STUDIES IN KITCHEN SCIENCE AND ART.

II. WHEAT, RYE AND CORN.

BY BYRON D. HALSTED.

The three grains here treated, viz.: wheat, rye and corn, belong to the vast order of plants known as the grass family (Gramineæ). This large group of plants, the members of which are so closely related as to be quickly recognized as such, contains many of the most valuable of all cultivated plants. It not only furnishes the cereals, namely: wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley and rice, which supply the world with the larger part of its starchy food, but clothes the pasture and meadow of the farmer with the herbage so essential to the sustenance of his live stock. There is a deep and weighty truth in the familiar expression: “All flesh is grass.” Blot out the grass family from existence and nearly all forms of life would suffer, and many kinds would soon perish from the earth.

The grasses are usually low and comparatively small plants—though the bamboos of the tropics are almost treelike, with jointed stems and alternate, slender leaves. The flowers are inconspicuous, usually in spikes or spreading clusters, with three stamens, anthers versatile, styles two, stigma feathery, ovary one-celled, becoming a grain.

Wheat has probably more intrinsic value than any other plant grown. It is probably a native of southwestern Asia, but like most grains and fruits cultivated from remote antiquity, its early history is extremely uncertain. Many varieties have been produced from the original Triticum vulgare—the scientific name of wheat—but they can all be placed in the two following groups: Those that are tender called spring wheats, sown in spring, and the winter sorts that are sown in autumn, remain on the ground through the winter and are harvested the subsequent summer. The winter wheats are the more valuable and bring a higher price than the spring varieties. Some wheats have long awns to the flowers, and are termed bearded, while other sorts are nearly or entirely awnless, and are sometimes styled bald. There is a great variation in the size and color of the grain. In some varieties it is long, others short; some are white, others brown, red, and amber; some are hard, others are soft. New sorts are produced yearly, and the varieties have become practically innumerable.

The area devoted to the growth of wheat in the United States is between thirty-five and forty million acres, and the yield of the present season (1884) will not be far from 500,000,000 bushels. The average yield per acre, take the whole country through, is not far from thirteen bushels per acre. Nineteen states (and territories) cultivate over a million acres each; six over two millions, and three over three millions, namely: Illinois, 3,218,542; Iowa, 3,049,288; and Minnesota, 3,044,670 acres, as given in the last census. In the order of the number of bushels produced, the leading states stand thus: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, California. New York stands thirteenth, and Rhode Island last, with seventeen acres and 240 bushels. It will be seen that the wheat region, strictly speaking, is in the Mississippi Valley, centering around Illinois, with a secondary area in middle California. According to the report on the cereal production of the United States by Professor Wm. H. Brewer, in the statistics of agriculture in the tenth census, the yield and quality of the wheat crops is stated to depend upon five conditions: climate, soil, variety cultivated, method of cultivation and the liability to destruction by insects. The quality of the grain depends more upon the climate than the soil. A hot, dry and sunny harvest produces a grain of the highest quality. The ideal climate for wheat growing is most nearly reached during the best years in California, and it is then and there that we have records of the greatest yields of the best of wheat.

A good rich soil is needed for successful wheat growing. This may be preserved on any farm by a well regulated system of crop rotation. It must be borne in mind that wheat has a short season for its growth and needs to have food prepared and close at hand. One of the best preparatory crops is clover. The clover sod, including the vast amount of roots, furnishes a most acceptable feeding ground for the wheat. The soil itself is not one of the items most frequently overlooked in wheat growing. The importance of good plump seed of the best varieties is rarely overestimated. There is a vast deal in the sort of wheat grown, and no one can afford to grow any but the best.

The most common diseases of wheat are rust and smut, both of vegetable origin. These troubles, which appear so suddenly and are often very destructive, are minute microscopic plants of the order of fungi, and therefore related to the moulds and mildews common on various articles of food, etc. The insect enemies are somewhat numerous, but the Hessian fly, wheat midge, joint worm, chinch bug, army worms, and Rocky Mountain locust are the most destructive. There are a few insects that prey upon the grain after it is in the granary, and these are on the increase. Among the enemies we should not forget to mention various weeds that spring up in the fields and endeavor to choke out the legitimate occupants of the soil.

