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FlourAn ingredient used in many foods, flour is a fine powder made from cereals or other starchy food sources. It is most commonly made from wheat, but also maize (a.k.a. corn), rye, barley, and rice, amongst many other grasses and non-grain plants (including many Australian species of acacia). Flour is the key ingredient of bread, which is the staple food in many countries, and therefore the availability of adequate supplies of flour has often been a major economic and political issue. Flour can also be made from legumes and nuts, such as soy, peanuts, almonds, and other tree nuts. Flour is always based on the presence of starches, which are complex carbohydrates. Usually, the word "flour" used alone refers to wheat flour, which is one of the most important foods in European and American culture. Wheat flour is the main ingredient in most types of breads and pastries. Wheat is so widely used because of an important property: when wheat flour is mixed with water, a complex protein called gluten develops. The gluten development is what gives wheat dough an elastic structure that allows it to be worked in a variety of ways, and which allows the retention of gas bubbles in an intact structure, resulting in a sponge-like texture to the final product. This is highly desired for breads, cakes and other baked products. A coarser, somewhat granular preparation, rather than a fine dust, is often called meal. The vast majority of today's flour consumption is wheat flour. Wheat varieties are typically known as, variously, "white" or "brown" if they have high gluten content, and "soft" or "weak flour" if gluten content is low. Hard flour, or "bread" flour, is high in gluten and so forms a certain toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Soft flour is comparatively low in gluten and so results in a finer 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. All-purpose flour is a blended wheat flour with an intermediate gluten level which is marketed as an acceptable compromise for most household baking needs. Whole-wheat flour is whole-grain wheat flour. Bleached flour is flour that was subjected to flour bleaching agents in order to whiten it (freshly milled flour is yellowish) and give it more gluten-producing potential. Similar effect can be achieved by letting the flour slowly oxidize with oxygen in the air ("natural aging"); however this process is too slow to be commercially viable. Oxidizing agents are therefore employed, most commonly organic peroxides like acetone peroxide or benzoyl peroxide, nitrogen dioxide, or chlorine. Check out the following recipes that are tagged "Flour":
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