Template:Lang is a white flour from the Indian subcontinent, made from wheat. Finely milled without any bran, refined, and bleached, it closely resembles cake flour. Template:Lang is used extensively for making fast foods, baked goods such as pastries, bread,[1] several varieties of sweets, and traditional flatbreads.[2] Owing to this wide variety of uses, it is sometimes labeled and marketed as "all-purpose flour", though it is different from all-purpose flour.
Production
Template:Lang is made from the endosperm: the starchy white part of the grain. The bran is separated from the germ and endosperm which is then refined by passing through a sieve of 80 mesh per inch (31 mesh per centimeter).[3] Although naturally yellowish due to pigments present in wheat, Template:Lang is typically bleached, either naturally due to atmospheric oxygen, or with any of a number of flour bleaching agents.[4]
While it is milled from winter wheat that has a high gluten content, heat generated during the milling process results in denaturing of the protein, limiting its use in the preparation of leavened breads.[5]
Controversy
A common misconception is that Template:Lang contains alloxan, which itself is banned in developed countries for usage in food, added as a bleaching agent or formed as a byproduct of bleaching.[6] While it is a minor product of xanthophyll oxidation, there is no evidence that trace amounts of alloxan formed comprise a health risk.[7]
Applications
Template:Lang is used extensively in Central Asian cuisine and cuisine from the Indian subcontinent. Flatbreads such as naan and tandoori roti are made using Template:Lang. Bhatoora is a fluffy, deep-fried, leavened bread made with Template:Lang and yogurt.
See also
References
- ↑ A life without bread and pasta? Unthinkable!. Times of India(2011-10-31). Retrieved 2012-04-22.
- ↑ The Food Lover's Companion - Fourth edition by Barron's Educational Series (2007). Retrieved 2014-07-05.
- ↑ Patent US5114079 - Simplified method and apparatus for producing white flour from wheat grain.
- ↑ Patent US2433611 - Bleaching of wheat flour and like milled products.
- ↑ Patent US6098905 - Method for producing an atta flour.
- ↑ Why this Kolaveri against Kerala porotta?.
- ↑ Alloxan. Office of Science and Society.
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