The nutritive value and chemical composition of wheat grain are important points worthy of consideration here, because this general article is to be followed by one upon the culinary aspects of the grain treated. The market value of a flour largely rests upon its appearance, while the nutritive value depends upon the results determined by the analytical chemist. The average of fifty-seven analyses of winter wheat in the kernel gave:

WATER. ASH. ALBUMINOIDS. FIBER. STARCH, GUM, &C. FAT.

Winter Wheat 11.18 1.70 11.70 1.66 71.81 1.95

Spring Wheat 10.50 1.84 11.97 1.86 70.64 2.19

Wheat Flour 11.56 0.59 11.09 0.17 75.43 1.14

It will be seen that there is very little chemical difference between winter and spring wheats. The composition of the flour shows a removal of nearly all the woody fiber, two thirds of the ash, nearly half the fat and a small reduction of the albuminoids, while the water is somewhat and the carb-hydrates (starch, gum, etc.) considerably increased. It will be interesting to here give an analysis of wheat bran and shorts:

WATER. ASH. ALBUMINOIDS. FIBER. STARCH, GUM, &C. FAT.

Bran 11.65 5.63 14.00 9.13 55.56 4.03

Shorts 11.26 3.95 15.13 7.46 57.35 4.85

By a comparison of these tables it will be easy to note the positions in the kernel occupied by the various substances. The fiber, ash, fat, and albuminoids are more abundant in the outer portion of the grain, especially the first three. It must be kept in mind that the albuminoids are the most expensive elements of food, and are frequently called the “flesh formers,” because they produce muscles. The starchy compounds are employed for the production of heat in the animal system. The functions and comparative importance of these several constituents are already given at some length in the article on the potato in a previous issue of The Chautauquan.

Rye (Secale cereale).—This grain was grown by the Egyptians and other eastern nations, and its nativity is lost in oblivion. It is of far less importance than wheat, and does not possess any remarkable tendency to vary from its normal type. It has a wider range of growth than wheat, and flourishes in cooler regions than those adapted for most of the other grains. There are both spring and winter varieties. The preparation of the soil, the seeding, harvesting, etc., are much the same as for wheat. It will succeed on a poorer soil and with less attention than wheat. On this account rye was a more important crop in the earlier centuries of the development of the human race than to-day. Rye bread was a daily food among our people in the colonial days, and in some old countries where the soil has been too much worn out for wheat rye is grown successfully. The opening up of various parts of our country by railroads has checked the rye industry, and introduced wheat in its place.

The acreage of rye in the United States in 1880 was 1,842,303 acres, yielding 19,831,595 bushels. The states producing over a million bushels are only five, namely, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The amount of rye grown in the United States in 1839 was more than that at ten, twenty, or thirty years later. Its cultivation for bread has rapidly decreased, but for other purposes there is an apparent increase. Rye makes an excellent green fodder crop, and is also employed for plowing under as a green manure. The straw is the primary crop in many sections, there being a good market for this excellent product. The chemical composition of rye differs somewhat from that of wheat, being poorer in albuminoids. The wheat flours average 11.09 per cent. of albuminoids, while that of rye is 6.65. Rye bran is, on the other hand, richer in these constituents than wheat. Professor Brewer, to whom we are indebted for many of our percentages here given, says: “These figures are so plain that they scarcely require comment, and they illustrate why fine wheat flour is so much better than fine rye bread, and also why the difference in nutritious qualities between coarse rye bread and fine rye bread is so much greater than between coarse wheat bread and fine wheat bread.” Rye is subject to fungoid attacks, one of which is of special interest—the “spurred” rye, or ergot. The fungus causes the grains to increase to several times their normal size, and become purple, hard and curved, somewhat resembling the spurs of a cock. This ergotted or “spurred” grain is very poisonous. In some parts of Europe, where rye is largely grown, there have been extensive epidemics among the people, caused by eating rye affected with ergot. The insect enemies are nearly the same as those mentioned with wheat.

