If you’ve ever tried to make bread, you may know that it is an arduous process.  It is hours upon hours of making sure your hands are clean — but not too clean, and watching dough rise (which could be compared to paint drying).  But at least you have a bread maker and a foolproof recipe to do it with.  in the late 1800’s, making bread from scratch wasn't a fun option for when you have time on the weekend.  It was a difficult and inconsistent process that many housewives of the time had a fair amount of difficulty with.  It is for this reason that self-rising flour would have been such an innovative success.  The rising agent is already added to the flour, and consistently distributed throughout.  This product took away the need to ferment yeast and measure out perfect amounts of baking powder.  It was so ingenious in fact, that it landed its creator, Mr. George Hecker, a spot in the World’s Fairs of London and New York in the 1850’s. 

The booklet discussed in this exhibit is one of wheat-based recipes, tailored to be used with Heckers Self-Raising Superlative Flour.  Through the analysis of this booklet, we can learn about  industrial advances of the time, pseudoscience and product dishonesty, and about the flour industry as a whole.