Flour and Starches Flashcards

Flashcards on types and functions of flour, gluten formation, starch composition, gelatinization, and celiac disease.

Whole Wheat Flour

Ground from the entire wheat kernel, including the bran, endosperm, and germ.

Bread Flour

Made chiefly from hard winter wheat and has a protein content of about 13%.

All Purpose Flour

A blend of wheat to produce a protein content lower than bread flour; protein content varies nationwide; may be bleached using chlorine, bromine gases, or benzoyl peroxide.

Cake Flour

Made from soft wheat; finely milled and soft; low protein content (~9%); highly bleached with chlorine; high starch content and weak gluten.

Pastry Flour

White flour made from soft wheat.

Instantized Flour

All-purpose flour processed by moistening and then re-drying to get small particles, which blend with water easier than regular all-purpose flour.

Self-Rising Flour

Flour with leavening ingredients and salt added in proportions desirable for home baking, typically baking soda and monocalcium phosphate.

Gluten Flour

Flour with extracted gluten and wheat flour, resulting in a high protein content of about 41%.

Enriched Flour

White flour with added B vitamins and iron.

What are the two Wheat Flour Proteins?

Gliadin and Glutenin

What properties of Gluten is responsible for?

Elastic properties of dough & baked yeast bread volume

Hydration (Gluten Formation)

Absorbing approximately twice its weight in water to form gluten's complex, intertwined network.

Kneading (Gluten Formation)

Compressing and stretching the dough to increase gluten formation, but over-kneading should be avoided to prevent breaking gluten strands.

Sugar (Gluten Production)

Competes with starch for available water, delays gelatinization, and increases the temperature required for gelatinization.

Lipids (Gluten Production)

Will contribute to reduced gluten development during kneading.

Starch

The storage form of carbohydrates found in plant cells; a polysaccharide made up of glucose units.

Amylose

A long, linear chain of glucose units linked via α 1,4 linkages.

Amylopectin

A highly branched chain of glucose units linked via α-D-1,6 linkages.

Gelatinization

Starch granules heated in a liquid expand, weakening hydrogen bonds, allowing water to penetrate, and causing amylose to leach out.

Gel Formation

The gel that forms after gelatinized starch has cooled below 100°F, dependent on amylose concentration, where amylose gels and amylopectin does not.

Retrogradation

As gel cools, bonds between amylose continue to form, causing the gel to contract and water to be forced out (also known as syneresis or weeping).

Dextrinization

The result of hydrolysis of starch when starch is heated without water, making the food taste sweeter and decreasing thickening power.

Celiac Disease

An autoimmune disorder where the body has an autoimmune response to the protein gliadin within gluten, occurring in approximately 1% of the population.