the raw starch precipitates. It has completely separated itself in its original form from the water.

Upon stirring the contents of the beaker violently the starch grains do not lose their original character, but simply remain suspended for a time in the water.

When baking bread the gelatinization of the starch does not take place, because the albuminoids of the flour regulated by the heat envelopes the liberated starch after its cellulose cavern has become disrupted, and in consequence prohibits the gelatinization of the starch.