B AK allowed to dispose of any part of them. To preserve honour and honesty in the College of bakers, they were expressly prohibited all connection with comedians and gladiators 5 while they were exempt from guardianships and other of- fices, which might interfere with their occupations. By the English statutes, no person exercising the mysteries or sciences of baking, brewing, surgery, or writing, shall be deemed a handicraft. Since the year 1155, the first-mentioned ar- tisans have formed a brotherhood in this country ; though the white bakers were not incorporated till 1407, ana * the brown bakers until 1621. We regret that so wealthy and respectable a body of men as our modern bakers, give us frequent cause of complaint, either by the unwholesome quality, or the defi- cient weight of bread ; an article which loudly calls for the wisdom and unremitting vigilance of the legislature. No new office in any department of police appears to be so necessary, and likely to be pro- ductive of such essential advantages to the whole metropolis, as diat of " Inspector of Bread." B KING is the art of con- verting flour, cr other farinaceous substances, into bread. — As we propose to treat more fully on this subject, under the article Bread, we shall here only explain what re- lates to a proper method of prepar- ing it. In domestic life, the baking of bread is frequently mismanaged j which may be ascribed to the fol- lowing circumstances. Some wo- men do not use a just proportion anid temperature of water, so that th bread turns out either pasty, or to j film and heavy ; others do not B AK [149 use a proper quantity or quality of leaven, or barm, whence the bread acquires either an unpleasant bit- terish taste, or the dough cannot rise, and consequently becomes tough and viscid ; again, others do not understand the due degree of heat required in the oven, so that it will be either under, or over- baked. All these particulars de- serve to be attended to, otherwise a bad and unwholesome bread will be produced. To survey, therefore, the whole process, which is one of tire most complicated in chemistry, we shall here communicate a few general directions. 1. The flour, whether made of wheat, or rye (which two are doubtless the best and most whole- some species of grain), ought not to be used immediately on coming from die mill, as in a fresh state it is too moist for making good and palatable bread ; but it should be kept in a dry place for several weeks, stirred every day in sum- mer, and at least every other day in colder seasons, till it has ac- quired such a consistence, as ren- ders it loose and yielding between the fingers. 2. As the dough will not rise, without giving it a proper leaven or barm, this ought to be a princi- pal object in families, as well as to bakers. If leaven be employed, it should on the preceding evening be deprived of its hard crust, and dissolved with a little, scarcely milk-warm, water; then carefully mixed with about a third part of the flour to be used for baking, and kneaded into a soft dough, by add- ing more tepid water. A small quantity of flour is put on the top ; and, thus prepared, it will be ne- cessary to cover the trough with blankets, and suffer it to stand in L 3 a mo-
