Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
include raisins, sultanas, dates and berries (e.g. blueberries). Preservatives are
widely used to extend the shelf life of a number of bakery products.
Flour is the most widely used natural raw material in the baking industry. There
are different types of fl our depending on the extraction rate of the wheat grain
during milling. The most widely used fl our is white fl our, which has a typical
extraction rate of 75% of the wheat kernel. Lower extraction rate fl ours are
generally whiter than the higher extraction fl our due to less bran being extracted
into the fl our. Wholemeal or wholegrain fl our as the name implies consists of the
total seed and has an extraction rate of 100%. Brown fl our is essentially white
fl our that has had certain amounts of bran added back. The bran is usually milled
to a certain specifi cation, but fi ne bran particles should be avoided as their presence
can lead to loss in baking quality.
The main characteristics of the traditional milling processes are the separation
of the endosperm from the pericarp, testa and embryo, and the reduction of the
endosperm into fl our. These processes to produce fl our are accepted as necessary
and fl our can be considered to be a natural raw material in the UK as it has not
been subjected to any other processes that fall outside the guidelines of the
defi nition of natural suggested by the FSA. However, in the UK, the law requires
calcium carbonate, iron, thiamine (vitamin B1) and niacin (vitamin B3) to be
added as ingredients to white fl our; the usage of these ingredients is governed
by the Miscellaneous Food Regulations 1995 (as amended). In light of these
additions, white fl our would not be classed as a 'natural' material under the FSA
guidelines. Does the addition of the aforementioned ingredients affect the natural
status of fl our bearing in mind the comments in Section 14.1?
Flours used for biscuit and pastry can also be treated with chemicals such as
sodium metabisulfi te to modify the strength of the gluten-forming proteins, but
must not exceed 200 mg per kg of fl our calculated as sulfur dioxide. This would
not normally be carried out by the miller as there is the possibility of contamination
of fl our for breadmaking, which would weaken the strength of the gluten-forming
proteins with disastrous consequences.
To improve the function of the fl our in a recipe formulation where the amounts
of the liquids and the sugar individually are greater than the fl our, the properties
of fl our used to make these high ratio cakes are modifi ed by heat at low moisture
content. The high amount of sugar means that additional liquid is needed to
dissolve it and to provide suffi cient moisture for the gelatinisation of the starch in
the fl our. The fl our of choice for such recipes used to be chlorinated, as it allowed
the fl our to carry the larger amounts of sugar and water. However, chlorination of
fl our has been banned in some countries and heat treatment of fl our has been
carried out to achieve some of the benefi ts of chlorination. Heat treatment is an
acceptable process according to the defi nition of the term 'natural' and the fl our
can still be classed as a natural.
In summary, the wholemeal or whole grain fl our can be considered to be a
natural material as it has been processed using acceptable technology and nothing
is added or removed from the fi nal material. Brown fl our would also fall into this
category if the base white fl our used does not contain the statutorily added
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