use of “pearlash,” a refined version of potash, which was made by soaking the ash produced when plant materials are burned, draining off the liquid, and drying it down to concentrate the substances dissolved in it Pearlash is mostly alkaline potassium carbonate, which reacts with acid ingredients in doughs to generate carbon dioxide gas It was the precursor to baking soda and baking powders, which arrived between 1830 and 1850 These chemical ingredients made it possible to leaven instantly mixtures that living, slowgrowing yeasts couldn’t very well: such things as fluid cake batters and sweet cookie doughs Purified commercial yeast cultures for loaf breads, more predictable and less acidic than brewer’s yeast, became available from specialist manufacturers around the turn of the 20th century Food Words: Flour While the words for ground grain in French, Italian, and Spanish, farine and farina, come from the Latin for a kind of grain (far), the English word “flour” arose in medieval times from “flower,” meaning the best part of the ground grain: that is, the portion left after screening out the large particles of germ and bran To a medieval Englishman, “whole wheat flour” would have been a contradiction in terms! The Decline and Revival Of Traditional Breads Twentieth-Century Industrialization The 20th century brought two broad trends to Europe and North America One was a decline in the per capita consumption of plain bread As incomes rose, people could afford to eat more meat and more high-sugar, high-fat cakes and pastries So we now lean less heavily than did our ancestors on the staff of life The other trend was the industrialization ... is, the portion left after screening out the large particles of germ and bran To a medieval Englishman, “whole wheat flour” would have been a contradiction in terms! The Decline and Revival Of Traditional Breads...French, Italian, and Spanish, farine and farina, come from the Latin for a kind of grain (far), the English word “flour” arose in medieval times from “flower,” meaning the best part of the ground grain:... The Decline and Revival Of Traditional Breads Twentieth-Century Industrialization The 20th century brought two broad trends to Europe and North America One was a decline in the per capita consumption of plain bread