BREAD, the flour or meal of grain kneaded with water into a tough and consistent paste and baked. There are two kinds of bread, leavened and un leavened. Leavened, or fermented bread, is prepared by mixing together certain quantities of flour, warm water, salt and yeast, or leaven.
Leaven, which is now seldom used in this country is a mixture of flour, pota toes and water, kept in a warm place till it begins to ferment.
Unleavened, or unfermented, bread, is of two kinds. In the one, flour and water only are used, and this produces a heavy and compact bread. In the other, an acid and a carbonate are added for the purpose of disengaging carbonic acid gas, which, in imitation of yeast, raises the dough and renders the bread light and porous. The substances used are car bonate of ammonia or carbonate of soda, in combination with hydrochloric or tartaric acids.
Aerated bread is prepared by forcing pure carbonic acid gas into the dough contained in a strong iron vessel. When
this carbonated dough is introduced into the oven the gas expands and escapes, leaving the bread light and porous. Graham bread is ordinary white bread with from 15 to 20 per cent. of fine bran.
Whole meal bread, made from unsifted ground wheat, is the only true Graham bread, being richer in nutrients than white bread. The amount of nitrogenous matter in white bread varies from 5 to 8 per cent., while in whole meal bread it rises to 14 per cent.
Brown bread is bread made of a mix ture of wheaten, or rye flour, an Indian corn meal. It is sometimes sweetened.
"Pumpernickel" is a German cant name for schwarzbrod = black bread, made of rye flour and flavored with anise or fennel seeds. It is the common bread of the mass of the German speaking peoples.