ant to the taste, and more healthful, because more easily
digested, and more convenient for general use. It is gen-
erally recommended by scientific and medical men as the
best form of bread.
Wheat contains a larger percentage of starch than of any-
thing else. We learn, in the chapter on Digestion, that
starch as such is not absorbed into the human sy-stem. It
must first be transformed into sugar. All starch that is
not changed into sugar by the process of cooking or before
our food is eaten, is so changed by the ptyalin^ or ferment of
the saliva, and the ferment of the pancreatic fluid. An\^
process which produces this change for us makes our food
more digestible. " Powdered alum will dissolve in water
sooner than a crystal of alum." Any fluid will penetrate
more easily through a sponge than through putty, and the
salivary and gastric fluids are no exception to this rule.
Wheat starch in its natural state is close and compact ; and
bread made simply with flour and water, and baked at once,
will be close, dry, and difficult to masticate and digest.
Good bread should be sufficiently soft to be easily crushed
in the mouth, and of such a light, spongy texture that all
the starch cells ma}^ be ruptured, and the greatest possible
amount of surface be presented to the action of the diges-
tive fluids. To obtain these qualities in bread, we try to
expand the dough as much as possible without destroying
its natural sweetness. Owing to the peculiar elasticity
and tenacity of the wheat gluten, this is very easily accom-
plished by alcoholic fermentation. The flour is moistened
with some warm liquid, yeast and salt are added, and it is
then exposed for some hours to a temperature of about
70°. The yeast changes some of the starch of the flour
into sugar, and the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid
gas. This gas, being lighter than the dough, rises, and, in
its eflbrts to escape, expands the elastic, glutinous dough
into a mass two or three times its original bulk. The
toughness or elasticity of the gluten prevents the gas from
escaping ; and when this expansion has reached the desired
limit, — that is, before the alcoholic fermentation has changed
48
The Boston Cook Book.
to the acetic and soured the dough, or the tough, glutinous
walls of the air cells are broken, — we check the forma-
tion of gas, and kill the ferment by baking the dough in a
hot oven. The alcohol escapes into the oven ; some of the
starch is changed into gum, and forms the crust ; and the
rapid decomposition, produced by the intense heat, causes
the crust to assume a brown color.
Page 33
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
ant to the taste, and more healthful, because more easily digested, and more convenient for general use. It is generally recommended by scientific and medical men as the best form of bread.
Wheat contains a larger percentage of starch than of anything else. We learn, in the chapter on Digestion, that starch as such is not absorbed into the human system. It must first be transformed into sugar. All starch that is not changed into sugar by the process of cooking or before our food is eaten, is so changed by the ptyalin, or ferment of the saliva, and the ferment of the pancreatic fluid. An\^ process which produces this change for us makes our food more digestible. " Powdered alum will dissolve in water sooner than a crystal of alum." Any fluid will penetrate more easily through a sponge than through putty, and the salivary and gastric fluids are no exception to this rule. Wheat starch in its natural state is close and compact ; and bread made simply with flour and water, and baked at once, will be close, dry, and difficult to masticate and digest. Good bread should be sufficiently soft to be easily crushed in the mouth, and of such a light, spongy texture that all the starch cells may be ruptured, and the greatest possible amount of surface be presented to the action of the digestive fluids. To obtain these qualities in bread, we try to expand the dough as much as possible without destroying its natural sweetness. Owing to the peculiar elasticity and tenacity of the wheat gluten, this is very easily accomplished by alcoholic fermentation. The flour is moistened with some warm liquid, yeast and salt are added, and it is then exposed for some hours to a temperature of about 70°. The yeast changes some of the starch of the flour into sugar, and the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid gas. This gas, being lighter than the dough, rises, and, in its efforts to escape, expands the elastic, glutinous dough into a mass two or three times its original bulk. The toughness or elasticity of the gluten prevents the gas from escaping ; and when this expansion has reached the desired limit, — that is, before the alcoholic fermentation has changed
The Boston Cook Book.
to the acetic and soured the dough, or the tough, glutinous walls of the air cells are broken, — we check the formation of gas, and kill the ferment by baking the dough in a hot oven. The alcohol escapes into the oven ; some of the starch is changed into gum, and forms the crust ; and the rapid decomposition, produced by the intense heat, causes the crust to assume a brown color.