THE BREAD WE EAT. 45 THE THE BREAD WE EAT. BY JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON, M. A. HE bread we eat I take as a type of our vegetable food. On such foods of various kinds, and eaten in various forms, man and animals are sustained in all parts of the globe. The study of our common wheat will give us the key to the composition and known usefulness of them all. WHEAT. When the grain of wheat is crushed between the stones of the mill, and is then sifted, it is separated into two parts-the bran and the flour. The bran is the outside, harder part of the grain which does not crush so readily, and when it does crush, darkens the color of the flour. It is therefore generally sifted out by the miller, and is used for feeding cows, horses, pigs, and other animals. If the flour be mixed with a quantity of water sufficient to moisten it thoroughly, the particles cohere and form a smooth, elastic, and tenacious dough, which admits of being drawn out to some extent, and of being molded into a variety of forms. If this dough be placed upon a sieve, or on a piece of muslin, and worked with the hand while a stream of water is poured upon it, at first the water which passes away will appear milky. At length it will flow clear, and then will remain a sticky substance. This is what gives tenacity to the dough. From its glutinous character it has obtained among chemists the name of gluten. When the milky water has become clear by standing, a white powder will be found at the bottom of the vessel, which is common wheaten starch. Thus the flour of wheat contains two principal substances-gluten and starch. Every hundred pounds of fine flour contain ten pounds of gluten and about seventy pounds of starch. When a little yeast is added to the flour before or while it is being mixed with water into dough, and the dough is then placed for an hour or two in a warm atmosphere, it begins to rise-it ferments, that is, and swells or increases in bulk.* Bubbles of gas (carbonic acid gas) are disengaged in the interior of the dough, which is thereby rendered light and porous. If it be now put into a hot oven, the fermentation and swelling are at first increased by the higher temperature; but when the whole has been heated nearly to the temper *The formation of hard crusts on the loaf may be prevented by rubbing a little melted lard over it after it is shaped and before it is set down to rise, or by baking it in a covered tin. 46 THE BREAD WE EAT ature of boiling water, the fermentation is suddenly arrested, and the mass is fixed by the after baking in the form it has then attained. It is now newly baked bread, and if it be cut across it will appear light and spongy, being regularly sprinkled over with little cavities, which were produced in the soft dough by the bubbles of gas given off during the fermentation. This fermentation is in consequence of a peculiar action which yeast exercises upon moist flour. It first changes a part of the starch of the flour into sugar, and then converts this sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid in the same way as it does when it is added to the worts of the brewer or the distiller. As the gas can not escape from the glutinous dough, it collects within it in large bubbles, and makes it swell, till the heat of the oven kills the yeast plant, and causes the fermentation to cease; the alcohol escapes for the most part during the baking of the loaf, and is dissipated in the oven. New-baked bread possesses a peculiar softness and tenacity which is familiar to most people, and though generally considered less digestible is a favorite with many. After two or three days it loses its softness, becomes free and crumbly, and apparently drier. In common language, the bread becomes stale. It is generally supposed that this change arises from the bread becoming actually drier by the gradual loss of water, but this is not the case. Stale bread contains almost exactly the same proportion of water as new bread after it has become completely cold. The change is merely in the internal arrangement of the molecules of the bread. A proof of this is, that if we put a loaf of stale bread into a closely-covered tin, expose it for half an hour or an hour to a heat not exceeding that of boiling water, and then remove the tin and allow it to cool, the loaf, when taken out, will be restored in appearance and properties to the state of new bread. The quantity of water which well-baked wheaten bread contains amounts on an average to about forty-five per cent. The bread we eat, therefore, is nearly one half water; it is, in fact, both meat and drink together One hundred pounds of fine wheat flour will absorb fifty pounds of water, and give one hundred and fifty pounds of bread. One of the reasons why bread retains so much water is, that during the baking a portion of the starch is converted into gum, which holds water more strongly than starch does. A second is, that the gluten of flour when once thoroughly wet is very difficult to dry again, and that it forms a tenacious coating round every little hollow cell in the bread, which coating does not readily allow the gas contained in the THE BREAD WE EAT. off in vapor. 