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The Secret Of Mixing Flour For Baking

By Robert Adams


In the past, as it is now in the present, the prime need of man is food. Without it, there is no way a human being can survive. It absolutely is the main source of energy required by the body for it to function. It comes in many varieties, either derived from plants or from other living creatures. One such product is generally made from cereals, that is flour. Nutritionists are strongly recommending the use of gluten free flour blend.

Since it walked first on this planet, man has always had to eat in order to survive. It is the basic requirement. Primitive humans got their nutrition from berries, edible plants, and meat from hunted animals. Food production as we know it today still did not exist. Early tribe members were hunters and gatherers, highly dependent on what nature provided them.

Mountaintop soils are washed down by heavy rains which end up in rivers and are deposited along the banks when the river overflows. This is really the reason why deltas have fertile soils. So, it was by no means an accident when early civilizations flourished in these places.

Food production took a step further with the domestication of wild beasts which were bred and kept in corrals for their meat and milk. The larger ones like the oxen were harnessed for plowing fields. With this development, the hunter and gatherer tribes were now supplanted with planters and herders. Man now had some control over food production.

The different cultures in the world also differ in beliefs, habits, and tradition. They also differ in food preference. This depends on the resources that are available in these areas. Some plant varieties only thrive on certain weather conditions. Staples are the main diet of populations. Different regions on the planet are prone to one type of staple.

Elsewhere in other areas people also have their own staple food. People from Asia and Oceania prefer cooked rice. In Africa where the ground is very dry, the diet is mostly of vegetables and tapioca. In all instances, these substances are converted to energy once it enters the human body and is acted upon by its enzymes. It is this converted energy that fuels motion.

But regardless of where one is from, flour is present in all countries simply because it really is the main ingredient for baking bread. It definitely is a very fine powdery substance derived mostly from cereal grains like wheat, barley, rice, and corn. Other root crops like tapioca and sweet potato can also be milled as flour. Along with other ingredients and additives, it definitely is perfect for bread, pasta, and pastries.

Most flours, particularly the wheat based ones contain gluten, a protein that makes dough elastic and holds it together. It also helps in maintaining the shape or acts as binder making it a very important quality in food preparation. There are some people whose physiology cannot tolerate this glutinous protein. Somehow the organs have difficulty breaking these down.

There actually is no such thing as gluten free substances. All flour products have gluten on it. The right term for it would probably be less glutinous flour. The term is a just a subtle commercial and marketing name. Yes, it can be substituted but no, it cannot be eliminated. The combination of different flours along with wheat flour which by the way is glutinous is just a blend. It is not pure in itself.




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