Whole wheat flour

“ The kind of flour made depends on how much and what parts of the kernel are used. Graham flour is manufactured by grinding practically all of the wheat-kernel—a 100-per-cent use of the grain, called 100-per-cent extraction. Some people still fail to realize that Graham flour and Graham bread are wheat, perhaps because of the different name and brown color. The so-called "whole-wheat" flour is often 95 per cent of the kernel only, but may be as little as 85 per cent, depending on the amount of the bran and germ removed in the making. ”

“ Very few millers trouble themselves to make a perfect whole wheat flour. I know but one establishment in the world where wheat and other grains are treated precisely as they should be, with all the harmful part removed and the rest made digestible by harmless methods, and that is the Health Food Company of New York. [1]
[1] See Appendix, page 30.
Bread leavened, or unleavened, made out of what is called the Cold Blast Whole Wheat Flour, makes more muscle and furnishes more food for the nerves than any other article of [Pg 21] food given to man except the pure gluten of wheat. ”

“ The refinement of various foods has made them entirely unfit for human consumption. Of first importance without doubt is the use of the whole grain of the wheat for flour. Wheat, as produced by the Almighty, is practically a perfect food, containing all the elements required by the human body and in a proportion not very far from that found in the body. In modern methods of milling, however, the effort is made to eliminate everything in the wheat grain except the pure starch, which naturally makes a fine, smooth, white flour. ”

“ To one cup of corn meal add one cup of boiling water and stir till it is thick. Add one teaspoonful of salt and the same of sugar and butter. Mix well, and then stir in one half cup of milk. Sift three teaspoonfuls of baking powder with one cup of whole wheat flour and add it to the corn meal. The meal still being hot the mixture will be foamy. Add enough more flour to make a stiff dough and drop from a spoon on a buttered pan and bake in a good oven. If the dough is too thin they will spread and be flat when baked. ”

“ Then strew a handful of wheat flour over the surface, scattering it thinly, so as to cover the whole. Warm a clean cloth, and lay it folded over the top of the pan. Then set it in a warm place to rise, nearer the fire in winter than in summer. When it is quite light; and has risen so that the flour on the surface is cracked, strew on the salt, and begin to form the whole mass into a dough; commencing round the hole that contains the batter, and adding, gradually, sufficient lukewarm water (which you must have ready for the purpose) to mix it of the proper consistence. ”

“ The products of refined flour are more completely and easily digested than the whole wheat products. However, by eating in moderation and masticating well every normal person is able to take good care of whole wheat products, and the benefit of using the entire grain is so great that we should hesitate about continuing the use of the refined flours and white breads. ”

“ The red varieties yield the largest amount of grain, but the white the whitest flour.
Wheat is preferred to the other cereal grasses as an article of food on account of its containing a larger quantity of flesh-forming matters. The flour also may be rendered very white by separating it from the husks, or bran, and the fruit is much more easily separated from the chaff than is the case with the other cereals. The proportion of flesh and force-producing to those of force-producers only, is more nearly adjusted to the requirements of the system in wheat than in any other food. ”

“ Probably the wheat which combines the most desirable qualities for flour-making purposes is the red Mediterranean, which has plenty of gluten and a tough bran, though claimed by some to have a little too much coloring matter, while the body of the berry is white. By poor milling a good wheat can be made into flour deficient both in strength and color, and by careful milling a wheat naturally deficient in strength may be made into flour having all the strength there was in the wheat originally and of good color. Good milling is indispensable, no matter what the quality of the wheat may be. ”

“ Generally speaking, the purest coloured white wheat indicates most opacity, and, of course, yields the finest flour; and red wheat is most flinty, and therefore yields the strongest flour: a translucent red wheat will yield stronger flour than a translucent white wheat, and yet a red wheat never realises so high a price in the market as white—partly because it contains a larger proportion of refuse in the grinding, but chiefly because it yields less fine flour, that is, starch. ”

“ On the other hand, when wheat is translucent, hard, and flinty, it is better suited to the common baker than the confectioner and starch manufacturer, as affording what is called strong flour, that rises boldly with yeast into a spongy dough. Bakers will, therefore, give more for good wheat in this state than in the opaque; but for bread of finest quality the flour should be fine as well as strong, and therefore a mixture of the two conditions of wheat is best suited for making the best quality of bread. ”

“ Grown wheat makes dough that is runny, and cannot be well moulded, or make good bread. This can be discovered only by trial. Smutty wheat makes flour that is very unhealthful.
Flour always should be sifted before using it, to restore the lightness destroyed by packing, as well as to remove impurities. Bread is also more sure to be light, if the flour is heated before wetting. This can be done, by setting the kneading trough aslant before the fire, stirring it a little as it is warming. When bread proves to be bad, examine the yeast, and see also whether the oven bakes properly. ”

“ The last-named evils are avoided by the use of wheat containing no fungus, none of the eggs of the weavil, nor of other insects, and enclosing the freshly ground flour in packages not accessible to infection. Even then it is advisable to consume the flour as soon as convenient after the milling process. Many manufacturers and experts contend that flour is improved by keeping for a certain length of time, and this contention is based on the assumption that the flour assumes a lighter color and improves in flavor on keeping. ”

“ The principal physical characteristics of wheat flour of good quality are the following—it has a dull white colour, somewhat inclining to yellow;—it exhibits no trace of bran, even when pressed smooth with the hand,748 or with a polished surface;—its cohesiveness is so great that, on being squeezed in the hand, the lump is some time before it loses its shape;—it has a homogeneous appearance, and does not lose more than from 6% to 12% by being carefully dried in a stove. ”

