"STALE BREAD.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 243, 17 February 1860, Page 4

"STALE BREAD.

I" ' " {From once a Week.) •_. i I Don't like; very stele bread—do you ? My (Reason for disliking it [h y^ry .much the reason j^rby I Fell; ypqr. reason is i much /thel'same,; hut you probably .cheat your- ' sejf hjto, the'hejjef^hat;something else, namely, 'bec^se^ejlji^dis^fjsp 4rX." Allow me ,to iu^erceiViftybur^Nqbre^d is dry ;M>read just | b^d It. pearly half; water;, and the - stalest of [stelf I^oayes h»s* not lost ;more than a hundredth ~f ;.■•)'•■.. "•,' i .■:■.:■.'.<." i . The factfthat bread contains nearly half its I weight'of water is!; surprisingi but not so sur- | prising aa that your own-body • contains a oori- ! siderablyilargerpropor tion^-nearly three-fourths. lit is.^water, jwater;-everywhere, and (often) |not.a;dsop/to drink"- The flour from which 'bread. is^made is> dry iendugh; contairiing not !m6re thanil6 per cent of water; bat it has a Igreat, tendency to absorb water, aud; in the process! of bakiag it absorbs it rapidly* The gum, which is produced from the starch of the | ! flour mi baking,: hold this water firmly; and the |gluten>?which forms ft coating'round every ;littlei ;hoflow* in^tbe bread, steadily resists evaippration*;< Thus bread becomes moist, and keeps imbisfc, let it-lie ever so stale. v; i v,But^iffstkl© bread be not dry bread, what is ■ifc?.HWhafe makes that'familiar difference bejtween to-soft*' plastic -spungy crumb, and the |harsh, crumbling morsel of six days old ? That j it ;is no idifereiiee of moisture has been experimentally verified ■: ; every cook; Or baker, icauld have' told'US there is no '• use in placing jbread in<a moist dollar to prevent the evaporation of its water:, since the bread will assuredly become-'Stalei as the hours roll on. On the .other! hand, ,r every: baker and' every! cook 'could; tell usi that if a stale loaf be placed in theioveu.agam;foe a few minutes, it will come ;outihavihg (for a time at least] all the characters of new bread. Yet in the oven it must necessarily- have '■''- lost some of its' water, and 'comes vout dryer than it went in—dryer, but not by anyr means so stale. Further-: who uotiknoflr theefifect of toasting a' slice of stale bread;?; \The fire scorches > the ousicle layers, iaiid renders them completely dry'; but (especially >if-theslice be not too thin, we' find ithe interior layers' deliriously soft,; plastic and palatable; - - ; .An experiment mails by the' eminent chemist, M.;BoussiDgault, proves in-a convincing manner that the amount of water in the bread has nothing to do< with its: newnefs. He'took a loaf sis 'days' old, weighing 3 kilogrammes 690 grammes (a kilogramme is something- more than lib.,. a, gra.mifte; Js;;abou"t.; 15|' grains)., This, loaf Was1 placed iii 'Jhe■ oven.;tor aV'hpvu J-'on remown^it/arloss '6( tZQ -grammes pj" witer W{is ■ to^^jalce'rfrplace ; ; '_in;' s'pite or 'of tEis r'lossi l!&Hp^ntin'g" to 'f per cent., the bread , was;asriew aVtnat jiist' made, ■ '"; ',' ! 'It^i^tiie water iii;the' 7 bread which; prevents iheioaf beebmirfg a*li;criist.. > In. an oven yf\i\\\ a hemperature-o^ "5t)0: degrfees^FaHrenheit, the' I foafigeta.roastedcoutside and the crust is formed, • 6ut; the ,:inside;c3;umb, never hus a- temperature ; above? lGAidjegtees:;. the..;water* whichUs:-therev and jo.an.Eiot,evaporate" through the: crust, -keep-, ing the ti . If. t this >rumb ,is; slow tp :hea|, ;jt4svalso sloV-to cool. /IJyery, , QnTkubAvs^o\Yflortg"filie crumb. .of;,,a,..;^o|i. ; ,cp'Ei-^ tinue^jv^Vm.^eye^p^^cpVd.. winter mor.ning;, ,an||a^af whjeh^was^^ken |roni^the"o^o at^ ' 3 in t|e inornini, jtam^| warm to"tho' fe|esk^sr ' table' at I'OV fif :lias;;" also*;'exp^--' 1 merited qh this/?i^eh^ "theb^renj mi Tooin7!the 7-te^perattire of which was 66 degrees.? The^ law 6! equilibrium, by (a' hot'^'b'o'dy Aidses iihtit" it^ is no' ;^otter^tbajifthtf-sur'roundinj^ objects^itfstantly" -^ame jntof op^erafiohj/ butj': althoughvallbodies 'give off thfiiJC^fheatto bodies; that yatei colder, ? dft? so > { with ; yarjingt degreesaofifapidity ! sbme bjejfig { ter.y^!efiacio\is of the beat jthey; haye govbold^^^aliitliers, being, Uie ; jnp|ty[prodigal U9 the^loaf^jal^pugh it as it ( was tajen $9m, the, bwnr'dS: not.reachtA o *^V?*sfe'sM? suf M ding^rj^ 'M : Hours' had; elapsed—;

Does it not seem, then, that the difference between saw bread and stale bread is inly the, difference between hot bread and cold bread? It does seem no, when we reflect that we have only to warm the staid bread in an oven to make it new again. But there is this, fact which stands in the way of such an explanation: the bread'which has been re-baked,, although undistinguishable from bread whioh has been recently baked, is only so for a very short time —it rapidly becomes stale again. Were this not the case, we need never have to complain ; 6f stale breadVrit could always be made'new again in a few/mioutes. But new bread, if more palatable, is very unwholesome, because very indigestible to those whose pepticß are imperfect. The peculiarity of new bread, that it forms itself into a paste, is, an obstacle to its digestion. But this is only true of the lumpish, pasty, doughy, obstinate irrational bread baked in our favored, island* No dyspeptic trembles at the new bread of Paris or Vienna. In Vienna they bake—o* used to bake, when I lived there—three times a day, and perfectly fresh rolls were served up with each meal. No, one complained,; every one ate these rolls so alarming to the dyspeptic mind, and would have stormed at an unhappy waiter who should by accident, or philanthropy, have brought; yesterday's roll. But let weak and strong beware how they trifle with the new half-quartern, which,* in unshapely, uninviting, and well-founded modesty, stands on the. breakfast-table of the British mother. The hot bread may tempt her inconsiderate boy—perhaps the more so because he is assured it is "bad for him." Boys have a very natural suspicion, founded on ample experience, that what parents and guardians declare.to be, "good for them," is certain to be. odius. They are bir- j cbed for their good, they are bolussed for their good, \ they are hurried of to bed for their good,—arid, of course, they like to try the bad because it isn't for their good. But, except these young gentlemen, no one with a stomach more delicate than that of a ploughman'or a foxhunter should venture on hot bread in England;' •'" '; '■ ': '"