ht in bulk, sprinkle them with flour and rub between the folds of a clean cloth, pick off stems, rinse currants in a wire strainer until the water comes through clean, shake to remove water, and dry in the sun, or in a warm, not hot, oven.
Bread of one kind or another is in common use the world over. Wheat bread meets the needs of the body more nearly than any other kind does. About half the dry matter of wheat bread is starch. Bread contains some fat, and enough protein and mineral matter to give it value as a tissue-builder. To people among whom it is the chief article of diet, its tissue-building material is of first importance. By those who eat considerable meat or other protein food, bread is valued more for its starch and other non-nitrogenous foodstuffs. (Chart 4.) Graham and whole wheat breads contain and supply to the body more mineral matter than white bread, but do not supply more protein as some people suppose. For brain workers and inactive people coarse breads are good because the bran in them gives bulk and tends to promote intestinal activity.
Composition Of Food Materials
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of Experiment Stations
A. C. True: Director
Prepared by C. F. Langworthy Expert in Charge of Nutrition Investigations
Try to crumble fresh bread, stale bread, bread-crust, soft toast, crisp dry toast. Which crumble more easily? Which will be most readily broken up by the teeth? Well-chewed bread tastes better and satisfies hunger more quickly than bread swallowed hastily.
Chewing helps to dissolve food, and by exciting the nerves communicating between the mouth and other digestive organs, it starts a flow of digestive juices toward the stomach and intestines. Where is starch digested ? where is protein digested? What digests them? (Pp. 70, 86, 369.)
Should we buy bread or make it? - The best home-made bread is cheaper, more nutritious, and more whole-some than bought bread. The process of bread-making is not so difficult as many people suppose. The yeast now obtainable is excellent in quality; and, by our knowledge of the effect of different temperatures upon it, the length of time consumed by the rising process may be lengthened or shortened at will. By placing the bowl of dough in warm water the time required for rising may be known with exactness, thus lessening the necessity for constant watching.
"Home-made" is the standard by which the quality of baker's bread is judged. Much may be learned from some of our foreign citizens, notably the Italians, who use a good bread flour, knead well, thus making a close bread, and bake it thoroughly. Italian bread, both baker's and home-made, especially that made by Sicilians, is among the best in the world.
Some people have neither time nor a good place for making bread, and it is important that bakeries be so regulated and inspected that clean and good bread can be bought.
For further development of topics treated in this section see: -
Conn : Bacteria, yeasts, and molds in the home.
Buchanan : Household bacteriology. Ch. 25.
Grant : Chemistry of bread-making. Ch. 9.
Bigelow : Applied biology. Pp. 268-276, Yeast-plants.
National Geographic Magazine : Making bread in different parts of the world. V. 19, 1908, no. 3, pp. 165-179. Illust.
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture : Bureau of Chemistry. Bulletin 164. Graham flour.
U. S. Dept of Agriculture : Farmers' bulletin 389. Bread and bread-making.