flour

flour, finely ground cereal grains or other starchy portions of plants, used in various food products and as a basic ingredient of baked goods. Flour made from wheat grains is the most satisfactory type for baked products that require spongy structure. In modern usage, the word flour alone usually refers to wheat flour, the major type in Western countries.

A brief treatment of flour and flour milling follows. For full treatment, see cereal processing: Wheat flour; baking: Flour.

Wheat grains, or kernels, are composed of the starchy endosperm, or food-storage portion, constituting about 85 percent; several outer layers that make up the bran, constituting about 13 percent; and the oily germ, or embryo plant, approximately 2 percent. In the production of refined flour, the purpose of the milling process is to separate the endosperm from the other kernel portions. In the production of whole wheat flour, all parts of the kernel are used.

In modern milling of refined flours the wheat kernels are cleaned and tempered by the addition or removal of moisture and then split open by a pair of rolls. The finest particles, called break flour, are sieved out and bagged. Coarser particles of endosperm (called semolina) and pieces of bran with endosperm attached are then subjected to a series of rolls in which semolina of steadily reducing size is gradually ground to flour and the bran separated out. The flour is usually bleached and treated to obtain the improved bread-making qualities formerly achieved by natural aging. Flour grades are based on the residual amount of branny particles.

When flour is mixed with water to make dough, its protein content is converted to gluten, an elastic substance that forms a continuous network throughout the dough and is capable of retaining gas, thus causing the baked product to expand, or rise. The strength of the gluten depends upon the protein content of the flour. Soft wheats, containing approximately 8–12 percent protein, produce flours that are suitable for products requiring minimal structure, such as cakes, cookies (sweet biscuits), piecrusts, and crackers. Hard wheats, which are high in protein (approximately 12–15 percent), produce flours that are suitable for products requiring stronger structure, such as breads, buns, hard rolls, and yeast-raised sweet rolls.

The wide variety of wheat flours generally available includes whole wheat, or graham, flour, made from the entire wheat kernel and often unbleached; gluten flour, a starch-free, high-protein, whole wheat flour; all-purpose flour, refined (separated from bran and germ), bleached or unbleached, and suitable for any recipe not requiring a special flour; cake flour, refined and bleached, with very fine texture; self-rising flour, refined and bleached, with added leavening and salt; and enriched flour, refined and bleached, with added nutrients.

Flours are also made from other starchy plant materials including barley, buckwheat, chickpeas, lima beans, oats, peanuts, potatoes, soybeans, rice, and rye. Gluten-free flour and related products became popular in the 21st century, as consumers and restaurants became increasingly sensitive to digestive disorders and food allergies.