I first wrote about this in a post that outlines the difference between whole wheat flour, and whole grain or whole meal flour. You can read it here.
Up until the pandemic sent us looking for local organic options for some of our staple stocks, our kitchen has not enjoyed a real whole grain flour.
Today while whipping up some flapjacks for breakfast, I had an opportunity to actually see "whole wheat" flour bought from a large chain grocer, next to our new whole grain flour from the local flour mill.
The difference was obvious.
The store bought WW flour (left side in the photo above) looks like white flour with a bit of bran added in, because that is exactly what it is. It's white and powdery with a few flecks of bran.
The stone ground organic whole grain flour from our local mill is browner and has a rougher texture. It has everything in it because whole wheat berries go in the top of the stone grinder, and whole wheat flour comes out at the bottom. Nothing is taken out.
We like a bread product that contains clean whole grain. We are making less bread than we used to, but when we do make it, it is nice to know we are getting the nutrition and roughage we need, minus lingering biocides.
So far it has worked well for making flatbreads like chapati, pita and tortilla. The whole grain flour is much tastier, and our colons are benefitting from the scraping they get when this complete food passes through.
Whole should mean whole, in our opinion. We are saying goodbye and good riddance to the less nutritious, not-really-whole-whole-wheat-flour from industrial hot steel roller flour mills.
I am allergic to wheat, specifically whole wheat. Some whole wheat products cause real and immediate problems. But some whole wheat products cause absolutely no problems. I have suspected what you describe and demonstrate.
ReplyDeleteI have a wheat grinder and grind my own hard red wheat, it was an investment but it has really paid off over the years, baking bread for my family. Plus wheal kernels are not expensive.
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