IMPERFECTIONS AND I M PURITIES IN BREAD. One of the most common and dangerous faults in bread is heaviness and sogginess. Tn wheat bread this may be caused by the use of cheap flours, poor in gluten, which cannot absorb all the water put into the dough, or, to state it another way, by the use of too much water in proportion to the flour; by too little or by too poor yeast, or by insufficient kneading. rising, or baking. heavy bread is popularly considered one of the moos., indigestible of foods. When chewed it rolls itself into solid lumps, which give the saliva and gastric juices very little chance to work upon them.
Occasionally the crumb of fresh bread breaks when cut, instead of separating cleanly under the knife. According to Jago, harsh, dry flours, not sufficiently fermented, may be the cause of this, or the dough may have lost its tenacity by being overworked. Another common fault in bread, especially in bakers' bread, is a erumb full of large, irregular holes instead of tAte small, even pores which it should show. These occur in overkneaded or overraised dough, or if they are found just below the crust they indicate that the (wen was too hot and that the crust. formed be fore the carbon dioxide had finished expanding.
Sometimes bread-makers are troubled by what is known as 'sticky' or 'slimy' bread. In such eases bread three or four days old takes on a light-brown color and a peculiar taste and odor. Gradually, too, it becomes sticky or slimy, until it may be pulled into strings, sometimes several feet in length. The trouble appears to be caused by the common potato bacillus (Bueillum mrsen tcricus rulgat us), a minute organism which finds its into the materials of the dough, survives the baking. and, growing in the bread, causes it to decompose.
Recent experiments show that the bacilli enter the bread with the yeast, which in the eases in vestigated was a variety of the compressed yeasts ordinarily on the market. It was also proved that the bacilli will survive the heat of baking. Accordingly, if yeasts are not carefully made, such trouble may occur at any time, but espe cially when the weather is warm and favorable to the growth of the bacilli. The best safeguards arc to keep the bread in a cool place and to bake only as much as can he consumed within a (lay or two.
Not infrequently, especially in damp weather, mold forms on the outside, or even in the inside of bread. Mold. like yeast. is a minute plant whose spores (or seeds) are floating about every where in the air. ready to settle down and grow wherever they find a moist, suitable home for themselves. The best practical way to protect bread from them is to keep it in a dry. air-tight box.
But all these faults seem insignificant com pared with sour bread. This is due to acetic, lactic. or. in the worst eases, butyric acid given off by undesirable bacteria, which get into the bread with the yeast or in some other way.
Besides these acid-producing bacteria, various others may occur in bread, mostly harmless. but some of them very curious in their effects. Most striking among these is the ilicroeorrus prodig iosus, a minute 91Tanism which makes blood-red spots in the dough and whose presence gave rise to many interesting superstitions during the Middle Ages.
The adulterants most commonly met with in bread are mineral salts mixed into the dough for the purpose of producing a good-looking loaf from poor flour. Alum is the most common of these. Soda is often used in bread to prevent souring. and, as it does not lessen the value, can hardly be called an adulterant. Tn breads made front special flour. poor in gluten—oatmeal. bar ley. ele.—soda is regarded as necessary in the production of a sweet, well-raised loaf. 'See also BARLEY: BUCK WI! EAT : FLOUR: MAIZE ; RICE: RYE: WHEAT: A DULTER A MN.
For further information consult : The Pei cure and I rt of Bread-Making (London, 18951 : Chureh. Pond Grains of India, wiih supplement. (London, I)011 : Boutroux. Le pain et la panifi cation (Paris, IS07) : Goodfellow. Dietetic "Value of Bread (London and New York. 149')) ; Borer, Bread and Bread-Making (Philadelphia, 1899) Von P,ibra, Die (lctrcidrarten and dos Prod (Nuremberg, 1S61); Section on Bread-Making. Richards, Chemistry of Cookery : Abel, Practical Sanitary and Economic Cookery (Rochester. 1890) Sadtler, Organic Chemis try (Philadelphia, 1900) : United States Depart ment of Agriculture, 01lice of Experiment Sta tions, Bulletins Nos. 35, 52, 67, 85, and 101; United States Department of Agriculture. Farm ers' Bulletin No. 112.