The 1918 Fanny Farmer Cookbook

After grinding comes bolting, by which process the different grades of flour are obtained.

ground wheat is placed in octagonal cylinders (covered with silk or linen bolting−cloth of

The

different

degrees of fineness), which are allowed to rotate, thus forcing the wheat through. The flour

from

first siftings contains the largest percentage of gluten.

Flour is branded under different names to suit manufacturer or dealer. In consequence, the

same wheat, milled by the same process, makes flour which is sold under different names.

In buying flour, whether bread or pastry, select the best kept by your grocer. Some of the

well−known brands of bread flour are King Arthur, Swansdown, Bridal Veil, Columbia,

Washburn’s Extra, and Pillsbury’s Best; of pastry, Best St. Louis. Bread flour should be used

all cases where yeast is called for, with few exceptions; in other cases, pastry flour. The

difference between bread and pastry flour may be readily determined. Take bread flour in the

hand, close hand tightly, then open, and flour will not keep in shape; if allowed to pass

through

fingers it will feel slightly granular. Take pastry flour in the hand, close hand tightly, open,

and

flour will be in shape, having impression of the lines of the hand, and feeling soft and velvety

touch. Flour should always be sifted before measuring.

Entire wheat flour differs from ordinary flour inasmuch as it contains all the gluten found

wheat, the outer husk of kernels only being removed, the remainder ground to different

degrees

of fineness and left unbolted. Such flours are now quite generally sold by all first class

grocers.

Included in this class are the Arlington Wheat Meal and the Old Grist Mill Entire Wheat

Flour.

Gluten, the proteid of wheat, is a gray, tough, elastic substance, insoluble in water. On

account

of its great power of expansion, it holds the gas developed in bread dough by fermentation,

which otherwise would escape.

Yeast

Yeast is a microscopic plant of fungous growth, and is the lowest form of vegetable life. It

consists of spores, or germs, found floating in air, and belongs to a family of which there are

many species. These spores grow by budding and division, and multiply very rapidly under

Chapter IV − BREAD AND BREAD MAKING