incentive to use the fl our quickly rather than let it mature, which
gives it better fl avor and lift in baking. Bread manufacturers were in a hurry, so they began to search for
artifi cial ways to make bread lighter and fl uffi er with chemicals.
A variety of them were used, but what they eventually settled on
was bleaching the fl our with bromates, which makes it whiter (and
destroys vitamin E), and conditioners so it will stay bouncier and
last on the shelf longer. In the 20th century, white breads have to
have vitamins and minerals added back in—in an attempt to make
up for what’s been removed.
Nevertheless, the industrialization of bread making continued
apace, along with new chemical leavening agents. The very fi rst
United States patent went to Samuel Hopkins in 1790 for potash,
which is used as a fertilizer and chemical leavener in quick breads
(like biscuits) and is an ancestor of baking powder.
In 1835, the English also began selling chemicals for use in baking.
The result was that home baking tended to concentrate more on
quick muffi ns, scones, and pancakes. This in itself is not such a bad
thing, but the chemicals might be, and it’s bad if you end up living
on such things.
The diet of the average British family dramatically declined in terms
of overall calories, percentage of protein, and most dramatically,
reduction of vitamins due to lack of fresh vegetables. Living on
bread, potatoes, scraps of bacon, and sweetened tea just doesn’t offer
a decent diet. The result was severe outbreaks of scurvy, a vitamin C
defi ciency, and widespread rickets, which is a vitamin D defi ciency.
In the 1830s, potatoes were considerably cheaper than bread, so they
increasingly became the more economical option, with any leftover
money spent on tea and sugar. Potatoes are good for you, except
with the increased demand and planting nothing but potatoes—
especially in places like Ireland—disaster was bound to strike, and
it did, beginning in 1845 and lasting in Ireland until 1852.