Corn.—Indian corn, or maize, is the leading grain crop of the United States. The area devoted to this grain for the present year is not far from seventy million acres, and the yield will not fall much short of two thousand million bushels (2,000,000,000). According to the census of 1880, the six following states produced over a hundred million bushels each: Illinois, over three hundred and twenty-five millions; Iowa, over two hundred and seventy-five millions; Missouri, over two hundred and two millions; Indiana, over one hundred and fifteen millions; Ohio, over one hundred and eleven millions, and Kansas over one hundred and five millions. Corn is very generally distributed over the whole country, but it attains its greatest excellence on the rich lands of the western prairies.

There is but little doubt that Indian corn is of American origin. Columbus and other discoverers found it cultivated by the natives of the New World. Since that time Indian corn has been carried to all parts of the globe, and in many places it is grown with profit. The corn plant is botanically Zea mays, and is very unlike any of the other cereals in the arrangement of its flowers. The clusters of male or pollen bearing flowers are at the upper end of the stalk, forming the tassel, while the female flowers are crowded upon a spike situated upon one side of the stalk, midway between the top and the bottom. This separation of the flowers permits of ready cross fertilization; that is, the grains of one ear are very likely to be impregnated with flower-dust showered down from the tassel of a neighboring plant. The truth of this is always demonstrated when two distinct varieties, as white and yellow sorts, are planted in adjoining rows. There will be a “mixing” in nearly every ear along the border line. This ease in crossing permits the farmer to combine the good qualities of desirable sorts; in other words corn may be bred and has been bred as successfully as any kind of live stock. The corn plant also has a very plastic nature, and quickly responds to any favoring conditions of soil, climate or culture. We should therefore expect to find the number of varieties of Indian corn without number. Many attempts have been made to classify the different sorts. A common grouping is into field, sweet, pop and husk sorts. Another is into flint, Tuscarora, dent, and sweet varieties. Some of the leading characteristics in the classification are color of grain, rows on cob, size and form of grain, etc. The field varieties include dents and flints, and are grown in large areas. The sweet corns have a large per cent. of sugar, and are grown for eating in the green condition. The pop corns are small sorts, with a very hard covering. The stalks of corn vary from two to twenty feet in length, and the ears from half an ounce to a pound and a half. The number of rows of grain on the cob is always even, and ranges from four to forty. The grain varies in color; it may be white, yellow, violet, purple, blue, slate, black, or variegated.

A good corn ground is rich, warm, deep and mellow. Unlike the other cereals, the work of culture in the cornfield is only well begun when the plants appear above the surface. Being in rows there is a fine opportunity offered for weeds to come in and occupy the soil before the corn plants make enough growth to defend their rights to the land. The first enemy to the corn is the cut-worm, and the next is the crow. If it were not for the cut-worm it is probable that the crow would rarely visit the corn-field. The crow is the enemy of the cut-worm and many other injurious farm pests. He may pull some corn for two weeks in the year, but during the other fifty he is clearly on the farmer’s side. The weeds are the worst enemies to the corn, and smut comes next. This trouble is, like the wheat rust and the ergot of the rye, a member of the fungus group. The smut appears on various parts of the plant, but usually on the ear. All smutted parts should be cut out and burned, as they are unfit for food, and this prevents the spread of the disease.

The chemical composition of corn is more variable than that of wheat. The following table may be compared with that given for wheat. An average of a large number of analyses is given for each item:

WATER. ASH. ALBUMINOIDS. FIBER. STARCH, GUM, &C. FAT.

