Wheat flour

Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. More wheat flour is produced than any other flour. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or bread flour, is high in gluten, with 12% to 14% gluten content, and its dough has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Soft flour is comparatively low in gluten and thus results in a loaf with a finer, crumbly texture.^[1] Soft flour is usually divided into cake flour, which is the lowest in gluten, and pastry flour, which has slightly more gluten than cake flour.

In terms of the parts of the grain (the grass fruit) used in flour—the endosperm or protein/starchy part, the germ or protein/fat/vitamin-rich part, and the bran or fiber part—there are three general types of flour. White flour is made from the endosperm only. Brown flour includes some of the grain's germ and bran, while whole grain or wholemeal flour is made from the entire grain, including the bran, endosperm, and germ. Germ flour is made from the endosperm and germ, excluding the bran.

Types

Wheat flour is available in many varieties; the categorization is regional, and the same name may have several different regional meanings.

Canada

• Whole wheat flour in Canada may have up to 5% or the grain removed; most of the germ is often removed to prevent the flour from going rancid.^[2]
• Whole grain flour contains the whole grain, including bran, germ, and endosperm, but not the chaff

Fiji

• Sharp flour is produced in Fiji and primarily used in Indian cuisine.

Indian wheat flours

Indian flours are generally categorized by how much of the grain is stripped away.

• Wheat powder/flour – 'whole grain' (mixture of germ, endosperm and bran)
• Atta flour – mixture of endosperm and bran
• Maida flour – endosperm, bleached; a very white flour, similar to the American bleached flour
• Sooji/rava – coarse-ground endosperm

Southeast Asia

• Tang flour or wheat starch is a type of wheat flour used primarily in Chinese cuisine for making the outer layer of dumplings and buns. It is also used in Vietnamese cuisine, where it is called bột lọc trong.

USA

American flours are categorized by gluten/protein content, processing, and use.

• All-purpose or plain flour is a blended wheat with a protein content lower than bread flour, ranging between 9% and 12%. Depending on brand or the region where it is purchased, it may be composed of all hard or soft wheats, but is usually a blend of the two, and can range from low protein content to moderately high. It is marketed as an inexpensive alternative to bakers' flour which is acceptable for most household baking needs.^[1]
• Bread flour or strong flour is always made from hard wheat, usually hard spring wheat. It has a very high protein content, between 10% and 13%, making it excellent for yeast bread baking. It can be white or whole wheat or in between.^[1]
• Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour. Using the scoop and level method, well-sifted flour usually produces 125 g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 g of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. American Cake flour is bleached; in countries where bleached flour is prohibited, plain flour can be treated in a domestic microwave to improve the texture of the end product.^[3] Related to cake flour are masa harina (from maize), maida flour (from wheat or tapioca), and pure starches.^[1]
• Durum flour is made from Durum wheat and is suited for pasta making, traditional pizza and flatbread for doner kebab.
• Graham flour is a special type of whole wheat flour. The endosperm is finely ground, as in white flour, while the bran and germ are coarsely ground. Graham flour is uncommon outside of the US (but see atta flour, a similar product, below). Graham flour is the basis of true graham crackers. Many graham crackers on the market are actually imitation grahams because they do not contain graham flour or even whole-wheat flour.
• Instant flour is pregelatinized (precooked) for easier incorporation in gravies and sauces.
• Pastry flour or cookie flour or cracker flour has slightly higher protein content than cake flour but lower than all-purpose flour. Its protein content ranges between 9% and 10%. It is available as a white flour, a whole-wheat flour, or a white flour with the germ retained but not the bran. It is suitable for pie pastry and tarts, some cookies, muffins, biscuits and other quick breads. Flour is shaken through a sieve to reduce the amount of lumps for cooking pastry.^[1]
• Whole-wheat flour contains the wheat germ, endosperm and bran
• White flour or refined flour contains only the endosperm
• Enriched flour is white flour, with nutrients added to compensate for the removal of the bran and germ
• Bleached flour is a white flour treated with flour bleaching agents to whiten it (freshly milled flour is yellowish) and give it more gluten-producing potential. Oxidizing agents are usually employed, most commonly organic peroxides like acetone peroxide or benzoyl peroxide, nitrogen dioxide, or chlorine. A similar effect can be achieved by letting the flour oxidize with oxygen in the air ("natural aging") for approximately 10 days; however, this process is more expensive due to the time required. Flour bleached with benzoyl peroxide has been prohibited in the UK since 1997.^[4]
• Bromated flour has a maturing agent added. The agent's role is to help with developing gluten, a role similar to the flour bleaching agents. Bromate is usually used. Other choices are phosphates, ascorbic acid, and malted barley. Bromated flour has been banned in much of the world, as bromate is classified as possibly carcinogenic in humans (Group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC),^[5] but remains available in the United States.
• Self-rising or self-raising flour is white flour that is sold premixed with chemical leavening agents. It was invented by Henry Jones. Self-rising flour is typically composed of the following ratio:
  • 1 cup (100 g) flour
  •  1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons (3 g) baking powder
  • a pinch to  ¹⁄₂ teaspoon (1 g or less) salt

