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Bread is the most important article of food, and history tells of its use thousands of years before the Christian era. Many processes have been employed in making and baking; and as a result, from the first flat cake has come the perfect loaf. The study of bread making is of no slight importance, and deserves more attention than it receives.

Considering its great value, it seems unnecessary and wrong to find poor bread on the table; and would that our standard might be raised as high as that of our friends across the water! Who does not appreciate the loaf produced by the French baker, who has worked months to learn the art of bread making?

Bread is made from flour of wheat, or other cereals, by addition of water, salt, and a ferment. Wheat flour is best adapted for bread making, as it contains gluten in the right proportion to make the spongy loaf. But for its slight deficiency in fat, wheat bread is a perfect food; hence arose the custom of spreading it with butter. It should be remembered, in speaking of wheat bread as perfect food, that it must be made of flour rich in gluten. Next to wheat flour ranks rye in importance for bread making; but it is best used in combination with wheat, for alone it makes heavy, sticky, moist bread. Corn also needs to be used in combination with wheat for bread making, for if used alone the bread will be crumbly.

The miller, in order to produce flour which will make the white loaf (so sightly to many), in the process of grinding wheat has been forced to remove the inner bran coats, so rich in mineral matter, and much of the gluten intimately connected with them.

To understand better the details of bread making, wheat, from which bread is principally made, should be considered.

A grain of wheat consists of (1) an outer covering or husk, which is always removed before milling; (2) bran coats, which contain mineral matter; (3) gluten, the proteid matter and fat; and (4) starch, the centre and largest part of the grain. Wheat is distinguished as white and soft, or red and hard. The former is known as winter wheat, having been sown in the fall, and living through the winter; the latter is known as spring wheat, having been sown in the spring. From winter wheat, pastry flour, sometimes called St. Louis, is made; from spring wheat, bread flour, also called Haxall. St. Louis flour takes its name from the old process of grinding; Haxall, from the name of the inventor of the new process. All flours are now milled by the same process. For difference in composition of wheat flours, consult table in Chapter VI on Cereals.

Wheat is milled for converting into flour by processes producing essentially the same results, all requiring cleansing, grinding, and bolting. Entire wheat flour has only the outer husk removed, the remainder of the kernel being finely ground. Graham flour, confounded with entire wheat, is too often found to be an inferior flour, mixed with coarse bran.

Grinding is accomplished by one of four systems: (1) low milling; (2) Hungarian system, or high milling; (3) roller-milling; and (4) by a machine known as disintegrator.

In low milling process, grooved stones are employed for grinding. The stones are enclosed in a metal case, and provision is made within case for passage of air to prevent wheat from becoming overheated. The lower stone being permanently fixed, the upper stone being so balanced above it that grooves may exactly correspond, when upper stone rotates, sharp edges of grooves meet each other, and operate like a pair of scissors. By this process flour is made ready for bolting by one grinding.

In high milling process, grooved stones are employed, but are kept so far apart that at first the wheat is only bruised, and a series of grindings and siftings is necessary. This process is applicable only to the hardest wheats, and is partially supplanted by roller-milling.

In roller-milling, wheat is subjected to action of a pair of steel or chilled-iron horizontal rollers, having toothed surfaces. They revolve in opposite directions, at different rates of speed, and have a cutting action.

Porcelain rollers, with rough surfaces, are sometimes employed. In this system, grinding is accomplished by cutting rather than crushing.

“The disintegrator consists of a pair of circular metal disks, set face to face, studded with circles of projecting bars so arranged that circles of bars on one disk alternate with those of the other. The disks are mounted on the same centre, and so closely set to one another that projecting bars of one disk come quite close to plane surface of the other. They are enclosed within an external casing. The disks are caused to rotate in opposite directions with great rapidity, and the grain is almost instantaneously reduced to a powder.”

After grinding comes bolting, by which process the different grades of flour are obtained. The ground wheat is placed in octagonal cylinders (covered with silk or linen bolting-cloth of different degrees of fineness), which are allowed to rotate, thus forcing the wheat through. The flour from first siftings contains the largest percentage of gluten.

Flour is branded under different names to suit manufacturer or dealer. In consequence, the same wheat, milled by the same process, makes flour which is sold under different names.

In buying flour, whether bread or pastry, select the best kept by your grocer. Some of the well-known brands of bread flour are King Arthur, Swan’s Down, Bridal Veil, Columbia, Washburn’s Extra, and Pillbury’s Best; of pastry, Best St. Louis. Bread flour should be used in all cases where yeast is called for, with few exceptions; in other cases, pastry flour. The difference between bread and pastry flour may be readily determined. Take bread flour in the hand, close hand tightly, then open, and flour will not keep in shape; if allowed to pass through fingers it will feel slightly granular. Take pastry flour in the hand, close hand tightly, open, and flour will be in shape, having impression of the lines of the hand, and feeling soft and velvety to touch. Flour should always be sifted before measuring.

Entire wheat flour differs from ordinary flour inasmuch as it contains all the gluten found in wheat, the outer husk of kernels only being removed, the remainder ground to different degrees of fineness and left unbolted. Such flours are sold by the different health food companies, who have agencies in the large cities. Franklin Mills, Old Grist Mill, and Health Food flours are included in this class.

Gluten, the proteid of wheat, is a gray, tough, elastic substance, insoluble in water. On account of its great power of expansion, it holds the gas developed in bread dough by fermentation, which otherwise would escape.