Grains

Abstract

Throughout the world, there is a great variety of types and amounts of grain products that are selected to be consumed by individuals. The World Health Organization (WHO) and many countries including the United States stress the nutritional importance of grains as a foundation of a good diet.

Glossary

All-purpose wheat flour

White flour, not containing the bran or germ. Combining the properties of hard and soft wheat.

Bleached flour

Bleaching the pigment to a whiter color, naturally by exposing pigment to air, or by chemical agents.

Bran

The layered outer coating of the kernel, offering protection for the seed.

Bread flour

Made from a hard wheat kernel, with a high protein–starch ratio; high gluten potential.

Cereal

Any edible grain that comes from cultivated grasses.

Endosperm

The starch-storing portion of the seed that produces white flour and gluten.

Enrichment

Adding back nutrients lost in milling.

Fortification

Adding nutrients at levels beyond that present in the original grain.

Germ

The embryo; the inner portion of the kernel.

Gluten

Protein substances (gliadins, glutenins) left in the flour after the starch have been removed, which when hydrated and manipulated produce the elastic, cohesive structure of dough.

Malt

Produced from a sprouting barley germ. Long glucose chains are hydrolyzed by an enzyme to maltose, i.e., involved in both feeding yeast and producing CO₂. May be dried and added to numerous products.

Matured flour

Wheat flour, i.e., aged naturally or by chemical agents to improve gluten elasticity and baking properties of dough.

Organic flour

Flour from crops grown without the use of chemicals such as herbicides and insecticides.

Patent flour

Highest grade of flour from mill streams at the beginning of the reduction rolls. High starch, less protein than mill streams at the end of reduction rolls.

Pasta

The paste of milled grains, usually the semolina from durum wheat, extruded through a die to produce a diversity of shaped products. They are dried and then cooked in large amounts of water. Included are macaroni, noodles, spaghetti, ravioli, and the like.

Semolina

Flour milled from durum wheat.

Oregon State University

Select definitions for a better understanding of cereals, flour, and flour mixtures.

Amylopectin

A fraction of starch with a highly branched and bushy type of molecular structure.

Amylose

The long-chain or linear fraction of starch.

Baking powder

Is a mixture consisting generally of an acid salt and sodium bicarbonate which, when water is added, and possibly heat, will produce carbon dioxide for leavening.

Batter

Systems with their relative high water: flour: water is continuous. Structure depends much less on gluten development than on gelatinization of starch.

Bleaching

Of flour is the oxidization of the yellow carotenoid pigments in wheat flour. This may be done with either chemicals or during “aging” over a length of time.

Carmelization

The development of brown color and caramel flavor as dry sugar is heated to a high temperature; chemical decomposition occurs in the sugar.

Carotenoid pigment

Yellow-orange compounds produced by plan cells and found in various fruit, vegetable, and cereal grain tissues; for example, beta-carotene.

Coagulation

Change in protein, after it has been denatured, that results in hardening or precipitation and is often accomplished by heating.

Fermentation

The transformation of organic substances into smaller molecules by the action of microorganisms; yeast ferments glucose to yield carbon dioxide and alcohol.

Gliadin

Is the water-insoluble protein that contributes stickiness and tackiness to gluten structure.

Gluten

Is an elastic cohesive mass made up of gliadin, glutenin, water, and a lipoprotein compound.

Glutenin

Is the water-insoluble protein that contributes toughness and rubberiness to gluten structure.

Graham flour

Is flour essentially from the entire wheat kernel. It may be ground to varying degrees.

Green flour

Is flour which has not been aged or matured.

Maturing

Of flour is the aging process that affects the flour structural proteins through oxidation of the gliadin and glutenin. Maturing may occur naturally or with chemical additions.

Milling

Is the process which generally involves the separation of the bran and germ from the endosperm which is subsequently subdivided.

Oxidation

A chemical reaction in which oxygen is added or electrons are lost.

Proofing

The last rising of bread dough after it is molded into a loaf and placed in the baking pan.

Reducing substance

A molecule that has an effect opposite that of an oxidizing agent: hydrogen or electrons are gained in a reaction involving reducing substances.

Rope

Is a bacterial contamination that can originate in the flour bin or in the various constituents used to make bread. It will make a loaf of bread sticky and “ropy” in the interior.

Staling

Refers to those changes in quality that occur in baked products after baking. Generally, there is a loss of flavor, softening of the crust or development of a leathery crust, and increased firmness of the crumb.

Starch gelatinization

The swelling of starch granules when heated with water, often resulting in thickening.

Straight grade white flour

Theoretically should contain all the flour streams resulting from the milling process, but actually 2–3 % of the poorest streams are withheld.

White wheat

Flour is a food made by the grinding and sifting of cleaned wheat (definition, FDA).