Bread crumb

“ Uses for Stale Bread All pieces of bread should be saved and utilized. Large pieces are best for toast. Soft stale bread, from which crust is removed, when crumbed, is called stale breadcrumbs, or raspings, and is used for puddings, griddle-cakes, omelets, scalloped dishes, and dipping food to be fried. Remnants of bread, from which crusts have not been removed, are dried in oven, rolled, and sifted. These are called dry bread crumbs, and are useful for crumbing croquettes, cutlets, fish, meat, etc. ”

“ This explains the apparent paradox that hard crust, or dry toast, is more easily digested than the soft crumb of bread; the cookery of the crumb not having been carried beyond the mere hydration of the gluten and the starch, and such degree of dextrin formation as was due to the action of the diastase of the grain during the preliminary period of ‘rising.’ In the crust some of the work of insalivation is already done by the baker. The digestibility of toast is doubtless aided by its brittleness, causing it to be more broken up and mixed with the saliva. ”

“ They cannot be blamed for neglecting American crust, for the crust of the ordinary American bread actually is inferior to the crumb, being tough, leathery, and flavorless. But the American crumb is nearly always indigestible. ”

“ Where a very delicate color is wanted, bread grated from a stale loaf or rubbed through a coarse sieve gives better results; the fresh crumbs need not be very fine. Cracker crumbs give a smooth surface and are better for oysters than bread crumbs, but for most things bread crumbs are preferable. For meats a little salt and pepper, and for sweet articles a little sugar, should be mixed with the crumbs. ”

“ In this case the bread becomes unequally stale, more so near the cut surface than within. The unequal pull due to the greater approximation and adhesion of the fibres and small particles causes a rupture of the exposed surface of the crumb, which becomes cracked or fissured without any perceptible alteration of the size of the visible pores. If the two broken faces be now accurately placed together, the halves thus closely joined, firmly tied, and placed for an hour in the oven, it will be seen on separating them that the chasms are considerably closed, though not quite healed. ”

“ If the kneading has been done right and the bread has risen properly, the gas will be distributed evenly through the loaf, with the result that the holes, which make the bread porous, will be practically the same throughout the entire loaf. Such a texture is better than that of a loaf that has some large and some small holes. The moisture in the bread, which receives 5 if it is of the right amount, is tested by pinching a crumb between the fingers. If the crumb feels harsh and dry, the bread is not moist enough, and if it feels doughy, the bread is too moist. ”

“ Crust is often more digestible than crumb. A change in bread is easy to arrange; if it is only a change of shape, it is better than monotony. A French roll, loaves of baking powder bread, brown and white pulled bread, crisp biscuits, are easy to get in most places.
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Puddings.— (a) Boil 1⁄2 pint milk with cinnamon, lemon, and bay leaves; add 2 oz. sugar, 1 oz. flour, a little salt, and 3 eggs; beat all together, and steam this custard in a plain mould or basin, previously spread inside with butter; when done firm and quite cold cut into square pieces and dip in frying batter ”

“ While the preponderance of crust over crumb is the most important aspect of Parisian bread, there are a number of other things to which it owes its excellence. For a high-class product it is important to select flour made of wheat which has a particularly fine flavor. The Flavor is also largely affected by the milling, the way the dough is made and kneaded, the quick or slow fermentation, the kind of oven used and its temperature, the length of leaving the bread exposed to the heat, and many other things. ”

“ When bread crumbs are used for puddings or molds the quantity will vary with the kind of bread. Fewer will be required with home-made bread than with baker’s bread.
Bread, cracker or zwieback crumbs, corn meal, flour or browned flour No. 1, or a mixture of crumbs and brown or white flour may be used for rolling croquettes or cutlets, or for sprinkling the top of scallops or gratins.
Nut meal is suitable for the outside of rice croquettes and the top of many dishes.
Grated or chopped onion is apt to become bitter if prepared long before using. ”

“ A quick and easy way to prepare stale bread crumbs is to cut very thin slices from the loaf, lay them together and cut as thin as possible across one way and then the other with a large sharp knife into tiny dice. ”

