Farm and home cook book and housekeeper's assistant

Whole wheat flour is of a dark, brown color, rather coarse, and should be free from bran, which is the outside coat of the wheat. All the other nutritive parts of the wheat grain are retained in the whole wheat flour, while only the inner por-' tions are used for the fine white flour, which lacks many of^ the more nutritious elements. Bread made from whole wheat flour is considered by physicians to be the best diet for young and old — especially those suffering from weak digestion, for pursing mothers and for those inclined to be anaemic, espe-' cially children inclined to rickets, and those whose teeth show signs of early decay, as whole wheat is rich in alkaline phos-* phates. THE BREAD DOUGH 13 Again, according to Mrs. Rorer, most graham flour sold in. our markets is composed of a little white flour and a goodly quantity of bran, mixed with a certain proportion of "shorts" or "middlings." These particles being indestructible, graham bread therefore cannot be recommended very highly for steady consumption. Experienced housewives know that flour varies in its capacity to absorb moisture, and that therefore no recipe can indicate exactly the necessary amount of flour to be used. A little practice, perseverance and common sense will soon teach ambitious beginners the methods which will produce best results. About Kneading Bread Dough Stir sufficient flour into the sponge to make a dough that may be turned on to a board sprinkled with flour; then flour the hands. Draw the dough farthest from you over into the center several times, and then turn the whole mass half around. Draw it again from the opposite side toward the center; and press it down either with the fingers or the ball of the hand, then half turn again, and repeat this, with a sort of rocking motion, until the dough has been thoroughly and evenly kneaded. This will take at least 15 minutes. At first you must add flour, just a little at a time; but after the dough has lost its stickiness, knead it on a dry board. When it ceases to stick on pressure, the kneading may be discontinued. — [Mrs. S. T. Rorer. When the bread dough becomes elastic and loses its stickiness, it has been kneaded sufficiently long and is ready for its first raising. Kneading is really the most important part of bread making. In most households, the hands are used for this purpose. Good and inexpensive bread mixers can now be had which save three-quarters of the labor in bread making.— [A. G., Mass. Good Bread Without Kneading I find that the chief secret of good bread is mixing the dough soft. Use any favorite bread recipe, but use more wetting. Mix it so soft that you can easily beat it with a strong spoon — so soft that you cannot handle the dough except with well floured hands, and so soft that you cannot shape it into round loaves. I mix bread in a large granite-ware pail, cover with a tin cover, and wrap the whole thing snugly in an old comforter, set it on top of a high stool, which in turn I place upon the top of a chair, and put all in a warm corner of the room. This arrangement keeps the draughts off, and as the upper layers of air in the room are the warmest it secures for the bread a uniform degree of warmth throughout the whole process of fermentation. This is not always easy to get, particularly in