potash[46]. The
above method of detecting the presence of alum, must therefore be taken
with some limitation.

There is no unequivocal test for detecting in a _ready manner_ the
presence of alum in bread, on account of the impurity of the common salt
used in the making of bread. If we could, in the ordinary way of bread
making, employ common salt, absolutely free from foreign saline
substances, the mode of detecting the presence of alum, or at least one
of its constituent parts, namely, the sulphuric acid, would be very
easy. Some conjecture may, nevertheless, be formed of the presence, or
absence, of alum, by assaying the infusion of bread in the manner
stated, p. 109, and comparing the assay with the results afforded by an
infusion of home-made or household bread, known to be genuine, and
actually assayed in a similar manner.

EASY METHOD OF JUDGING OF THE GOODNESS OF BREAD CORN, AND BREAD-FLOUR.

Millers judge of the goodness of bread corn by the quantity of bran
which the grain produces.

Such grains as are full and plump, that have a bright and shining
appearance, without any shrivelling and shrinking in the covering of
the skin, are the best; for wrinkled grains have a greater quantity of
skin, or bran, than such as are sound or plump.

Pastry-cooks and bakers judge of the goodness of flour in the manner in
which it comports itself in kneading. The best kind of wheaten flour
assumes, at the instant it is formed into paste by the addition of
water, a very gluey, ductile, and elastic paste, easy to be kneaded, and
which may be elongated, flattened, and drawn in every direction, without
breaking.

For the following fact we are indebted to Mr. Hatchet.

"Grain which has been heated or burnt in the stack, may in the following
manner be rendered fit for being made into bread:

"The wheat must be put into a vessel capable of holding at least three
times the quantity, and the vessel filled with boiling water; the grain
should then be occasionally stirred, and the hollow decayed grains,
which float, may be removed. When the water has become cold, or in about
half an hour, it is drawn off. Then rince the corn with cold water, and,
having completely drained it, spread it thinly on the floor of a kiln,
and thus thoroughly dry it, stirring and turning it frequently during
this part of the process."[47]

FOOTNOTES:

[43] The sack of marketable flour is by law obliged to weigh 240 pounds,
which is the produce o