Flint 10.85 1.45 10.87 1.61 70.29 4.93

Dent 11.23 1.48 10.49 1.91 70.15 4.74

Sweet 8.81 1.87 12.15 2.31 66.87 7.99

Hominy 13.49 0.38 8.25 0.32 77.12 0.44

Meal 15.97 1.27 8.19 1.61 69.50 3.46

Cob 9.16 1.32 2.22 32.04 54.85 0.43

The most striking difference between wheat and corn is the amount of oil or fat. In wheat this ranges from 1.26 to 2.67 per cent., while in corn it averages 5.29, or from two to three times as much. The popular opinion that corn is a heating and fattening food is therefore supported by chemical analyses. It will be seen from the table that the sweet corns contain much more fat and a larger per cent. of albuminoids than the other varieties. These, therefore, have a higher nutritive value. Whatever may have been said in favor of or against either the flint or dent varieties falls to the ground in the light of the average analyses of these classes when brought side by side. It will be seen that the differences are practically nothing. It is only a matter of fancy which is employed. Much has been said concerning color, but this is little more than skin deep, and does not affect the quality of the food derived from the grain. Those families which have become accustomed to yellow corn prefer it, and those using the white sorts like these best. It is a matter of taste, in one sense, and not of taste in another.

Chemistry shows no great difference in the percentage of albuminoids in wheat and corn, but it is a fact that all the differences can not be set down in figures. The housewife knows very well that a light, spongy bread is not easily made from corn; in other words, corn bread is very different in texture from wheat bread, even when the two flours are equally well prepared. Much may be due to the greater amount of oil in the corn, but there is little doubt that the gluten of corn is of a different texture or character than that in wheat. This most important constituent is subject to great variation in wheat, so much so that this grain grown in one locality makes a light bread, while that from another, in the same hands and under the same treatment, yields a heavy bread, and of poor quality. No one doubts that much improvement may be made in the milling of corn—as much, perhaps, as has been recently effected in that of wheat. We may look for a “new process” by which our corn bread may be vastly improved.

Corn is, however, the great fattening food for swine and other live stock, and we should be satisfied to take our corn in that transmuted form when it appears upon our tables as a fragrant spare-rib or a juicy and tender chop or beefsteak.

Of the three grains herein briefly treated we have seen that wheat stands at the head as a food for man in our country. In any form it is prepared it can be a complete and palatable food. The albuminoids (gluten, etc.) are in such abundance and form that the flour may produce snowy, spongy and most healthful bread—truly a staff of life on which all rejoice to lean. Rye is a declining grain, it being replaced by wheat. It will grow on poorer soil than wheat, but with the many kinds of commercial fertilizers at our service no one should grow rye because of an impoverished soil. Corn in all its bearings is a peer of wheat. It is in one sense our contribution to the world’s list of grains, and in this we justly take pride. It is more largely grown than any other crop, and as a source of natural wealth it stands ahead of wheat. As a plant corn is most interesting, being plastic and quickly responsive to any favoring conditions. If corn is king, as some claim, wheat is certainly queen in this royal family of cereals.

BREAD.

BY MRS. EMMA P. EWING.

The first thing to be considered in bread making is the yeast. Without good yeast it is impossible to make good bread. A great deal depends upon the quality of flour used for making bread; but unless the yeast is good the best quality of bread can not be made from the most superior grade of flour, and much excellent flour is spoiled by conjunction with worthless yeast in the attempt to make it into bread.

The compressed yeast, so much used in cities, is, in all respects, the best commercial yeast yet discovered, and when fresh, is perfectly reliable, but can not be obtained conveniently at all times, and in all places. And the housewife who is ambitious to supply her family with good bread should acquaint herself with the best method of making yeast, and have it prepared at home.

To Make Yeast.—Steep an eighth of an ounce of pressed, or a small handful of loose hops in a quart of boiling water for about five minutes. Strain the boiling infusion upon half a pint of flour, stirred to a smooth paste with a little cold water. Mix well, boil a minute; then add one ounce of salt and two ounces of white sugar. When lukewarm stir in a gill of liquid yeast or an ounce cake of compressed yeast dissolved in warm water. Let stand twenty-four hours, stirring occasionally, then cover closely, and set in a cool place. Yeast made in this manner will keep sweet for two weeks in summer, and much longer in winter, and can be used at any time during that period for starting a fresh supply of yeast, as well as for making bread.

