Three different kinds of wheat and rye flour. These flours are basic ingredients for the cuisine of Central Africa. Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, bread made without wheat flour, beans, nuts, or seeds.
The CDC has cautioned not to eat raw flour doughs or batters. Raw flour can contain bacteria like E. The English word flour is originally a variant of the word flower, and both words derive from the Old French fleur or flour, which had the literal meaning “blossom”, and a figurative meaning “the finest”. The earliest archaeological evidence for wheat seeds crushed between simple millstones to make flour dates to 6000 BC.
The Romans were the first to grind seeds on cone mills. An important problem of the industrial revolution was the preservation of flour. Transportation distances and a relatively slow distribution system collided with natural shelf life. A Walz set of roller mills. Milling of flour is accomplished by grinding grain between stones or steel wheels.
Today, “stone-ground” usually means that the grain has been ground in a mill in which a revolving stone wheel turns over a stationary stone wheel, vertically or horizontally with the grain in between. Modern farm equipment allows livestock farmers to do some or all of their own milling when it comes time to convert their own grain crops to coarse meal for livestock feed. This capability is economically important because the profit margins are often thin enough in commercial farming that saving expenses is vital to staying in business. Flour contains a high proportion of starches, which are a subset of complex carbohydrates also known as polysaccharides. Refined” flour has had the germ and bran, containing much of the nutritional fibre and vitamins, removed and is often referred to as “white flour”. Bleached flour is artificially aged using a “bleaching” agent, a “maturing” agent, or both. A maturing agent may either strengthen or weaken gluten development.
Potassium bromate, listed as an ingredient, is a maturing agent that strengthens gluten development. Benzoyl peroxide bleaches, but does not act as a maturing agent. It has no effect on gluten. Ascorbic acid is listed as an ingredient, either as an indication that the flour was matured using ascorbic acid or that a small amount is added as a dough enhancer. It is a maturing agent that strengthens gluten development, but does not bleach. Chlorine gas is used as both a bleaching agent and a maturing agent. It weakens gluten development and oxidizes starches, making it easier for the flour to absorb water and swell, resulting in thicker batters and stiffer doughs.