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Chemistry and physics of baking (1986)
66
Book reviews
anyone with some familiarity with safety or hazard analysis. The descriptions of the eleven procedures are very comprehensive. Instructions for their use, and in many cases sample applications, are presented. These examples help the reader understand how a procedure should be employed. Also, extremely useful sample check lists for safety reviews are given. Qualitative hazard evaluations may be carried out based on this information, but a complete quantitative analysis requires additional tools and resources which are referenced in the document. References to computer programs for fault-tree analysis are, however, a little outdated. User friendly programs with PC versions are now available. The guidelines do not give a complete management plan for plant safety; they intend to be " a useful and comprehensive text prepared to foster continued personal, professional, and technical development of
engineers in the areas of chemical plant safety, and to upgrade safety performance of the industry." They certainly meet this goal. Current safety practices in the industry may look quite effective, but there may still be room for improvement. A fresh look to further sharpen hazard identification and management efforts requires a very systematic approach. The guidelines illustrate this approach. Continuing awareness and strict adherence to safe procedures are still required.
Chemistry and Physics of Baking (1986) edited by J.
sifiers. It was, therefore, startling to find, in the chapter on the significance of water, that " w a t e r " was treated as if it is the same everywhere. Do commerical bakers use only distilled water? Or doesn't tap water differ from place to place? Since the presence of small amounts of calcium and chlorine, two common constituents of tap water, are shown to have measureable effects on bread dough, one might have expected at least as serious an analysis of " w a t e r " as of the many organic molecules. By way of contrast, two chapters were a joy to read: Enzymes in Baking, and the Biochemistry of Baker's Yeast. In part, their readability is due to a more gracious writing style, and in part to the authors' success in relating their specific subject both historically and in modern bakery practice. The book concludes, as does each chapter, with a statement that more research is needed. And it is in the final chapter that the importance of the market place is acknowledged. But in recognizing this, the author fails to explain the inexplicable . . . why so many people eat Wonder Bread. Chemistry and Physics of Baking is an indispensable reference for the research-minded commercial baker, but at $71.00 per copy, it is far too costly to appeal beyond that dedicated company.
M. V. Blanshard, P. J. Frazier and T. Galliard. Royal Society of Chemistry, London (276 pp., US $71.00, hardcover). On the whole, this is a book that could be loved only by a cereal chemist. Yet, its usefulness to the commercial baker large enough to operate a wheat research laboratory is unquestioned. The amount of detailed information on the physical chemistry of wheat and of all its components, and on the changes wrought by dough-making and baking, does credit to the symposium of which this tome constitutes the proceedings. But to read it, brings all the mental satisfaction of settling down with an undergraduate college textbook. Although the title speaks to baking (presumably all kinds of baking), it is only the baking of wheat products, most especially bread, that is reviewed. Incidentally, the cover picture, a full front view of a slice of bread, appears to be from a sandwich loaf of some sort of brownish Wonder Bread - - not a good sales photo. Nor is the reader spared or eased into the subject with any introductory material. Chapter one starts right off with the structural chemistry and function of the starch grain, complete with formulae, equations, and footnotes. This is not simple stuff. Similar attention to detailed physical chemistry is given in following chapters to various flour proteins, nonstarch polysaccharides, lipids, gluten, fats, gel formation, and emul-
Vasilis M. Fthenakis Biomedical and Environmental Assessment Division Department of Applied Science Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, New York
Dixy Lee Ray Fox Island, Washington
Book reviews
anyone with some familiarity with safety or hazard analysis. The descriptions of the eleven procedures are very comprehensive. Instructions for their use, and in many cases sample applications, are presented. These examples help the reader understand how a procedure should be employed. Also, extremely useful sample check lists for safety reviews are given. Qualitative hazard evaluations may be carried out based on this information, but a complete quantitative analysis requires additional tools and resources which are referenced in the document. References to computer programs for fault-tree analysis are, however, a little outdated. User friendly programs with PC versions are now available. The guidelines do not give a complete management plan for plant safety; they intend to be " a useful and comprehensive text prepared to foster continued personal, professional, and technical development of
engineers in the areas of chemical plant safety, and to upgrade safety performance of the industry." They certainly meet this goal. Current safety practices in the industry may look quite effective, but there may still be room for improvement. A fresh look to further sharpen hazard identification and management efforts requires a very systematic approach. The guidelines illustrate this approach. Continuing awareness and strict adherence to safe procedures are still required.
Chemistry and Physics of Baking (1986) edited by J.
sifiers. It was, therefore, startling to find, in the chapter on the significance of water, that " w a t e r " was treated as if it is the same everywhere. Do commerical bakers use only distilled water? Or doesn't tap water differ from place to place? Since the presence of small amounts of calcium and chlorine, two common constituents of tap water, are shown to have measureable effects on bread dough, one might have expected at least as serious an analysis of " w a t e r " as of the many organic molecules. By way of contrast, two chapters were a joy to read: Enzymes in Baking, and the Biochemistry of Baker's Yeast. In part, their readability is due to a more gracious writing style, and in part to the authors' success in relating their specific subject both historically and in modern bakery practice. The book concludes, as does each chapter, with a statement that more research is needed. And it is in the final chapter that the importance of the market place is acknowledged. But in recognizing this, the author fails to explain the inexplicable . . . why so many people eat Wonder Bread. Chemistry and Physics of Baking is an indispensable reference for the research-minded commercial baker, but at $71.00 per copy, it is far too costly to appeal beyond that dedicated company.
M. V. Blanshard, P. J. Frazier and T. Galliard. Royal Society of Chemistry, London (276 pp., US $71.00, hardcover). On the whole, this is a book that could be loved only by a cereal chemist. Yet, its usefulness to the commercial baker large enough to operate a wheat research laboratory is unquestioned. The amount of detailed information on the physical chemistry of wheat and of all its components, and on the changes wrought by dough-making and baking, does credit to the symposium of which this tome constitutes the proceedings. But to read it, brings all the mental satisfaction of settling down with an undergraduate college textbook. Although the title speaks to baking (presumably all kinds of baking), it is only the baking of wheat products, most especially bread, that is reviewed. Incidentally, the cover picture, a full front view of a slice of bread, appears to be from a sandwich loaf of some sort of brownish Wonder Bread - - not a good sales photo. Nor is the reader spared or eased into the subject with any introductory material. Chapter one starts right off with the structural chemistry and function of the starch grain, complete with formulae, equations, and footnotes. This is not simple stuff. Similar attention to detailed physical chemistry is given in following chapters to various flour proteins, nonstarch polysaccharides, lipids, gluten, fats, gel formation, and emul-
Vasilis M. Fthenakis Biomedical and Environmental Assessment Division Department of Applied Science Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, New York
Dixy Lee Ray Fox Island, Washington