The first step in bread making is the preparation of the ferment.

Pour gradually, stirring meanwhile, a quart of boiling water upon half a pint of wheat flour. When the mixture has cooled to about lukewarmness (80°) add a gill of yeast, stir well, cover closely, and let stand till thoroughly light and a mass of white foam. Taste it, and it bites like beer; stir it, and it seems to dance and sparkle with exuberant life, while the odor it emits is strongly alcoholic. Ferment can be kept for several hours after it becomes light and foamy without growing sour, or appearing to deteriorate in any manner. But it is better to use it as soon as it reaches this stage, as it is then undoubtedly at its very best estate. The time required for ferment to grow light, varies from two to six hours, according to the strength of the yeast put in it and the temperature of the place where it stands. When due attention is given to these things, the custom of preparing or “setting” ferment in the evening to be used in bread making the next day is a convenient one; and, as it usually proves satisfactory, is in no way objectionable.

When the ferment is perfectly light, beat vigorously into it about half a pint of flour, cover, and leave to rise. By this addition of flour the ferment is transformed into sponge, which, under favorable conditions, will rise in from half an hour to an hour. As soon as the sponge rises, add more flour, and give it another beating; and so repeat each time it rises, until it gets too stiff to be easily stirred.

The mixture is then dough, and is ready for working or kneading. After it has been kneaded till flour is no longer required to keep it from sticking to the molding board, it is of the proper consistency for bread, and may be divided into four equal parts, molded, or shaped into loaves, and put in greased bread pans to rise for the last time, preparatory to baking; or it may be set to rise in a mass before being divided into loaves.

It is very difficult to decide whether it is better to let the dough rise in a mass or in separate loaves. Bread which rises in a mass appears to be a trifle more elastic and spongy than that which rises in separate loaves; but the latter seems to excel the former in sweetness and delicacy of flavor. In either case the bread will be good.

Two points in this mode of making bread deserve special attention:

1. The flour is added repeatedly after intervals of fermentation, and as it contains fresh food for the yeast, these frequent additions of flour keep the yeast in a vigorous and healthy condition during the entire period of bread making.

2. The fermentation is always arrested in the sponge and dough before it arrives at the exhaustive point; for whenever sponge or dough is allowed to reach its utmost limit of expansion and fall back or “tumble in,” as it invariably does at this crisis, it loses something of excellence that no after labor or attention can restore.

Another method of making bread is to mix the yeast with the wetting, and gradually add flour, working it meanwhile, until the dough is of the proper consistency, when it should be kneaded upon the molding board till smooth and elastic, and then put to rise. Dough may be mixed in this manner late in the evening, and, if not kept in too warm an atmosphere, will be in proper condition for making into loaves, rolls, etc., at an early hour the next morning.

Ferment, sponge and dough are all affected by atmospheric changes, and should be mixed and kept in thick stone or earthen vessels, and covered closely to exclude the air. And care should be taken to keep them at the proper temperature, which is about 75° during the entire process of bread making. Fermentation is arrested at a temperature below 30°, proceeds slowly at 50°, rapidly at 70°, very rapidly at 90°, and can be hastened or retarded, if necessary, by increasing or diminishing the temperature.

The quantity of flour necessary to make dough of the proper consistency for bread depends considerably upon its quality, and varies from two and a half to three measures of flour to one measure of “wetting.” More flour can, however, be added, and the dough made considerably stiffer, without perceptible detriment. Dough for fancy bread and rolls should be quite stiff, so as to retain any desired shape or form. Soft, spongy bread possesses greater delicacy when freshly baked, but appears to lose its moisture and grow stale much sooner than that which is more compact.

