WHEAT FLOUR--BREAD SPONGE

EXPERIMENT 78: PROTEIN IN FLOUR.--Make a stiff dough, using 2 tablespoonfuls of bread flour and about 1/2 tablespoonful of water. Knead well, and allow to stand for 20 minutes. Then tie the dough in cheese- cloth, place it in a bowl of water, and knead for a few minutes.

Pour a little of the water in a test tube; drain the remainder of the water from the dough. Add more water to the bowl. Again knead the dough under the clean water.

Examine the material in the cloth. What is its color? Feel and pull it.

Put a little on a plate to dry, and bake some in the oven. Examine after drying and baking. How has it changed in size by heating?

Test the water in the test tube for starch.

GLUTEN.--The material left in the cloth consists largely of protein. If flour is mixed with water, _gluten_ is formed from the two kinds of protein that are to be found in all wheat flours. Gluten is yellowish gray in color, is extremely elastic and sticky, and, if moistened and heated, expands to many times its original bulk. These qualities of gluten are most desirable for good yeast bread; hence, the more protein that flour contains, the better it is for bread making. As has been stated, some flours contain more protein than others. The protein of wheat as well as of other grains is incomplete, hence grains need to be supplemented with other kinds of protein food.

WHEAT FLOUR.--The quant.i.ty of protein in flour is not only dependent upon the portion of the wheat kernel used in making the flour (see _Difference in Wheat Flours_), but also upon the kind of wheat from which the flour is made. Spring wheat, the seeds of which are sown in the springtime, usually contains more protein than winter wheat, the seeds of which are sown in the fall. The flour made from spring wheat is called _hard wheat flour_ or _bread flour_. This flour is creamy in color, rather gritty in feeling, and when pressed in the hand does not retain the impression of the fingers. Flour made from winter wheat is called _soft wheat flour_ or _pastry flour_. This is white, very fine and velvety in feeling, and easily retains the impression of the fingers.

On account of the greater quant.i.ty of protein in bread flour, this flour absorbs more moisture than pastry flour. Less bread flour than pastry flour, therefore, is required for the bread mixture. If bread flour is subst.i.tuted for pastry flour, its quant.i.ty should be decreased,--2 tablespoonfuls for each cupful.

DRY YEAST SPONGE.--It is generally agreed that compressed yeast is more satisfactory for bread making than dry yeast. By the use of the former, the method is shorter, and the "rising" can take place during the daytime and be checked at the proper time. The use of dry yeast, however, is necessary under some conditions. For this kind of yeast cake, the yeast is made into a stiff dough by mixing it with starch or meal, and is then dried. In the dry state, yeast plants do not grow, but remain inactive until they are subjected to conditions favorable for growth. In order that dry yeast may begin to grow, it is necessary to make a _sponge_ of the materials used in bread making. A sponge is a batter containing half as much flour as is required for the stiff dough. A thin mixture rises more quickly than does a stiff dough; hence the advantage of "starting"

dry yeast in a sponge.

The growth of yeast is somewhat r.e.t.a.r.ded by salt and spices. Sugar in small quant.i.ty aids rapid growth; much sugar delays the rising of bread.

Much fat and many eggs also make the process slower. In the preparation of buns, when much fat and sugar and many eggs are to be used, it is advisable to make a sponge. These materials are not to be added, however, until the sponge is stiffened. The yeast thus gets a good "start" before the eggs, etc., are added.

BREAD (made with dry yeast) (2 loaves)

2 cupfuls water 1/2 cake dry yeast 2 teaspoonfuls salt 2 teaspoonfuls sugar 1 tablespoonful fat 6 cupfuls (or more) bread flour

Soak the yeast in the water (lukewarm) until softened. Then add the salt, sugar, and fat. Stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved, and the fat is melted. Add one half the given quant.i.ty of flour. Beat until the mixture is smooth; cover. Let rise until very porous and foamy. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough; knead; and allow to rise until doubled in bulk. Proceed as for bread made with compressed yeast.

SCORE CARD FOR BREAD [Footnote 109: "Selection and Preparation of Food,"

by Bevier and Van Meter, p. 82.]--DETERMINING ITS QUALITY

Flavor 35 Lightness 15 Grain and texture 20 Crust (color, depth, texture) 10 Crumb (color, moisture) 10 Shape and size 10 --- Total 100

QUESTIONS

Under what conditions would dry yeast be used in bread making?

For what reason is bread dough kneaded?

What is the test for sufficient kneading of bread dough?

In what part of the country is spring wheat grown? Winter wheat?

