WHOLE-MEAL BREAD, CALLED IN GERMANY PIMPERNICKEL.
(The most nutritious and economical of any.)
This bread is composed of wheat ground into
meal, and used without any portion—even the
bran—being taken from it; and it is highly re-
commended by some of the first scientific men of
the present day as containing a larger amount of
nourishment, and being more easy of digestion
than that which is made with fine flour only,
because it is now ascertained that the bran (which
was formerly considered as altogether unfit for
food), contains in reality more gluten, or nutri-
ment of the best kind, than any other part of the
corn; and it is stated by a very superior writer,
that it possesses also a peculiar kind of ferment,
which has the property of dissolving the bread or
flour with which it is mixed, and rendering it more
easily digestible in the stomach. He adds: “To
this quality of bran, as well as to the nourishment
it yields, are to be ascribed some of the whole-
some qualities which many persons have recognised
in whole-meal bread.”
Now, it will be seen, that very great advantages
would attend the general use of the wheat merely
reduced by grinding to a proper state for being con-
verted easily into bread, which is more strengthen-
ing in its nature than any other, and therefore of
more value to those whose toil is heavy and ex-
hausting; and which, from its digestible character,
is also well suited to persons of sedentary habits,
and to invalids.*
To derive from it all the advantages which it
will undoubtedly yield, the following points should
be observed:—The corn should not be damped
before it is ground; and it should lie over for
some weeks, and be kept very dry after the grind-
ing, before it is converted into bread. Quite at
first it will be well to mix a certain portion of flour
with it for persons who are not in strong health,
or who are unaccustomed to eat brown bread, as it
will otherwise sometimes occasion a little irritation
of the stomach for a few days; but this is easily
avoided by using it only in part for a time, and by
diminishing at each baking the proportion of flour
added to it.
In making dough with the whole-meal, it will
be seen that it absorbs more liquid than flour does,
and requires rather more yeast to render it light,
or a longer time to rise. It should not be made
very stiff, or it will be too dry after it is baked,
yet it should always be workable, and not stick to
the hands. If well managed, its flavour will be
peculiarly sweet and agreeable. It is prepared in
precisely the same manner as white bread, and the
directions already inserted will serve equally for
either kind, with the slight variation in the quantity
of yeast and liquid for the brown, which has already
been mentioned.
Whole-meal, one gallon; good flour, one gal-
lon; fresh German yeast, two ounces and a