XXVI.WHO INVENTED BREAD?
AMONGthe countless varieties of food, bread, in some form or other, has been almost universally recognized as “the staff of life.” When it became so truly a necessity, or who was the happy inventor, we know not. How far before the creation wise men have pushed their researches and discoveries, we have not the skill to ascertain. The first mention of bread we remember is in the third chapter of Genesis, when Adam was driven from Paradise and compelled “in the sweat of his face to eat bread,” “because he hearkened to the voice of his wife.” Many of his sons have, since their forefathers’ time, regained Paradise, becausetheydidlisten to their wives’ counsels. We wonder if men do not sometimes forget this, and cherish a little spiteful vindictiveness, because through the first mother their prototype fell, and he had to “work for his living.” Perhaps it is this memory which makes them so restive under the present efforts for a recognition of a broader platform for “women’s rights.” How silly, brethren! Let bygones be bygones. Did not the curse fall heavier on us for our first mother’s folly, than on you for Adam’s very ready participation in it? Don’t bear malice! Help us up,—not above you, for we do not belong there, but close by your side,—where we may do good to you, as you do good to us. If Adam had not been off on a council committee, public dinner, or at a club house, but working and caring for his farm in Eden with his wife, we don’t believe Eve would have been tempted, or, being tempted, would have eaten that miserable apple. But we shall never learn how bread was invented if we linger.
“Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.” The production of grain for food has always been recognized as the sign of an advanced stage of civilization. Like most of the early traces of progress, the time when grain first began to be transformed into bread is quite obscure. For a long period the grain was eaten, when green, either raw, boiled, or roasted. The Greeks usually deified every new thing. Ceres was supposed to have first brought husbandry into some regular system; therefore they at once constituted her the goddess of Agriculture; and Pan, according to their belief, invented bread, and was forthwith exalted into a god; but long before Ceres or Pan were worshipped, the Egyptians cultivated the earth and made bread from the grain.
When the angels appeared on the plains of Mamre and foretold the birth of a son, in Abraham’s old age, he hastenedinto a tent and said to Sarah, “Make ready quickly three measures of meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.”
Many modes of preparing grain, either in cakes or bread, are seen in the paintings discovered in the tombs of the Egyptians; but doubtless for many years the chief food was fish, flesh, or fruit. The Indians used a kind of wild corn, when driven to it by the scarcity of game, or if unsuccessful in hunting; but they never attempted to cultivate it. They boiled it when green, or baked it on hot stones, or roasted it by their fires, as we do the cultivated Indian-corn. Maize or Turkish wheat and a kind of millet are still used, unground, among the poorer classes in Egypt, boiled in milk or water, or roasted.
At a later period, rude stones were made to separate the husks from the kernel; and not long since, it may be even now, in the remote parts of Scotland, a large block of hard wood was dug out smoothly, and after the grain had been well dried, the barley or oats was beaten in it till the husk was removed. When sufficiently broken or bruised to loosen the hull, it was scooped up into the hand, little by little, and blown gently with the mouth to remove all the husk, and then made into pottage or porridge. It now seems a small thing to have all our grain ground and sifted by machinery worked by steam; but how tedious must have been the ancient process! Thequernused in Scotland to remove the husk and prepare the barley for use is supposed to have found its way thither through the Romans, who always carried hand-mills in their marches or raids upon other nations. It is very simple, and perhaps the first kind of corn mill on record. “The quern was made of two stones,” says Dr. Johnson, “a foot and a half in diameter; the lower stone a little convex; to which the concavity of the upper stone was fitted. In the middle of the upper onewas a round hole, and on one side a long handle. The grinder gradually shred the corn into this hole with one hand, and worked the handle with the other. Thus the corn slid down into the hollow of the lower stone, and by the motion of the upper was ground in the passage.” The quern acts so much on the principle of our mill-stones that our mills might be called querns, built on a larger scale, and run by steam or machinery. The meal thus ground was made into pottage or porridge, being boiled in milk or water, or “brose” when it was roasted, and boiled up in water in which salt meat had been cooked.
Who first conceived the idea of using yeast or leaven, or making bread by any process of fermentation, or at what period it was first so made, we do not learn. We know that the Israelites made leavened bread; so did the Egyptians and Grecians; but who first invented yeast or leaven? The Romans, it is thought, learned the art of bread-making, with many other valuable lessons, during their war with Perseus, king of Macedon. On the return of their armies from these wars, they brought Grecian bakers with them into Italy. This was two hundred years before the Christian era. Bakers were highly esteemed, and during the reign of Augustus there were three hundred and twenty-nine public bake-houses in Rome, chiefly under the management of Greeks, who were for many years the only ones who could make good bread. They enjoyed many privileges, and were put in charge of the public granaries.
