Flour

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Flour

Cookbook: Flour   Media: Flour

Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures. Corn flour has been important in Mesoamerican cuisine since ancient times and remains a staple in the Americas. Rye flour is a constituent of bread in both Central Europe and Northern Europe.

Cereal flour consists either of the endosperm, germ, and bran together (whole-grain flour) or of the endosperm alone (refined flour). Meal is either differentiable from flour as having slightly coarser particle size (degree of comminution)^{[further explanation needed]} or is synonymous with flour; the word is used both ways.

The CDC has cautioned not to eat raw flour doughs or batters. Raw flour can contain harmful bacteria such as E. coli and needs to be cooked like other foods.^[1]

Normal processing of flour from which the outer layers have been removed (white flour) removes nutrients. Such flours, and breads made from them, may be fortified by adding nutrients; this is required by law in the UK.