The length of time required for kneading or working dough is materially affected by the quality of the flour. Flour exposed to the atmosphere deteriorates quite rapidly, and the moisture it absorbs so impairs the tenacity of its gluten, that bread of the best quality can not be made from it, in spite of all the working and kneading that may be given to the dough. Much less time is required kneading dough made from choice, than from inferior brands of flour.

It is an established fact that dough is rendered tough and elastic by working and kneading; but as the same result can be accomplished sooner and less laboriously by pulling and stretching, it is advisable, in making bread, to pull and stretch as well as to work and knead the dough.

Bread dough may perhaps be kneaded a good deal with advantage, but it is by no means certain that much kneading is absolutely necessary for the production of the best quality of bread. The fermentation, back of the kneading, gives life and force to dough. When this is perfect, dough, in a suitable condition for molding into loaves or rolls, shows a great deal of resisting force. It seems, in fact, to have a will of its own, and its determination to rise is almost irrepressible. You may knead it in the most resolute manner and mold it into a compact ball; but in a short time it will rise, and swell, and spread, until it has doubled in dimensions. You may thrust your fist fiercely into a batch of good dough, but the impression you make upon it is by no means a lasting one. Almost as soon as you draw back your hand it regains elasticity and resumes its original position. This irrepressible spirit in dough is the surest test of its goodness, and when perfectly developed you can do as you please with the dough. You may roll it, or twist it, or plait it, with the greatest ease. You can mold it into any form without trouble. It does not stick to the hands or the molding board. It is in its most amiable mood. It is perfectly docile and obedient except in one respect—it can not be put down and kept down; and any bread dough that can is poor stuff that will never rise to distinction or win admiration.

Dough after having perfectly risen should not be kneaded again. If in pans, it should be immediately baked. If in mass, it should be divided into loaves or rolls, and gently pulled, rolled or folded into shape, when it may also be put to bake. These loaves or rolls will, however, be lighter and more delicate if permitted to rise again before they are placed in the oven. Much of the superior excellence of the Vienna imperial roll is due to the peculiar manipulation the light dough is subjected to just before it is placed in the baking pan.

The final and perhaps most important point in bread making has been reached when the loaves are put in the pans to rise for the last time. To decide when dough is just light enough to bake is a very delicate and important matter. If it is put in the oven a moment too soon, you fail to obtain the supreme loaf to which you are entitled for your toil; and if permitted to pass the point of perfect lightness you lose the best results of your labor. The exact time required for loaves to rise after they have been placed in the pans can not be given, as it varies in different temperatures, at different seasons, and with different brands of flour. But it is seldom less than half an hour, or more than an hour and a half.

A loaf of bread should nearly double in size after it is put in the pan; or if a deep gash be cut in the top of it, the incision should disappear by the time the loaf has perfectly risen. Bread, when light enough for baking, feels aerated all through; and by lifting and weighing it in the hand one can generally recognize the condition of lightness quite as accurately as by sight.

The exercise of a little observation and judgment will soon enable one to decide when dough has reached its best and most perfect state of lightness. But where any doubt exists in regard to the matter it is better to put it in the oven while rising toward perfection than after it attains the altitude at which it begins to retrograde.

Potato Bread.—Potato added to flour is generally supposed to improve the quality of the bread. That it does is unquestionably true, where the flour used is of an inferior grade. “Of all starches,” says Dr. Graham, “the starch found in the potato is best adapted to the growth of yeast, and in using potato in bread, bakers made practical application of a fact long before chemists discovered it to be such.” Potatoes when used in bread should be well boiled and smoothly mashed, and equal portions of potato and flour be used in making the ferment. The bread is then made in the same manner as when flour alone is used.

Whole Wheat Flour.—It is claimed that bran in Graham flour often proves an irritant to delicate digestive organs. In whole wheat flour we have the entire food principle of the grain without the hull. The cold blast process of milling gives us this flour of a very superior quality.

Whole Wheat Flour Bread should be made in every particular like patent or new process flour bread, and baked in loaves, twists, or fancy rolls. It is very delicious baked in the form of muffins and eaten warm.