“ Thus we have in the crust an excess of dextrin as compared with the crumb, and the addition of a variable quantity of caramel. In lightly baked bread, with the crust of uniform pale yellowish colour,138 the conversion of the dextrin into caramel has barely commenced, and the gummy character of the dextrin coating is well displayed. So much bread, especially the long staves of life common in France, appears as though they had been varnished, and their crust is partially soluble in water. ”

“ Boiled Custard Bread Pudding.—Crumble enough of the soft portion of stale whole-wheat bread to lightly fill a pint bowl. Heat a pint of milk to boiling. Stir into it, as soon as it boils, two eggs, yolks and whites well beaten separately, two heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar, a little grated lemon rind, and the light bread crumbs; stir rapidly till the whole thickens, pour into a deep dish, and when cold, dot the top with bits of currant or cranberry jelly. ”

“ Should the oil become burnt, it must of course be thrown away.
Bread Crumbs.
To procure fine bread crumbs, rub stale bread through a wire sieve. For this the hands should be scrupulously clean.
Should the crumbs be required coarse, rubbing the bread on a grater will answer the purpose.
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RECIPES. SOUPS. No. 1.—Artichoke Soup. 3 pounds Jerusalem artichokes after peeling. 2 pints water. 1 pint milk. 2 ounces butter. 2 teaspoons salt. 2 shalots. 2 teaspoons chopped celery. 1 tablespoon sago. 1 dozen peppercorns, with a suspicion of mace and cinnamon tied in muslin. ”

“ Watch the bread-box, and see that every bit of bread is used in some way; the unused crusts should be dried, rolled, sifted, and kept in a covered jar for stuffing, crumbing croquettes, brown bread, puddings, or other dishes in which the color is not objectionable; cold toast or cut slices should be made into croutons, or used for canapés or French toast; other pieces should be used for croustades, or made into crumbs, both coarse and fine, for use in fondues, griddle cakes, omelets, sauces, and soups. Bits of crackers should be dried, rolled, and used the same as bread crumbs. ”

“ LITTLE BREAD PUDDINGS. Steep the crumb of a penny loaf grated, in about a pint of warm milk. When sufficiently soaked, beat up six eggs, whites and yolks, and mix with the bread. Add two ounces of warmed butter, some sugar, orange flower water, a spoonful of brandy, a little nutmeg, and a tea-cupful of cream. Beat all well together, bake in buttered teacups, and serve with pudding sauce. A quarter of a pound of currants may be added, but the puddings are good without. Orange or lemon will be an agreeable addition. ”

“ Plain Suet Dumplings.— 1 pint bread crumbs soaked in 1 cup milk, 1⁄2 pound suet freed from strings and chopped fine, 4 eggs (whites and yolks beaten separately) , 1 tablespoonful sugar, 1 teaspoonful salt and 1 cup prepared flour or flour with 1⁄2 teaspoonful Royal baking powder; work into a smooth dough and shape with floured hands into dumplings ”

“ If nothing more than this were done, and such simple dough were baked, the starch-granules would be duly broken up and hydrated, the gluten also hydrated, but, at the same time, the particles of flour would be so cemented together as to form a mass so hard and tough when baked that no ordinary human teeth could crush it. Among all our modern triumphs of applied science none can be named that is more refined and elegant than the old device by which this difficulty is overcome in the every-day business of making bread. ”

“ THEORY OF THE PANIFICATION OF BREAD FLOUR. Bread, when chemically examined, is very different from flour; it no longer forms with water a tenaceous ductile mass, nor can starch, gluten, and saccharine mucilage be separated from it.
The chemical changes that take place in the panification of bread-flour, are by no 62means well understood. The saccharine mucilage, it appears, commences the fermentative chemical action that takes place in the dough, for without this substance, a mixture of flour, yeast, and water, cannot be made into true bread. ”