“ Unfortunately not all flour of good colour is sound for bread-making purposes. Wheat which has been harvested in a damp condition, or has been thoroughly soaked, by drenching showers previous to cutting, or has got wet in the stook, Damp and flour. is liable, unless carefully handled, to produce flour that will only bake flat, sodden loaves. Wheat which has received too much rain as it is approaching maturity, and has then been exposed to strong sunlight, is peculiarly liable to sprout. ”

“ If ground fine enough to make a good yield a good share of the bran went into the flour, making it dark and specky. If not so finely ground the flour was whiter, but the large percentage of middlings made the yield per bushel ruinously small. These middlings contained the choicest part of the flour producing part of the berry, but owing to the dirt, germ, and other impurities mixed with them, it was impossible to regrind them except for a low grade flour. Merchant milling of spring wheat was impossible wherever the flour came in competition with winter wheat flours. ”

“ All the cereal grains, as millet, rice, maize, rye, barley and oats are utilized more or less by the inhabitants of the countries where these are cultivated, but wheat is the most suited for the purpose of making the best qualities of bread. Wheaten flour contains in slightly varying proportions, according to the kind of wheat from which it is manufactured, starch, gluten—a grey, viscid, elastic, nitrogenous substance, consisting chiefly of vegetable fibrine—sugar, gum, mineral matter and water. ”

“ It is of less importance in the making of bread than spring, or hard, wheat, but it is the kind that has been grown for centuries and from which the varieties of spring wheat have been cultivated. It is a softer grain than spring wheat, because it contains less gluten and more starch. The flour made from it does not produce so elastic a dough mixture as does that made from the other variety of wheat; consequently, the finished product, such as bread, rolls, etc., is likely to be more tender and more friable, or crumbly. ”

“ The Food Administration, therefore, has considered that the most effective use of our wheat could be obtained by forbidding the manufacture of fancy flours of low extraction and making all flour contain at least 74 per cent of the wheat. ”

“ A standard wheat should be hardy, strong in the straw; not easy to shell and waste, prolific, thin in the bran, white in flour, and the flour rich in starch and gluten. The earliness or lateness of a variety affects its liability to disease.
Much may be done by every farmer to secure a variety suited to his soil from his own fields. Let a watchful eye observe every remarkable head of wheat—a very early one, a very long head, any which have an unusual sized grain, or is distinguished for any excellent property. ”

“ With us, wheat is chiefly employed for the fabrication of bread. It is, in fact, the only grain of which light porous bread can be made; but rye and barley are also used as bread-corn. The farina of the other cerealia afford also a nutritive and wholesome bread; though their flour is not so susceptible of the panary fermentation, it cannot be made into the white texture of the wheaten loaf. The bread formed from them is consequently much inferior to that prepared from wheat. ”

“ Wheat is milled for converting into flour by processes producing essentially the same results, all requiring cleansing, grinding, and bolting. Entire wheat flour has only the outer husk removed, the remainder of the kernel being finely ground. Graham flour, confounded with entire wheat, is too often found to be an inferior flour, mixed with coarse bran. ”

“ A wheat which has an abundance of starch, but is poor in gluten, cannot make a strong flour. This is the trouble with all soft wheats, both winter and spring. A wheat which is rich in gluten is hard, and in the case of our hard Minnesota wheat has a very tender bran. It is comparatively easy to make a strong flour, but it requires very careful milling to make a flour of good color from it. ”

“ Without proper cooking they are unpalatable and unwholesome, and they are not so easy to cook as wheat. They take a longer time and we cannot get the same culinary effects, since with the exception of rye they will not make a light loaf. Fortunately we are not asked to deny ourselves wheat entirely, only to substitute other cereals for part of it. Let each housewife resolve when next she buys flour to buy at the same time one-fourth as much of some other grain, finely ground, rye, corn, barley, according to preference, and mix the two thoroughly at once. ”

“ Thus, if a muffin recipe calls for 3 1/2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder and 2 cupfuls of corn flour are substituted for wheat, the quantity of baking powder should be increased to 4 1/2 teaspoonfuls.
WHY WHEAT IS POPULAR.—In this country, wheat is doubtless the most used of all grains. Its white or creamy color and mild flavor which blends well with that of many foods account in part for its popularity. From a culinary standpoint, wheat flour is more satisfactory to use than any other kind. It produces breads of pleasing texture,—tender but firm enough to hold their shape. ”

“ The English grain is fuller and rounder than the American, being puffed up with moisture.
Every year the total loss in the United States from moisture in wheat and flour is estimated at four to five million dollars. To remedy this great evil, the grain should be well ripened before harvesting, and well dried before being stored in a good dry granary. Afterwards, in grinding and in transporting, it should be carefully protected from wet, and the flour be kept from exposure to the atmosphere. The best precaution is kiln-drying. ”

“ In public and in private, I have advised their use instead of white flour, but solely upon the ground that the wheat is less robbed of certain of its invaluable constituents in the former; but I can not conceive it possible to separate the hull from the kernel without real loss, even if the hull were, in itself, objectionable, which, so far from being true, is, in my opinion, a mistake and a very serious one. ”

“ The relative merits of the flour made by the new process and the old have been warmly discussed, but the general verdict of the great body of consumers is that the patent or new process flour is better in every way for bread making purposes, being clearer, whiter, more evenly granulated, and possessing more strength. Careful chemical analysis has confirmed this. As between winter and spring wheat flours made by the new process and gradual reduction systems, it maybe remarked that the former contain more starch and are whiter in color, while the latter, having more gluten, excel in strength. ”