Eliza Acton's Chapter 5: To Freshen Musty Wheat
CHAPTER V.
TO REMOVE THE TAINT OF MUST FROM WHEAT.
To remove the Taint of Must from Wheat.—Best Method of treating Corn harvested in Wet Weather, or damaged by it.—Manner in which Bread made from Germinated Grain should be managed; extracted from Professor Donovan's "Domestic Economy".
"The wheat must be put into any convenient vessel capable of containing at least three times the quantity, and the vessel must subsequently be filled with boiling water. The grain must then be occasionally stirred, and the hollow or decayed grain, which will float, may be removed. When the water has become cold, or, in general, when about half an hour has elapsed, it is to be drawn off. It will be proper then to rinse the corn with cold water, in order to remove any portion of the water which may have taken up the must; after which the corn, being completely drained, is, without loss of time, to be thinly spread on the floor of a kiln, and thoroughly dried, care being taken to stir and turn it frequently during this part of the process.
"This is all that is required; and I have constantly found that the most musty corn, on which ordinary kiln-drying had been tried without effect, thus became completely purified, while the diminution of weight caused by the solution of the tainted part was very inconsiderable."
the best manner of treating corn harvested in wet weather, or which has been damaged by it; and the manner of managing the bread made from germinated grain.
"Crops which have been for a long time more or less exposed to an abundant humidity, experience different sorts and degrees of alteration. In each of these different states they present different results—to the cultivator in regard to his seed; to the miller in grinding; and to the baker in bread-making.
"Wet grain, when heaped up in granaries or in stacks without currents of air being preserved through the interior, goes speedily to ruin. The humidity does not ascend to the top, so as to evaporate; it concentrates in the interior, and hastens the germination which may have begun, or excites a fermentation, which heats and discolours the grain. At times the corn even becomes mouldy.
"When the grain of such corn is sent without preparation to the mill, it clogs the mill-stones, and is difficult to work. If the germination is only just commenced, the process is soon completed in the sacks, and the flour begins in a few days to collect into pieces of such consistency, that it is necessary to pound it with mallets in order to render it workable. Flour of this description is difficult to work, even when very speedily used; and as it gets old, it is impossible to make bread of it without mixing it with some of a better sort.
"The drying of wet grain is the only means of arresting the progress of its destruction.—The most simple plan for this purpose, and the one which can generally be the most easily adopted, is to dry the grain in a baking-oven, which is to be met with in most places. It may be put into the oven immediately after the bread has been withdrawn: the temperature is then such that a person may introduce his naked arm without being much incommoded by the heat. After the grain has been thrown into the oven, it should be spread into a layer of from three to four inches in thickness, and turned frequently, in order to facilitate the disengagement of the vapour. At the end of ten or fifteen minutes, according to the state of humidity in which the grain is, it may be withdrawn from the oven, as it will then be sufficiently dried; and when exposed to the air until perfectly cooled, it will have acquired all the qualities necessary to render it fit for the miller and the baker.
"The baking of flour which has been made from germinated grain ought to be proceeded in with much greater rapidity than that of flour from uninjured grain; because, the gluten of such flour having been more or less destroyed, the process of its fermentation goes on much more quickly. The water employed ought to be cooler; the paste should be kneaded more firmly (made stiffer, in fact), and divided into loaves of less thickness. The batch should be put into the oven a quarter of an hour sooner after it is completed. The oven should be hotter; the bread should be left in it forty-five minutes, instead of an hour, as in ordinary cases; and it ought not to be given out for consumption until two or three days after it is baked.
"By attending to these directions, bread will be obtained from germinated corn, which, without being as good as that made from the best flour, will yet be sufficiently salubrious, and of sufficiently good appearance. It is necessary to observe, however, that it is only from the flour of such corn as has been very slightly germinated, that bread of the above description can be obtained, unless the corn has been dried before being ground. But when corn, even greatly germinated, has undergone such previous desiccation, it will yield a flour capable of making much better bread than flour from corn which, though less germinated, has not had the benefit of drying.
"It deserves to be noticed, that it is vain to employ a greater quantity of yeast, in the hope of improving the fabrication of the bread. The paste, deprived of gluten, is unable to retain the effects of the fermentation excited by the yeast. The bread has a good enough external appearance; but, in proportion as there has been an excess in the quantity of yeast, its consistency is so much the less, and all the bad qualities of the flour, in respect of flavour and taste, are more fully developed."
Professor Donovan further states, that it has been proved by a series of experiments that the addition of from twenty to forty grains of the carbonate of magnesia of the shops (calcined magnesia has a quite different effect) to a pound of the flour of germinated wheat, "materially improves it for the purpose of making bread." The dough, he says, "rises well in the oven; and after being baked, the bread is light and spongy, has a good taste, and keeps well." It is commonly believed that bakers mingle often magnesia with inferior flour, to improve its appearance; and it perhaps may be so; but—though equally a fraud—it is less objectionable than alum; and in seasons when the entire corn-crops of a country have been seriously injured by an excess of humidity, any wholesome means of converting the flour of damaged grain into eatable bread becomes of infinite value. It must, however, always be remembered that it is only when the corn is dried before it is "garnered," that any good result will be obtained. Nothing will effectually remove the taste of must or mould from flour; therefore every precaution should at once be taken to secure the grain itself from the destructive attack of either. A portion of sound flour, mixed with that of sprouted or malted wheat, will render it more easily convertible into bread of fair quality and nutritious character than magnesia or any thing else can do; for a certain amount of gluten will then be supplied to the dough, and will assist the fermentation, while it gives the bread increased value as food.
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