The Boston cooking-school cook book

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