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Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 311, 24 October 1929, Page 5

In an address to the Canterbury Philosophical Institute, Mr. H. E. West said that too often bread was underbaked (reports the Christchurch Times). The reason was an economic one, closely associated with i our laws of weights and measures. During the process of baking, a considerable quantity of water was evaporated. The longer the loaf was in the oven tbe greater was the loss of moisture. The laws of weights and measures- stipulated that a 41b loaf must weight 41b. The baker weighed out at least 41b 3oz of dough to make a 41b loaf of bread; if he baked the loaf too long more than 3oz of moisture was lost, and he automatically became subject to the penalty of selling short-weight bread. The result was that he was very careful not to overbake the loaf, and very often he under-baked it. Under-baked bread was neither palatable nor digestible and it had very poor keeping qualities. Certainly, it did not stimulate a desire for niore bread and less meat. The baker could alter that by weighing out another ounce of dough; that would cost money. Say that he had a trade of 4000 loaves per week, 4000 oz were equal to 250 loaves, or a loss ol £ls per week. The better wav would be to alter the laws to refer to dough weight rather than to weigh of loaf. The customer would get the same weight of dry matter per loaf of bread, and at the same time would receive a much better food.