Foods and home making

What are the grades of flour? Grains of wheat look very different from white flour. When wheat is made into white flour, the outer covering, which you learned is called bran , is removed. The part of the grain from which the young plant springs when wheat grains are sown in the ground is removed also. This portion of the grain is called the germ or embryo. (See Figure 19, page 50.) When the coats of bran and the germ are removed by many grindings, siftings, and separations, the middle portion of the grain is left. This middle part is crushed and passed through closely meshed silk. From the various siftings, different 82 Breakfast streams of flour are obtained ; these streams differ from each other in quality. By blending different streams, the miller produces different grades of white flour. The grades of flour in common use are short patent, long patent, straight flour , first clear, and second clear. Short patent is the highest grade. This contains less proteins forming gluten than the lower grades of flour, but the gluten is more elastic. Second clear is the lowest grade of flour. What is Graham flour? whole-wheat flour? Many years ago there lived in this country a minister whose name was Sylvester Graham. He became interested in food which would satisfy peoples’ appetites so that there would be no craving for alcoholic drinks. One of the foods he advocated was bread made from the whole grain. That is, in the manufacture of flour instead of discarding the bran and germ from wheat, these parts were retained and the whole grain crushed into flour. Flour made from the whole grain was named for Mr. Graham. Because the whole grain is used in the manufacture of Graham flour, this flour differs in composition from fine white or patent flour. Graham flour is richer than fine white flour in mineral matter, proteins, fats, cellulose, and vitamins. In buying Graham flour one should remember that it will not keep so well as fine white flour. This is due to the fact that the germ of the grain spoils more readily than the other parts. According to government standards “whole-wheat flour, entire-wheat flour, Graham flour is the product made by grind- ing wheat and containing in their natural proportions all the constituents of the cleaned grain.” Hence these names refer to the same flour although they did not formerly. How are the dry ingredients of muffins measured and mixed ? You doubtless know that flour is used in making muffins. This material is used in greater quantity than any other in a muffin mixture. It is important that all the ingredients be measured accurately. Let us learn how to measure flour : Toast and Other Breakfast Breads 83 Experiment 9 : To learn how to measure fine flour. (а) With a measuring cup, scoop out of the pastry-flour canister a cup of flour. Level off the flour with a knife. Now pour this level cup of flour into a sifter. Sift the flour into a pan or bowl, taking care that no flour falls outside the pan or bowl while it is being sifted. With a tablespoon fill the measuring cup with the sifted flour. Again level off the cup with a knife. Is there more than enough flour to fill the cup ? (б) By means of a tablespoon measure the flour which you do not put into the cup. How many tablespoons does it measure?