Science Applied to Breadmaking.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 April 1914, Page 8

Science Applied to Breadmaking.

PROF. WOOD EXPLAINS CAUSE OF HOLES IN LOAVES. Strength in wheat, which is its power to produce large and shapely loaves, affects its price. j The Canadian "Fife," for instance, l produces a tall loaf of 2.500 cubic • centimetres, while the English "Ri- | vet" yielded a flat loaf of only i 1,100 cubic centimetres. ' | Scientific explanation of the dift'er- | ence had hitherto failed, said I'roi fessor T. B. Wood, in a lecture at i the Royal Institution, because size and shape needed to he considered 1 separately. The shape depended on | the constituent known as gluten, |-which, as extracted from '"Fife" j flour, was tough, stringy, and elasI tic, like indiaruhber, and would hold gas in bulbs, while "Rivet" gluten was sticky, with no power of coherence, and the bubbles broke, making big holes in the bread, and, inj stead of rising, pushing sideways. Yet there was often more gluten in the English than in the Cana-

dian flour, and it was a problem ] why gluten should be elastic in one case and brittle in the other. Experiments had shown that the small quantity of acid in flour influenced the constituency of gluten. A trace of acid was enough to cause it to lose coherence, and almost to dissolve. Curiously, however, he had found that a stronger acid caused the gluten to adhere again: but for this purpose a greater strength of acid was needed than existed in wheat. Common salt prevented gluten from falling to pieces, phosphate made it extraordinarily elastic, and ' alum had a remarkable power of making it cohere.