The Science of New Year’s Goods | Fuqiang flour, wheat core flour, snowflake flour... Which type of pasta is suitable for making?

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Compiled by New Media Editor Li Yunfeng

Northerners mainly eat wheaten food, and their favorite foods are steamed buns, dumplings, noodles and dumplings, so they spend a lot of time dealing with flour. In addition, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and everyone has some free time, so they want to make some wheaten food at home.

However, I wonder if you have noticed that the steamed buns sold outside are white, plump, and soft, which looks pleasing to the eye. The noodles are also very chewy and smooth, but when it comes to making them yourself, it is completely different: the steamed buns are hard, the noodles are not chewy, and they taste terrible. It makes people doubt their lives for a while. They clearly follow the chef's steps, so why do they turn out like this? So they are hit hard, thinking that their skills are not good enough and they have no talent. They even swear to quit the business and never touch noodles again.

Little do people know that in addition to technology, hardware (flour) is also very important when making pasta. If you choose the right flour, even a novice can make delicious pasta! Here I will share with you how to choose flour, so that you can show off your skills in front of everyone and make up for your previous shame!

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"Nutritionally complete" whole wheat flour

Before introducing whole wheat flour, let me first show you a picture. This is a schematic diagram of wheat.

(Photo source: Shijinbumei)

The outermost part is the bran, the lower part is the germ, and the large white area inside is the endosperm that provides us with flour. The "crude fiber and minerals" we often hear about are contained in the bran, the oil and various vitamins are hidden in the germ, and the main components of the endosperm are starch and protein.

Tan Bin, a researcher at the National Grain Administration's Scientific Research Institute, said that nutrients are most abundant in the germ and bran, and some active substances are only found in the bran, not in the endosperm. The higher the processing precision, the greater the loss of nutrients.

As a researcher on whole grains, Tan Bin highly recommends "whole wheat flour" because only whole wheat flour contains germ, which other flours do not.

Editor's advice:

This kind of flour can not only be used to make whole wheat steamed buns and whole wheat bread, but can also be mixed with mung bean flour, red bean flour, etc. to make two-piece flatbreads. This method of eating whole grains in fine pieces has a variety of tastes and helps the stomach and intestines absorb it. It is suitable for diabetic patients. Apart from the rough taste and dark color of the flour, the nutrition is definitely beyond doubt. It is still very beneficial to eat more of it on a regular basis.

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"Universal Flour" Enriched Flour

Enriched flour generally (especially in Beijing) refers to flour, which is ground from the core part of wheat seeds, with a flour yield of about 70%-73% and an ash content of about 0.60%. It is a kind of general-purpose flour with a relatively fine texture, high gluten content, few impurities, and a white color. This kind of flour is moderately priced and tastes good, but its nutritional value is much lower than that of whole wheat flour, so fortified enriched flour has appeared on the market, which adds beneficial ingredients such as vitamins and minerals. If you want better nutrition but can't accept the taste of whole wheat flour, fortified enriched flour is a better choice.

Editor's advice:

It is suitable for making steamed buns, pies, noodles and other pasta. Adding a little salt when kneading the dough can make the noodles smooth and chewy.

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Snowflake powder

Snowflake starch is the finest and the whitest in color. The pasta made with it is particularly beautiful and can be said to be the leader in terms of appearance. However, due to the fine processing, some nutrition is lost. You can add more vegetables when making dumpling fillings to make up for this deficiency.

Editor's advice:

It is suitable for making steamed buns, dumplings and other pasta. When making steamed buns, adding a small amount of white sugar to the baking powder can make the dough ferment better. Because yeast fermentation requires sugar to provide energy. Note that you should use warm water to mix the dough. Too low a temperature will affect the fermentation, and too high a temperature will make the baking powder lose its activity. If you add some milk when mixing the dough, the steamed buns will be more fluffy and have a milky aroma, which is very popular with children.

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"Decathlon" wheat core flour

Wheat core flour, also known as wheat heart flour, is wheat flour made from the endosperm in the center of wheat. It has high processing precision, strong gluten, no additives, natural yellow and bright color, good extensibility and operability, fine powder, good edible quality, smooth and translucent surface, delicate structure, smooth taste, refreshing and non-sticky. The finished product is crystal clear and smooth, with a strong taste, rich wheat aroma, rich nutrition, long cooking without mushy, and does not mix with soup. It can be said that it has thousands of advantages in one, and the price is relatively high.

