In preparation for this article, I conducted a small survey to gauge the level of knowledge regarding flour. I was amazed at the results – yes, it is the ingredient that we find in cakes, cookies, bread and pasta but many were unaware that it is also in sauces, soups and many more food products that we eat daily.
In fact, I realised that I only knew enough about flour to get me through the basic culinary cooking skills. I had to touch up on the nutritional values and gluten-free options so researching this has been interesting for me.
Why is it that we don’t know much about this product that we put in our bodies and how to use it correctly? Maybe it’s because we trust that it should be good for us and/or the care-factor for learning about it is low ... Who knows.
The most common types of flour are…
· Wholemeal Flour – contains all parts of the wheat grain including the outer layers of bran and germ. Wholemeal flour is higher in dietary fibre and overall nutrient content than white flours and does not have as high a gluten level. When using wholemeal flour, more liquid is required as the bran tends to absorb more than white flour. It is used in various baked products including, bread, cakes, biscuits, slices, scones, and muffins.
· Pure Plain/Standard Flour – also called soft flour. Wheat consists of several components, the germ or seed containing natural oil, the endosperm surrounding the germ which is the starch, and then the outer layer bran, which contains fibre. The nutrients that are good for your body are found in the germ and bran (found in wholemeal flour). Milling processes strip away and remove the germ and the bran leaving the ‘empty’ endosperm which is further ground into the highly refined carbohydrate we all know as white flour. It is made from soft wheat varieties and has the lowest protein content out of all wheat flours. White flour contains little of its original nutrient value but high amounts of carbohydrate calories which unfortunately has the similar response in your body to normal table sugar. Not good.
· High Grade Flour or Strong Flour – also known as baker’s flour. This is a good bread making flour as it is made from hard, high-protein wheat. It is used for general baking like carrot and banana cakes, heavily fruited cakes and puddings, flaky and puff pastry and pizzas and is the best choice for yeast raising products.
· Self Raising Flour – is low protein flour which is combined with baking powder or a similar chemical aerating agent, and salt. If you don’t have self-rising flour, it’s easy to make. I do 1 ½ tsp of baking powder and ½ tsp of salt for every cup of flour, and it works. Self raising flour is great for sponges, pancakes, pikelets, muffins and scones. Just remember to use a standard flour to prevent your scones from sticking to the bench or else they will leave you with a bitter after taste.
The above flours are the typical flours that you see covering the shelves in most supermarkets. However, your flour supplier should also be able to offer you some less known flours such as rice flour, buckwheat flour, spelt flour, wholemeal spelt flour, gluten-free flour and possibly some others. These flours may be higher in price due to lesser demand but as we become more knowledgeable about them, their use is growing. For example, spelt and rice flour are suitable for gluten-free baking. I highly recommend that you take a look at these options sometime as many of them are nutritionally better for you too.
I tend to stay away from highly processed white flours, which unfortunately are found in most of our popular processed products because it is cheap to use and stores for longer. I see these as empty calories. Empty calories refer to foods that contain low or no nutritional value but have high amounts of calories. Consuming these empty calories requires more energy to digest, using nutrients and minerals from your body to get rid of these empty calories, resulting in your body being left with fewer nutrients than it had to begin with. The regular consumption of empty calories can lead to all sorts of health related problems.
If your aim is to maintain a healthy, toned body with healthy body fat levels then a high priority should be to avoid empty calorie foods. It is worth considering this when using flour to make products for selling. Instead focus on foods that are nutritionally dense containing high natural levels of health boosting proteins, good fats, fibre, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
In the recipe below, I have used buckwheat flour, which is the fruit of a plant related to rhubarb, and sorrel. I have chosen buckwheat due to the fact that it is a very good source of manganese, magnesium and dietary fibre. It also contains two flavonoids with significant health-promoting actions: rutin and quercetin. Both quercetin and rutinose are strong antioxidants which are effective against inflammation, cell damage and circulatory problems. The protein in buckwheat is a high quality protein containing all eight essential amino acids.
Yammies
These yummy little healthy treats are a `brownie’ type consistency which you can heat up and add a little bit of cream and strawberries to if you are feeling a little bit naughty or just as good on their own.
Ingredients
1 cup yams, grated
½ cup brown sugar
1Tbsp molasses
1Tbsp honey
1 cup apple sauce
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
· Pre-heat oven to 175°C.
· Grease 9x13 size baking dish.
· In a large bowl, mix together apple sauce, molasses, honey and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, and then stir in the vanilla.
· Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, and stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in the grated yam.
· Spread evenly into the greased dish and bake for 30 minutes or until cooked right through. Test by softly pushing the centre of the cake to see if it springs back and/or insert with a skewer and check that it comes out clean.
· Let it cool then you can cut and store in an airtight container or leave it in the dish and cut when needed. I like to keep mine in the fridge as it tends to get quite sticky.
References: Mike Honore: reactiv.co.nz, www.whfoods.com, Cancer Lett 1996; 109: 185-91