How are the flours distinguished that are made from these different kinds of wheat?

From _U. S. Department of Agriculture_, Bulletin No. 28, tabulate the percentage composition of winter and of spring wheat flour.

Which contains the more protein; which, the more carbohydrates? Compare the quant.i.ty of ash in each.

Knowing the method of leavening, the time required for raising, and the properties of gluten, explain why spring wheat flour is better adapted to yeast breads than to quick breads.

What is the price per sack of pastry and of bread flour?

What is the price per cake of compressed yeast? What is the price per package of dry yeast? How many cakes in a package?

LESSON Cx.x.xVII

MODIFICATIONS OF PLAIN WHITE BREAD

BREADS OTHER THAN WHEAT.--As mentioned previously, wheat is the most popular grain in this country, largely because we are most used to it, not because it is a better food than other cereals. The use of different starchy materials and grains, especially the whole cereals, is advised to give variation not only in flavor, but in nutritive content. Yeast breads containing cereals other than wheat are more satisfactory in texture and in size of loaf when they are made by combining some wheat with the other grains.

The housekeeper of olden days considered the potato most essential for bread making. It is possible to make good bread by using 1/3 as much mashed potato as wheat flour. Potato bread is moist; it keeps better than bread made entirely with wheat. It has been observed that bread containing potatoes or potato water rises quickly. It is possible that the growth of the yeast is stimulated by potato. Although bread containing potatoes is light, it is not as delicate or "fluffy" as plain wheat bread.

Since potatoes contain much moisture, the quant.i.ty of liquid used in making potato bread should be lessened. Because bread dough containing potatoes softens as it rises, sufficient flour should be added to make it very stiff or more flour added while kneading.

Much experimenting with bread during the World War showed that bread containing cereals other than wheat is more satisfactory when potatoes are used in making it. It was found that less of wheat and more of the other grains could be used when potatoes were added to the dough.

Bread made of grains other than wheat requires a greater quant.i.ty of yeast than wheat bread. The following explanation may account for this fact: Some recent scientific investigations point out the fact that the activity of yeast is increased when vinegar or other weak acid material is added to bread dough. Since the proteins of cereals other than wheat absorb more of the free acid of the dough than do the proteins of wheat, the acidity of the dough is lessened. Hence more yeast is required to leaven dough containing grains other than wheat.

GRAHAM BREAD

Use one half white bread flour and one half graham flour in the recipe given for Bread in order to make Graham Bread. One fourth cupful of mola.s.ses may be subst.i.tuted for the sugar. Mix and bake as white bread.

Some consider that it is much more satisfactory to make a sponge when using graham flour. If this is done, first make a sponge using only one half the given quant.i.ty of flour. Let the mixture rise, then add the remainder of the flour, and proceed as in making white wheat bread.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Follow the recipe for Bread, subst.i.tuting whole wheat for the fine wheat bread flour, but make a soft, not stiff dough.

_Raisin Bread_ may be made by adding 2 cupfuls of seeded raisins to whole wheat bread mixture and increasing the sugar to 1/4 cupful or subst.i.tuting 1/3 cupful mola.s.ses for the sugar. Use the greater quant.i.ty of yeast. Add the raisins to the mixture before adding the flour.

POTATO BREAD (2 loaves)

2 cupfuls dry mashed potatoes 1 cupful water in which potatoes were cooked 1 tablespoonful salt 1/2 cupful lukewarm water 2 tablespoonfuls sugar 1 tablespoonful fat 1/2 to 1 cake compressed yeast 5 1/2 to 6 cupfuls wheat bread flour

Pare 6 medium-sized potatoes. Cut into pieces and cook in boiling water until tender. Drain the water from the potatoes, but save the potato water to use as moisture for the dough, and for mixing with the yeast. Mash the potatoes; add the potato water, salt, sugar, and fat. Then proceed as directed for Bread.

OATMEAL-POTATO BREAD (2 loaves)

1 1/2 cupfuls potato water 2 cupfuls rolled oats 1 tablespoonful salt 2 teaspoonfuls sugar Wheat bread flour, about 6 cupfuls 1 tablespoonful fat 2 cupfuls dry mashed potatoes 1 cake compressed yeast 1 tablespoonful lukewarm water

Heat the liquid to boiling point. Pour it over the rolled oats. Add the salt, sugar, and fat. Stir and let stand until the mixture is lukewarm.

Add the potatoes, then proceed as for plain bread. Let the dough rise in the pans until it is from 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 times its original bulk.