Lesson XII: Flour - PDF

LESSON XII **FLOUR** **Flour** is a finely ground meal or powdery product obtained from milling cereal grain, root crops, starchy vegetables, and other foods. It is used principally in making bread, pastry, cakes, cookies and macaroni products. **Properties and Characteristics of Flour** ***Whit...

LESSON XII **FLOUR** **Flour** is a finely ground meal or powdery product obtained from milling cereal grain, root crops, starchy vegetables, and other foods. It is used principally in making bread, pastry, cakes, cookies and macaroni products. **Properties and Characteristics of Flour** ***White color-*** Normally milled flour has a yellow pigment imparted by the carotenoid pigment, xanthophyll and carotene. Flour color is important because it affects the brilliancy of the finished bread. Although that whiteness in flour means quality, this is not always true. It has been shown that some baked products can usually be produced from a long extraction-unbleached flour. ***Strength-*** the strength of flour is determined by the ratio between the rates of carbon dioxide production and loss in the fermentation dough. It is the ability of the flour to produce a large loaf brought about by the presence of the protein of sufficient quantity and quality to retain the gas and diostatic activity to produce sugar for uniform gas production. The ability of flour to produce product of large volume as well "pile" and fine texture. A large volume with a coarse uneven grains indicates that the flour is not of high quality. ***Tolerance-*** of bread flour means its ability to withstand any processing abuse brought about by mixing fermentation, make up and all other baking processes and still produce satisfactory results. Tolerance is often correlated with the quality of loaf of the glutten. ***High absorption-*** is the ability of the flour to carry the maximum amount of moisture in the dough and still produce quality of loaf bread. ***Uniformity-*** uniform quality of every flour shipment is a bakers dream. It will be too cumbersome for the baker to keep changing his formulation and process every time a new shipment arrives. **Market Forms of Wheat Flour** ***Whole Wheat Flour-*** also called graham or entire wheat flour. This contains the components of wheat kernel in its original proportion. It is more nutritious than the refined white flour. ***Bread Flour or Hard or Strong Flour-*** made chiefly from hard wheat other than durum wheat. It has slightly higher percentage of gluten than other flours. Off-white in color and granular in texture; it does not lump. It is most suitable for baking yeast leavened breads. ***All Purpose Flour-*** refers to family or general-purpose flour, which is used for all cooking purposes. It has lower protein content which makes it desirable for the quick breads type of flour mixture. All purpose is lower in strength and lighter in weight and color than bread flour. It is made from the blend of wheat with protein content varying from 10-11%. ***Cake Flour-*** is known as soft flour and made from soft wheat. It is highly refined, bleached, and finely ground. It feels soft and very silky to touch. It is excellent for delicate fine-textured cake. ***Pastry Flour-*** designates flour which contains enrichment ingredients. Specified levels of nutrients as required by the law added to white flour. **Instantized or Quick-making Flour*-*** Is an instant flour or all purposed flour processed by moistening and then readied to form agglomerates that do not lump or pack. Such as flour flow freely, requires no sifting before use. ***Durum or Macaroni Flour*** -- designates flour milled from durum wheat. It has high protein content and is used for macaroni products. **Market Forms of Non-Wheat Flour** **Rye Flour**- is obtained by sifting rye meal of the non-wheat flours. It approaches the quality of wheat flour but for bread making it is still inferior to the latter for lack of the gluten forming protein. **Buck Wheat Flour-** it I finely ground product obtain from sifting buck wheat meal. It is use in making or sifting yellow or white corn. **Corn Flour-** is obtained by milling and sifting yellow or white corn. **Potato Flour-** is made by cooking white potatoes which are then dried and ground. This makes good quality doughnuts and fairly acceptable cookies. **Rice Flour**- has two kinds: full fat and low fat soy flour. The former is made from shelled soybean, while the latter is prepared from defatted soybeans. Soybean flour has strong beany flavor. Although it has high protein content than most legumes, it does not have gluten potential of wheat flour. **Flour Mixtures** **Batters-** are flour mixtures which contain enough liquid to be beaten or stirred. Batters vary in stiffness and can be subdivided into pour batters and drop batter. **Dough-** a dough has less liquid in proportion to flour and has a consistency that can be handled or kneaded. The soft dough and stiff dough are two kinds commonly used in baking. **Flour Mixture Ingredients** 1\. Milk- improves crumb and flavor, browns crust, adds nutrients 2\. Sugar- sweetens, increase volume, adds moistness, improve color 3\. Eggs- add structure, help leavening, improve color/flavor, add nutrients 4\. Leavening Agent- increase volume, contributes to crumb, textures, flavor 5\. Salt- adds flavor, firms dough, improves volume, texture, crumb, prolongs shelf life 6\. Fat- tenderizes, increase volume, contributes structure, flakiness, adds flavor, color, increase resistance to staling. 7\. Liquid- hydrates flour, gelatinizes starch, serve as a solvent for dry ingredients **Leavening Agents** A leavening agent is a gas added or produced during the mixing and/or heating of a batter or dough, making the mixture rise, and therefore the product light and porous. Leavening action may be produced by physical, chemical or biological means. The common leavening agents are air, steam, and carbon dioxide. **Kinds of Leavening Agents** ***Air***- as a leavening agent in process such as beating egg, folding and rolling dough. ***Yeast( dry yeast, liquid yeast)-*** is composed chiefly of moist living cells pressed into cakes with small amount of starch as binder. ***Gas-*** is formed by chemical action of agents like baking powder, baking soda, baking cream and ammonium carbonate.