ee to four
ounces to a sack of flour, weighing 240 pounds. The alum is either mixed
well in the form of powder, with a quantity of flour previously made
into a liquid paste with water, and then incorporated with the dough; or
the alum is dissolved in the water employed for mixing up the whole
quantity of the flour for making the dough.

Let us suppose that the baker intends to convert five bushels, or a sack
of flour, into loaves with the least adulteration practised. He pours
the flour into the kneading trough, and sifts it through a fine wire
sieve, which makes it lie very light, and serves to separate any
impurities with which the flour may be mixed. Two ounces of alum are
then dissolved in about a quart of boiling water, and the solution
poured into _the seasoning-tub_. Four or five pounds of salt are
likewise put into the tub, and a pailful of hot-water. When this mixture
has cooled down to the temperature of about 84 deg., three or four pints of
yeast are added; the whole is mixed, strained through the seasoning
sieve, emptied into a hole in the flour, and mixed up with the requisite
portion of it to the consistence of a thick batter. Some dry flour is
then sprinkled over the top, and it is covered up with cloths.

In this situation it is left about three hours. It gradually swells and
breaks through the dry flour scattered on its surface. An additional
quantity of warm water, in which one ounce of alum is dissolved, is now
added, and the dough is made up into a paste as before; the whole is
then covered up. In this situation it is left for a few hours.

The whole is then intimately kneaded with more water for upwards of an
hour. The dough is cut into pieces with a knife, and penned to one side
of the trough; some dry flour is sprinkled over it, and it is left in
this state for about four hours. It is then kneaded again for
half-an-hour. The dough is now cut into pieces and weighed, in order to
furnish the requisite quantity for each loaf. The loaves are left in the
oven about two hours and a half. When taken out, they are carefully
covered up, to prevent as much as possible the loss of weight.[43]

The following account of making a sack, of five bushels of flour into
bread, is taken from Dr. P. Markham's Considerations on the Ingredients
used in the Adulteration of Bread Flour, and Bread, p. 21:

5 bushels of flour,
8 ounces of alum,[44]
4 lbs. of salt,
1/2 a gallon of yeast, mixed with