The making of fermented bread then gradually found its way into Gaul; but it was a long time before it was known in Northern Europe. In the middle of the sixteenth century, unfermented cakes were the only bread known in Sweden or Norway. It was not till near the end of the sixteenth century that the use of yeast was much known in Northern Europe. About that period yeast from Flanderswas brought into Paris as a substitute for leaven. This change greatly improved the bread; but in 1688 the College of Physicians declared that bread made from yeast was very injurious, and the government forbade its being used. But the shrewd Flemish people put up yeast in sacks to allow the liquid part to filter through, and privately sent it to Paris. The excellence of the bread thus made became so evident, that the College of Physicians and their wisdom were forgotten, and the government’s prohibition quietly allowed to sink into oblivion. Very soon this new and improved method of preparing bread extended into other countries.
Leaven is flour and water mixed to a paste and set in a warm place—from 70° to 80°—till it ferments, first passing into the vinous and then to the acetous state. Bread made from leaven differs from that made from yeast by almost always having an acid taste. A piece of dough, from well-raised bread, set aside on ice or in a cool place, and worked into the next batch to be made, gives the best mode of making leaven; and by working a little soda into it before setting the sponge, will make very fine bread, without the acidity common to leavened bread, if managed with care.
Wheat bread is now common in most countries. The best and whitest is made from the flour of the first grinding.Glutenis a very important part of flour, and it is that which gives wheat the superiority over all other grains, it being found only in small quantities in any other. It is the gluten which helps to form the adhesive paste essential to secure fermentation. It is common in the animal kingdom, but rare in the vegetable, and therefore is sometimes called thevegeto-animal principle. The more gluten the better and more nutritious the flour. The loss of this principle, by sprouting, mildew, etc., destroys the adhesive power so necessary to making good bread. The best qualities offlour take up the largest quantity of moisture; the amount which can be absorbed depends on the quantity of gluten. In dry weather, flour requires more moisture than in wet, and long and faithful kneading will add to the power of absorption, without making the bread too thin. Common salt and alum are often used to give poor flour the tenderness and whiteness of good brands. A little salt is good, but too much is injurious, both to the bread and to the health,—alum still more injurious. Liebig recommends lime-water in bread-making. A quarter of a pound of slacked lime to a gallon of pure rain or distilled water, kept in closely stopped bottles; two and a half pints of the lime-water to nine pounds of flour, he says, will make a sweet, fine-grained, elastic bread of exquisite flavor. The lime-water to be mixed with the flour before the yeast is added. Of course, it will not be enough moisture for that amount of flour, and as much more water is added as is needed. Liebig claims that the lime will give the wheat a larger amount of bone-making element, and therefore be more nutritious.
Rice flour, or potatoes combined with flour, help to take up moisture, and keep bread from drying. Rye flour makes a dark-colored bread, but is sweet and palatable, retaining moisture longer than wheat. Indian meal, mixed with rye, and a spoonful or two of molasses added with the yeast, makes the New England brown bread; but to have that in perfection it should be baked in a brick oven, and remain all night; then, warm and fresh for breakfast, it is unrivalled.
Graham bread is made from unbolted wheat, the bran not separated from the flour. The coarse meal swells more in rising, and should not be made so stiff as fine flour. It sours more quickly, requires a hotter oven, and longer time to bake. Much kneading is essential to cement together thestarch, sugar, albumen, and gluten found in wheat. It is not easy to knead bread sufficiently for a satisfactory result. Many machines for this purpose have been invented, but we have yet to see one that can be as fully depended upon as a strong arm and a skillful hand. Thehandonly can decide truly when every lump is dissolved, and suitable combinations made. When the dough springs under the touch, instead of clinging to the fingers, when the fist bears its full impression in the dough, and none adheres to the hand, the cook may cease from the labor. This labor may be lightened by pounding and chopping at intervals, and with much benefit; but the hand is the chief dependence.
If the yeast is bitter, pour on water, and let it stand a few hours; then drain it off, and use the thick part which has settled at the bottom. The water will absorb the bitterness, unless it is from age, and not because of too many hops. In this case, a piece of charcoal heated through, but not so hot as to kill the yeast, thrown into the yeast jar, will correct it; but we should prefer to throw away the yeast, and make new.
When all the rules for making good bread have been faithfully followed, all will fail if not properly baked. We think nothing has yet been found that is equal to the brick oven; but in whatever oven you bake, one rule is common to all,—see that the heat is just right; from 350° to 400° is the proper range for bread. If fresh flour or meal is thrown on the bottom of the oven, and turns a clear brown at once, it is right; if it becomes black the oven is too hot.
We have been greatly indebted to Webster’s “Encyclopædia of Domestic Economy,” and Professor Youmans’ “Handbook of Domestic Science,” for our information on bread.