Editor's advice:

It is suitable for making various high-end pastries, such as crab roe buns, French bread, pizza, European bread, thousand-thread flower rolls, barbecued pork buns, etc.

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“Simple and convenient” self-raising flour

Self-raising flour is made from wheat flour, which is pre-mixed with a leavening agent. It is made by adding a certain amount of food additives that can produce gas to the flour. People only need to add water or egg paste to make various leavened foods. This can avoid tedious weighing, batching, mixing, fermentation, and dealkalization processes, and can reduce the requirements for food production technology. It can stabilize and improve the quality of food, save time, and is simple and convenient. It is an ideal instant food for families, canteens, troops, and field operations.

(Photo source: Xiachufang)

Editor's advice:

It is suitable for making steamed buns, cakes and fried dough sticks. It should be noted that this kind of flour is not suitable for making noodles and dumplings, because it has produced gas during production, which will damage the gluten, resulting in broken dumplings and broken noodles.

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"Crystal clear" powder

Chengfen is also called Chengmian, Tingfen and wheat starch. It is a gluten-free flour made of wheat. It is processed flour. After being rinsed with water, the gluten in the flour is separated from other substances. The gluten becomes gluten, and the remaining is Chengmian.

(Photo source: Xiachufang)

Editor's advice:

It can be used to make various snacks, such as shrimp dumplings, vermicelli, rice noodle rolls, etc. Its biggest feature is that the noodles made are crystal clear and chewy. It should be noted that hot water should be used to mix the noodles when making shrimp dumplings.

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The following four tips will help you choose good flour

If you want to choose good flour, you should pay attention to a few issues:

Look at the color

Flour that meets national standards is usually milky white or slightly yellowish. If the flour is snow-white, pale white, or bluish, it means that it contains chemical additives and may exceed the usage standards.

(Photo source: China Food News)

Look at the packaging

Check whether the factory name, address, production date, shelf life, quality grade, etc. are marked on the packaging. Try to choose flour marked as not containing whitening agents. Check whether the sealing line of the packaging shows signs of being opened and reused. If so, it is a counterfeit product.

Smell the aroma

High-quality flour has a fresh and slightly sweet aroma. Any flour with a sour, smelly, moldy or other strange odor is due to excessive addition of whitening agent, the flour has exceeded its shelf life, or has been polluted by the external environment and has deteriorated.

Taste

You can put a little dry flour in your mouth and taste it. Good flour should have a delicate taste. If it feels like something foreign, it means the flour contains a high amount of sand.

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Flour storage

In fact, all flours have a limited shelf life, and the same is true for bread flour. Generally, flour manufacturers recommend that flour should not be stored for more than six months, especially whole wheat flour.

The main change caused by leaving it for too long is that when the flour is exposed to air, the oil contained in the flour will begin to oxidize, resulting in a stale and strange smell. Therefore, whole wheat flour has high content of wheat germ, endosperm and bran, and the germ and bran have high oil content, so it is most susceptible to oxidation.

Therefore, our flour should be stored in a cool and dry place, and the flour should not touch the ground, which is easy to absorb moisture. If it is opened, pour it into a flour bucket with a lid and store it. If it is a store, there is a lot of flour, so you must follow the first-in-first-out principle to avoid mold. Try to use up the flour in the flour bucket before pouring in new flour, and don't mix it with old flour.

If you find insect webs in your kitchen or warehouse, it means that mealybugs have infested your food. Mealybug larvae rely on flour and wheat grains for survival, and the presence of insect webs indicates that the larvae have just hatched. Since whole wheat flour is the most nutritious, it is usually the first place where insects will infest your food. If you find flour with insects, throw it away immediately. This will prevent the larvae from growing into flying adults, which will make the problem worse.

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(Content compiled from Science Popularization China, China Women's News, China Food News, Life Times, People's Health, Beijing Time, etc.)

Produced by: Science Central Kitchen

Produced by: Beijing Science and Technology News | Beijing Science and Technology Media

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