WAR BREAD


Bread is the staff of life for all nations. But "bread" does not
necessarily mean the wheat loaf. At one time and place it has been
barley cake, at another oaten cake, and at another corn pone. Bread
has always been whatever cereal happened to be convenient. Even such
unbreadlike food as rice is to some races what bread is to us.

Why, then, have we developed our wheat-bread habit? Partly because
wheat bread has been easy to get and we have grown to like the taste,
but chiefly because wheat flour gives the lightest loaf. To understand
why, make a dough with a little white flour and water and then gently
knead it in cold water. The consistency changes, the starch is washed
out and a rubbery, sticky ball is left--the _gluten_, which is the
protein of the wheat. It is this gluten in the flour that stretches
when bread rises and then stiffens when it is baked, making a light,
porous loaf. Wheat is the only one of the cereals that has much
gluten; rye has a little and the others practically none.

Gluten seems to be essential to the making of a light, yeast-raised
loaf. Products raised with baking-powder, for which our standard of
lightness is different--"quick breads" like biscuits and muffins
and cakes--do not require the gluten and can easily be made from
substitute cereals. But for our ordinary loaf of bread, at least some
wheat seems to be almost essential, though with skill in the making,
rye can be made to serve in its place. Patriotic bakers and housewives
all over the country have been trying to produce a wheatless
loaf which is light, palatable, and sufficiently durable to stand
transportation. The durability is a very important consideration;