47 A third cell to escape, or the water to dry up and pass reason is, that the dry crust which forms round the bread in baking is nearly impervious to water, and like the skin of a potato which we bake in an oven or in hot cinders, prevents the moisture within from escaping. The bran or husk of wheat, which is separated from the fine flour in the mill, and is often condemned to humbler uses, is somewhat more nutritious than either the grain as a whole, or the whiter part of the flour. The nutritive quality of any variety of grain depends very much upon the proportion of gluten which it contains, and the proportions of this in the whole grain, the bran and the fine flour respectively, are very nearly as follows: contain more than is above By sifting out the bran the If the grain, as a whole, contain more than twelve per cent. of gluten, the bran and the flour will also represented, and in a like proportion. flour becomes less nutritious, weight for weight; thus a total separation of the covering of the grain causes much waste of wholesome human food. Bread made from the unsifted flour (flour not bolted, as it is termed) is more nutritious, and as many persons find it also more salutary food than white bread, it ought to be more generally preferred and used. BARLEY AND RYE.-These resemble the grain of wheat very much in composition and nutritive quality. They differ from it somewhat in flavor and color, and do not make so fair and spongy a bread. They are not therefore generally used in countries where other grains thrive and ripen. In composition and nutritive quality rye and wheat bread very closely resemble each other; and except as concerns our taste, it is a matter of indifference whether we live on the one or the other. Rye bread possesses one quality which is in some respects a valuable one; it retains its freshness and moisture for a longer time than wheaten bread. - INDIAN CORN also resembles wheat in its composition and nutritive quality. Its grain has a peculiar flinty hardness, and its flour is usually known as Indian meal. It does not bake into the same light, spongy loaves as wheaten flour, but it is excellent in the form of cakes. The chief peculiarity in its composition is, that it contains more oil or fat than any of the common grains. This oil sometimes amounts to as much as nine pounds in the hundred, and is supposed to impart to Indian corn a peculiar fattening quality.—The Chemistry of Common Life. LIVING KINDLY. LIVING friendly, feeling friendly, Acting fairly to all men, They may do to me again; Harsh condemning, fierce contemning, Is worth a torrent of abuse. Calling things bad, calling men mad, I have felt and known how bitter Not an eye with pity pearled; Still my heart with kindness teeming, Ah! be kind-life hath no secret Kindly hearts are seldom sad ones, Lend a helping hand to others, Smile, though all the world should frown; Man is man, we all are brothers, Black, or white, or red, or brown. Man is man through all gradations, Anonymous. THIS bird is a native of Europe, and is not found in America, except, it may be, in a few sections where they have been brought hither for the purpose of introducing them. We have heard of only one instance of this kind; this occurred last summer (1853), in Delaware. A gentleman imported forty-two sky-larks from England, and turned them loose about four miles from Wilmington, Delaware. Several months afterward some of these larks were observed near Reading, Pa. It is hoped that they will breed here, and become widely scattered throughout this country. This delightful songster is universally diffused throughout Europe, and is everywhere extremely prolific. It is about seven inches in length; bill dusky on the top, and yellowish beneath. The feathers on the top of the head are dusky, edged with rufous brown; they are rather elongated, and may be set up as a crest. The plumage on the upper part of the body is reddish-brown, with the middle darkest, and the edges rather pale. The upper part of the breast is yellow, spotted with black; and the lower part of the body is a pale yellow. The tail is dusky brown; legs dusky; claws dusky; the hind one being very long, straight, and strong. The male is of a deeper color, and larger than the female; and is further distinguished by having the hind claw longer. The species is subject, however, to considerable variety, and has even been found of a pure white color. This is the favorite songster in England, so often the theme of rural poets. It is remarkable for its song during a rapid and almost perpendicular ascent. The beauty of the song consists of several |