“ It is more wholesome, easier of digestion, and more strengthening than bread made of the finest flour. It must be confessed, that the nutrimentive quality is contained in the fine flour; yet, in the branny part is contained the opening and digestive quality; and there is as great a necessity for the one as the other, for the support of health: that which is accounted the worst is as good and beneficial to nature as the best; for when the finest flour is separated from the coarsest and branny parts, neither the one nor the other has the true operations of the wheat meal. ”

“ Bread is made from flour of wheat, or other cereals, by addition of water, salt, and a ferment. Wheat flour is best adapted for bread making, as it contains gluten in the right proportion to make the spongy loaf. But for its slight deficiency in fat, wheat bread is a perfect food; hence arose the custom of spreading it with butter. It should be remembered, in speaking of wheat bread as perfect food, that it must be made of flour rich in gluten. Next to wheat flour ranks rye in importance for bread making ”

“ If all things happen to be as they should be, it is well; if not, they must answer for the present. If the yeast happens to be lively and sweet, very lucky. If otherwise, still it must be used. If the dough rises well and is got into the oven before it becomes sour, very fortunate; if not, why, “nobody can avoid mistakes—and bread will sometimes be poor in spite of the greatest care;”—and if a batch of miserable bread is the result of such an operation, then all that remains to be done is to eat it up as soon as possible, and hope for better the next time. ”

“ We advise the purchase of new flour in preference to old, because, unless flour is cooled and dried before it is packed, the combined action of heat and dampness destroys its gluten, and turns it sour; gluten is the nutritive part of the flour, that which makes it absorb water, and yield more bread. ”

“ When the cream tartar is not very thoroughly mixed with the flour, or when the alkali is not properly dissolved and thoroughly mixed, or when there is too much of either, the skin of the mouth and stomach are affected by the bread.
The only kind of bread which is always good for the health, and always acceptable to every palate, is sweet, well-raised, home-made yeast bread. ”

“ The gluten is likewise a very nutrient property, but in loaf bread, it principally serves, by its cohesiveness, like gum elastic, or India rubber, to prevent the gas or air formed by the fermentation of the sugar, from escaping or passing off;—and the gas being thus retained, inflates or puffs up the dough, and makes it porous and light. The bran, with its mucilaginous and other properties, not only adds to the nutritiousness of the bread, but eminently serves to increase its digestibility, and to invigorate the digestive organs, and preserve the general integrity of their functions. ”

“ Mixing other substances with the flour also injures the quality of the bread in a very high degree. These faults have a bad effect on those who generally eat such bread, but the injury is still more serious to children and weakly persons. Where the flour is corrupted, the use of it in every other article of food, will of course be as unwholesome as in that of bread. The mere exposure to the air will evaporate and deaden all flour, though the grain may never have passed through any fermentation or digestion; as in the instance of wheat flour, the strongest and the best of any other. ”

“ GRAINS USED FOR FLOUR.--As has been pointed out elsewhere, numerous grains are raised by man, but only two of them, namely, wheat and rye, are used alone for the making of yeast, or leavened, bread. The other grains, such as corn, rice, and oats, produce a flat, unleavened cake, so they are seldom used for bread making unless they are mixed with white flour. Wheat and rye have been used for bread making for a very long time, and their universal use today is due to the fact that they contain considerable protein in the form of gluten. ”

“ Unbolted flour, altogether more wholesome than the fine wheat, and when properly prepared more palatable,—rye-flour and corn-meal, each affording a thousand attractive possibilities,—each and all of these come under the general laws of bread-stuffs, and are worth a careful attention.
A peculiarity of our American table, particularly in the Southern and Western States, is the constant exhibition of various preparations of hot bread. In many families of the South and West, bread in loaves to be eaten cold is an article quite unknown. ”

“ And if such and similar results of improper tillage can become the sources of serious evil to the human 34family, through their effects on the flesh of animals which man devours, and on the milk and butter which he consumes, surely the immediate effects of such a deteriorated vegetable aliment on the human system, must be very considerable.
They who have never eaten bread made of wheat, recently produced by a pure virgin soil, have but a very imperfect notion of the deliciousness of good bread ”