Other

• Spelt flour is flour produced from the type of wheat called spelt. It is less commonly used in modern cooking than other wheat varieties. It is still used for specialty baking.

Flour strength – W index

A device called Alveograph Chopin invented in 1921 by Marcel Chopin, provides an index called W that is now commonly used by professional bakers. W index measures the flour strength. The maximum of the curve, identified by P, represents the toughness of gluten, while L represents the extensibility, the higher the value of L the more elastic the dough will be.

Flours between 90 and 160 W are called "weak flours". They have a low protein content, usually 9%, used to produce biscuits or cakes.

Flours between 160 and 250 W have a medium force. They are used, for example, for Pugliese bread, pizza and focaccia.

Flours > 300 W Flours with a high W are called "strong flours" because they oppose a great resistance to the deformation of gluten. There are also flours with values exceeding 400 W, denominated Manitoba because they originated from that region of Canada.

In general, the more a product requires long rising time, the more a flour will need a high W, because it better retains the carbon dioxide produced in the fermentation. Gluten is able to absorb water for one time and half its weight, then the stronger the flour is, the higher will be the hydration. It passes from a hydration less than 50% for weak flour up to values higher than 70% for strong flour ^[6]

National Flour in the United Kingdom

During World War II, the British government promoted "National Flour"; it was adopted in 1942 both for health reasons and those concerned about the import of wheat into the UK and losses during the war.^[7] The flour is described as being of 85% extraction, i.e. containing more of the whole wheat grain than refined flour, generally described as 70% extraction at the time. Parliamentary questions on the exact constitution of National Flour in 1943 reveal that it was "milled from a grist consisting of 90 per cent. wheat and 10 per cent. diluent grains. Authorised additions are calcium at the rate of 7 oz (200 g) per 280 lb (130 kg) of flour and dried milk at the rate of 2 lb (910 g) per 280 lb (130 kg) of flour and customary improvers in normal proportions." The diluent grains were barley, oats and rye and customary improvers were "certain oxidising agents which improve the quality of the bread baked from the flour, and their nature depends on the kind of grain used, whether hard or soft.".^[8] A survey of the composition of National Flour was conducted for the period 1946–1950^[9] National Flour was discontinued in 1956 against the recommendations of the MRC^[7] as the government considered that the addition of nutritional supplements to refined flour removed the necessity for using National Flour on health grounds.

Flour production

Madagascar

Since mid-November 2010, Seaboard is operating in Madagascar under LMM Farine SA.^[10] The company is managing the industrial milling assets of a local company called KOBAMA SA; mainly consisting in a 288 MT Bühler flour mill, located in Antsirabe. The company is also under contract with SPAT, the State owned company managing the sea port of Toamasina/Tamatave, on the east coast, to manage the 26,000 MT storage capacity grain silos. Production of wheat flour is roughly half of Madagascar's consumption.

Kenya

National Flour was also a term for a flour introduced in Kenya by the colonial government which contained 70% wheat flour and 30% maize flour.^[11]

See also

• Flour
• Grist mill
• Enriched flour

References