Graham Bread.—The ferment for Graham bread should be of white flour, and prepared in the same manner as the ferment for white flour bread. When light add sugar and salt to taste, and work in Graham flour until the dough becomes elastic and clinging and is sufficiently stiff. Let stand till perfectly risen; then shape into loaves by rolling gently under the hand on a well floured molding-board, and place in greased baking pans. Less flour is required in proportion to the “wetting” for Graham than for white bread. And unless Graham dough is of the proper consistency, the bread when baked will be moist, sticky and insipid, or dry, rough and unpalatable. The correct proportions are a little more than two measures of Graham flour to one measure of “wetting.”

Oat, Corn and Barley Bread.—Fermented bread can be made of oat, corn, or barley meal, or flour; care being taken to add wetting in proportion to the demands of the grain. When corn or oat meal is used, boiling water should be poured upon it and it be permitted to swell for at least an hour before the yeast is added. These grains make delicious muffins and bread to be eaten warm.

Pinhead oat meal, pearled barley, and corn grits, well cooked and made into bread by adding whole wheat flour, can be baked in muffin pans, or rolled thin and baked in crisp rolls.

Rye Bread.—The method of making rye bread is almost identical with that for making wheat bread—from three to three and a half measures of flour to one measure of “wetting” being required. More time is necessary for it to ferment or rise, and it will not become so light, spongy and elastic as wheat.

Boston Brown Bread.—Scald a pint of corn meal with a pint of boiling water. When sufficiently cool add a pint and a half of rye meal, a gill of yeast, a gill of molasses, and a teaspoonful of salt. Mix well, and when perfectly risen steam five hours, then put in the oven half an hour to dry and harden the crust.

Vienna Bread.—To a pint of new milk, add a pint of water, an ounce of compressed yeast, a teaspoonful of salt, and flour sufficient to make a thin batter. Stir well and let stand for an hour to rise, then work in flour until the dough is the proper consistency for bread. When very light, which will be in about three hours, divide and mold into loaves, and set to rise in the bread pans; or shape into imperial rolls and set to rise.

Imperial Rolls.—Separate one of the Vienna loaves, detached from the mass of dough, into ten or twelve irregular pieces of the thickness of about half an inch. Take separately each of these pieces in the left hand, and slightly stretch with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand one of the irregular points over the left thumb toward the center of the roll. Repeat this operation, turning the piece of dough as it proceeds, each time lifting the thumb and gently pressing it upon the last fold until all the points have been drawn in, when the roll can be placed to rise. If the folding has been properly done, the roll when baked will be composed of a succession of sheets or layers of delicate, tenacious crumb surrounded with a thin crisp crust. The fingers can be slightly greased to keep the dough from sticking to them while shaping these rolls; but if it is of the proper consistency, it will not stick to the hands.

Baking Bread.—When bread is ready for baking, it is desirable to fix the air cells as soon as possible by heat; but it does not follow that to do this it should be put in a very hot oven and a crust immediately formed on the loaves.

Temperature of the Oven.—The heat of the oven should not be greatest when bread is put to bake; it should slightly increase in intensity for about ten minutes, and after remaining at a firm, steady temperature for that length of time should gradually decrease till the baking is finished. The principal change to be effected by the baking, which is the coagulation of the albumen of the air cells, takes place at a temperature somewhere near 212°, and as the temperature within the loaf can not rise above that point, no changes go on there except those produced by the watery vapor or steam. Flour, however, is not browned except at a much higher temperature; hence a greater degree of heat is necessary to properly bake the outside of the loaf. During the period of baking bread the heat of the oven should not rise above 570° nor fall below 240°.

An ordinary sized loaf of bread, with the oven at the proper temperature, will bake thoroughly in an hour; a loaf the size of one of the pans recommended, in about half an hour. But as there are several hygienic and philosophical reasons why bread should be well baked, it is better to err by leaving it in the oven a little too long than not quite long enough.—Bread and Bread Making.

End of Required Reading for November.