Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Modern Practical Bread Baker: Giving the Newest Methods of Making Bread by Hand and Machinery
Probably there are few callings that can claim an older or more respectable origin than that of the Baking Trade, and nothing marks the progress of the world's cuisine more clearly than the difference that exists between ancient and modern bread making. It is interesting to note the change. The earliest method was to soak the grain in water and to dry it by natural or artificial heat, after having subjected it to pressure. The next advance was to pound or bray the grains in a mortar, or between stones hence the word bread - brayed.
The oat-cakes of Scotland are prepared from grains that have been ground somewhat more thoroughly, and mixed with salt and water, kneaded and rolled out thin, and cooked before a good fire or on an iron girdle hung above the fire. Scones and pea meal bannocks are made in the same way. The Passover cakes of the Israelites are similarly prepared. The Southern hoe cake does not differ materially from the above varieties, which are all called unleavened, no leaven being used in their manufacture. Leaven is literally that which is applied internally to raise the bread, and it was first used by the Egyptians - presumably in the time of Moses. From the Egyptians it spread to the Greeks, then to the Romans, and from them to all parts of the world.
The baking industry (or the baking trade, as it is commonly called) has a deeper and fuller interest to mankind than any of its offshoots - pastry, confectionery, etc., as the one is a necessity and the others only luxuries. The staff of life, let it be made by man or woman, requires to be properly manipulated. This is of the most paramount interest, and assuredly goes to at once build up the wealth and stamina of a nation.
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