Flour is a powder which is made from grinding cereal grains, other seeds, or roots. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history. Wheat flour is one of the most important foods in European, North American, Middle Eastern and North African cultures, and is the defining ingredient in most of their styles of breads and pastries. Maize flour has been important in Mesoamerican cuisine since ancient times, and remains a staple in much of Latin American cuisine. [source]
I worked for almost 3 years with the Pastry Shop inside the Venetian Hotel and Casino, so I had to work with a variety of baking, pastry, and chocolate. It was a really rewarding experience for me and I miss it a lot.
Unbleached flour is simply flour that has not undergone bleaching and therefore does not have the color of “white” flour. An example of this would be the Graham flour. Sylvester Graham was against using bleaching agents, as being unhealthy, and John Harvey Kellogg, influenced by Graham, invented the cereal Corn Flakes.
Kinds of Flour [source]
- All-purpose or plain flour is a blended wheat flour 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’ flours which is acceptable for most household baking needs.[1]
- Bleached flour is a white flour treated with flour bleaching agents to whiten it (freshly milled flour is yellowish) and to 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.
- Bread 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]
- 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),[2] but remains available in the United States.
- 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 125g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 grams of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. Related to cake flour are masa harina (from maize), maida flour (from wheat or tapioca), and pure starches.[1]
- 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 USA and Europe.[citation needed] It 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]
- 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:
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- 1 cup (100 g) flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) baking powder
- a pinch to ½ teaspoon (1 g or less) salt
- Sharp flour is produced in Fiji and primarily used in Indian cuisine.
- Spelt flour is a 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 speciality baking.
