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as to destroy much of the richness and sweetness of the loaf, and yet be arrested by the baking process just before the acetous stage begins, so that it will be light and porous, but decidedly lacking in flavor and substance. Over-fermentation also develops in the bread various bitter substances which obscure the natural sweetness of the bread and give to it an unpleasant flavor. Many of these substances are more or less harmful in character, and include many poisons known as ptomaines, a class of chemical compounds produced by germs whenever fermentation or decomposition of organic matter takes place. Much skill is required to determine at what point to arrest the fermentation, in order to save the sweetness and richness of the bread. FERMENTATIVE AGENTS.--Fermentation in vegetable matter is always accompanied by the growth of living organisms. The development of these minute organisms is the exciting cause of fermentation and putrefaction. The germs or spores of some of these fermenting agents are always present in the air. It is well known to housekeepers that if a batter of flour and water and a little salt be kept in a jar of water at a temperature of from 100 deg. to 110 deg., it will ferment in the course of five or six hours. Scientists assure us that this fermentation is occasioned by the introduction of the spores of certain species of fungi which are continually floating in the atmosphere, and the proper conditions of warmth and moisture being supplied, they at once begin to grow and multiply. This method of securing fermentation is utilized by housewives in making what is termed salt-rising bread. The raising of dough by this process is lengthy and uncertain, and a far more convenient method is to accelerate the fermentation by the addition of some active ferment. The ancient method of accomplishing this was by adding to the dough a leaven, a portion of old dough which had been kept until it had begun to ferment; but since the investigations of modern chemistry have made clear the properties of yeast, that has come to be considered the best agent for setting up the process of alcoholic fermentation in bread. The use of leaven is still practiced to somewhat in some European countries. The bread produced with leaven, although light and spongy in texture, has an unpleasant, sour taste, and is much less wholesome than that produced with fresh yeast. Yeast is a collection of living organisms or plants belongi
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