FoodNet

Foods, their selection and preparation

1935

Page 256

Presented as published in 1935. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
The flour streams from the reduction of the middlings contain more of the gluten¬ forming proteins. The first streams are of higher quality than those resulting from the later reductions, as the later ones .contain some fibrous material. In some of the large [282] mills there are as many as 40 streams of flour to be blended in preparing the various market grades of flour. Some of the smaller mills put out only one grade, the straight grade, which . contains about 98 per cent of all the flour obtained. Straight flour contains practically all the bolted wheat meal and may be designated as 100 per cent flour, or 98 per cent if the second clear flour is excluded. This represents from 70-72 per cent of the grain. Patent flours are made up chiefly from the streams which come from the reduction of the middlings. They contain little or none of the streams of clear flour. Patent flours are designated as "long” or "short,” depend¬ ing upon how much of the total flour they contain. They may be designated on a per¬ centage basis. For example, 85 per cent patent indicates a flour that contains 85 per cent of the total bolted wheat meal. The yield of high patent flour may be as low as 60 per cent of the weight of the wheat milled. Clear flour contains the less desirable streams, that is, the less refined streams and the streams lowest in gluten content. Clear flour is divided into first and second clear on the basis of quality. WARTIME FLOURS During wartime, food supplies become in¬ creasingly important. Shipping is interfered with and locally produced food must be used to the maximum extent. Imported foods must be in a stable and concentrated form and used with great economy. Cereals are stable, concentrated, and ship easily. Wheat is in special demand because of the bread¬ making quality of its flour, and must be used to produce as much flour as is consistent with the maintenance of a satisfactory qual¬ ity of bread. High-Extraction Flour. During the Sec¬ ond World War, England stretched the avail¬ able wheat supplies for a time by an order requiring that 90 pounds of flour be produced from every 100 pounds of wheat milled. This flour was somewhat darker than flours of 70 to 80 per cent extraction, but still made good though dark bread. As wheat supplies be¬ came more abundant this requirement was reduced to 80 per cent, but in 1948 was in¬ creased again to 85 per cent. While this step was taken in large part to save wheat, it was also in the interest of nu¬ trition. The cereals, always important sources of the B vitamins, became the pri¬ mary sources in Britain, as the result of the shortage of meat. The use of high-extraction flour saved wheat, the B vitamins, and other important food nutrients. The nutritive value of these flours is shown in Table LVII.