FoodNet

Foods, their selection and preparation

1935

Page 258

Presented as published in 1935. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Expressed per 100 gm. of flour. Data are given in terms of only two minerals and three members of the B Complex. Other minerals and B vitamins pres¬ ent in the wheat also are increased with the rate of extraction. 3CaC03 added. increased CaCOs. 6 Report of the Conference on the Post-War Loaf British Ministry of Food, His Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, November, 1945. the level of these three nutrients that bread might be expected to contribute to the Brit¬ ish diet. The amounts are about half those required in enriched flour. (See below.) No standard was proposed for riboflavin, since wheat products are not important natural sources of this nutrient. The suggested amounts of thiamine, niacin, and iron can be obtained from flour milled to the 80 per cent level. The official scientific and medical mem¬ bers of the conference felt strongly that the retention of the natural constituents of the grain is preferable to the addition of a lim¬ ited group of ingredients, since the flours of high extraction contains additional amounts of other important nutrients. Enriched Flours. As a part of the nutri¬ tion program in the United States, a differ¬ ent approach was made to the flour problem. Wheat was abundantly available during the war period, and any change in the methods of milling seemed inadvisable at that time; so low-extraction flours were continued. Rec¬ ognizing the deficiency of these flours in vitamins and iron, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council rec¬ ommended that all white flours be enriched by the addition of not less than two milli¬ grams of thiamine, 1.2 milligrams of ribo- [284] flavin, 16 milligrams of niacin, and 13 milli¬ grams of iron to each pound of flour. These requirements were incorporated in a defini¬ tion for enriched flour issued by the Food and Drug Administration.1 While the en¬ richment of flour was not and is not required by any Federal order, any flour labeled "enriched” must conform to the above def¬ inition. The millers generally complied with the enrichment program, and much of the flour on the market is still enriched. Some states have, passed laws requiring the enrich¬ ment of flour. Emergency Flour. Early in 1946, it be¬ came apparent that if the United States was to ship abroad the amount of wheat needed to prevent hunger in Europe, wheat must be used more economically. War-food order No. 144 issued in March, 1946, required that wheat used in flour milling be extracted at an 80 per cent level. In other words, the order required that 80 pounds of flour be produced from every 100 pounds of wheat milled in¬ stead of the customary 72 pounds. This flour was called "emergency flour” by the trade. It was slightly darker than 72 per cent extrac¬ tion flour and required less water and mixing, and was higher in nutritive value than the lower-extraction flours. It was in some cases enriched with the amount of the specified ingredients necessary to bring it up to the standard for enriched flour. This order was repealed in November, 1946, when supplies from the new wheat crop became available. QUALITY IN FLOUR Flours are sold more on the basis of quality than of food value. Special qualities are needed in flours for different uses. The terms used to describe the more important quali¬ ties are "strength,” "water absorption,” and < t i * y color.