ERE

B RE

175 )

(

inhabitants of the northern parts of Europe , toafcertain how far the Ample farinaceous feeds,and the oily farinaceous ones after expreffion oftheir oil, are convertible into bread by mixturewith the gluten of blood.

If wheaten dough is kept till fermentation iscompleatly eftablifhed in it, as will be evidentfrom its yellow colour and its acefcent fmelland tafte, it will be converted into leaven ; andthis leaven, if incorporated with frefh dough,will bring the whole into a fermenting ftate,much more fpeedily and uniformly than if themafs was expofed to fpontaneous decompofition.

The difcovery of'the advantages of mixing olddough with new appears to have been madevery early, and the diftinftion between leavenedand unleavened bread is noticed even in themoft ancient hiftorical records. Ancient Greecereceived from Egypt the important art of makingbread, and tranfmitted it to Rome , whence itextended by degrees over the whole of Europe .But though leavened bread is perfect in everyother refpedt, it always retains a flightly acidu-lous flavour from the leaven by which it is fer-mented, for it is impoffible to carry the fer-mentation of the gluten to a fufficient extent tochange it into leaven, without at the fame timeexciting the acid fermentation in the fugar ofthe flour. It was therefore a very importantimprovement in the art, and one which webelieve is attributable to the Englifh bakers, tofubltitute yeaft or the froth of malt-liquor in aftate of fermentation, to leaven ; for the formernot only communicates no unpleafant flavour tobread, but is alfo a more fpeedy ferment, andby acting firft on the gluten of the flour pro-duces the defired effedt before any acid has timeto be evolved from the other ingredients.

The procefs of making common bread isextremely fimple, though its perfect fuccefsdepends confiderably on a kind of knack inmanipulation, which cannot be defcribed bywords. It is of efiential confequence that theflour and yeaft fhould be mixed together withperfect accuracy, in order that the whole mafsmay be equally fermented, and that this adtionmay commence in every part at the fame time.Now though in the making of a Angle loaf thismay eafily be effedted at one continued procefs,yet where a confiderable quantity of bread is tobe made at once, this is impradticable.

_Bhe bakers of Paris have the reputation ofbeing remarkably Ikilful in their bufinefs, we(hall therefore have recourfe to the Encyclo-

pedic 1 for an account of the moft approvedpractice of this important art.

The ingredients of the belt bread are wheateaflour, water, yeaft, and fait. 150 lbs. of flourrequire about 85 pints of water, 3 pints of yeaft,and a proportion of fait, which varies confider-ably according to the fancy of the baker andthe degree of drynefs which is to be given tothe bread in the oven. The manufacture com-mences by diluting the yeaft with about anequal quantity of warm water, and then ftirringin one pound of flour for every pint of liquid \the whole being well incorporated it is put intoa wooden bowl and fet in a warm place forabout feven hours, in order to ferment. At theend of this period the mafs (our Englifh bakerscall it the fponge) is put into a large woodentrough and mixed with one-feventh of the wholequantity of flour, the whole of the fait, andwith water in the proportion of one pint to twopounds of flour. The dough is now broughtinto a warm fituation, and allowed to remainquiet for four hours that the fermentation maybe eftablifhed throughout the whole: the faitfomewhat retards the progrefs of this affion,but at the fame time has the advantage of ren-dering it more gentle and uniform. The nextftep is to mingle two-fevenths of the flour andthree-fourths of its weight of water with thedough in the fame manner as before, afterwhich it is to be allowed two hours to ferment.Now commences the kneading and hard manuallabour of the procefs, during which the remain-ing four-fevenths of the flour, and half as manypints of water as there are pounds of flour areto be thoroughly mingled with the fermenteddough: at firft the mafs is very adhefive andclings to the fingers, but it becomes lefs fo thelonger the kneading is continued; and whenthe fill on being withdrawn leaves its perfedfcimpreffion in the dough, none of it adhering tothe fingers, this laborious part of the bufinefs iscompleted. The dough is now immediatelydivided by weight into loaf-pieces, each ofwhich is once more feparately kneaded, andthen made up into the proper form. The loavesas they are made are placed on a wooden table,and piled on each other two tiers highlandcovered with a blanket to promote the laft rifingor fermentation, which foon commences, andis judged to have proceeded fufficiently farwhen a penetrating fomewhat acidulous odourof carbonic acid is perceived. The oven is inthe mean time heated, and when the tempera-

* Arts. & Metier*, art, Boulanger,

1