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. Whole wheat flour is made from the entire wheat berry but there are many grades and variations. Normally, whole-wheat flour is ground between iron rollers, which produces heat and destroys some nutrients. Stone ground flours are supposed to retain those nutrients for a time.

Both regular and stone ground, whole-wheat flour can be fine or coarsely ground. If you use coarsely ground flour, your product will be dense, due to the bran, which are made up of flat, sharp pieces, which shear the gluten strands. One way around this is to create a sponge or mash, which softens the bran over time.

Characteristics

• Wheat varieties are called “clean”, “white”, “brown” or “hard” if they have high gluten content, and they are called “soft” or “weak” flour if gluten content is low.
• Hard flour, or bread flour, is high in gluten, with 12% to 14% gluten content, and has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked.
• Soft flour is comparatively low in gluten and thus results in a finer or crumbly texture. 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.

Uses

A better use compared to regular refined flour.