CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 General background

Figure 1.1: Flour

Flour is a finely ground powder prepared from grain or other starchy plant foods and used in

baking (Figure 1). Although flour can be made from a wide variety of plants, the vast

majority is made from wheat. Dough made from wheat flour is particularly well suited to

baking bread because it contains a large amount of gluten, a substance composed of strong,

elastic proteins. The gluten forms a network throughout the dough, trapping the gases which

are formed by yeast, baking powder, or other leavening agents (Nandini et al, 2001). This

causes the dough to rise, resulting in light, soft bread.

Flour has been made since prehistoric times. The earliest methods used for producing flour

involved grinding grain between stones. These methods included the mortar and pestle (a

stone club striking grain held in a stone bowl), the saddle stone (a cylindrical stone rolling

against grain held in a stone bowl), and the quern (a horizontal, disk-shaped stone spinning

on top of grain held on another horizontal stone). These devices were all operated by hand.

1.2 Low grade flour

There are many types of wheat flour, each having it own particular characteristics. Flour can

be classified as high grade and low grade flour. Therefore, in this study we will focus on the

low grade flour. There are many terms that had been used to describe this type of flour.

Nevertheless, the most common used term is clear flour. Clear flour is composed of the flour

streams between 65% to 75% milling. It is the by-product of wheat flour after milling

process. Clear flour is usually dark because the fraction is quite high in bran. Clear flour is

dark in colour than the high grade flour. This is because it comes from the part of endosperm

closest to the bran (Atwell, 2001). Clear flour is graded into first clear flour and second clear

flour. First clear flour, milled from hard wheat, is often blended by the baker with low gluten

flours to lighten the texture of breads such as rye or whole-wheat yet maintain the deep

colour desirable in such breads. Second clear flour has very high ash content. It is usually

very dark, and is not generally used for food (Bonafaccia et al, 2003).

1.3 Problem statement

Basically, low grade flour is used to make glue and for animal consumption and cannot be

sold for human consumption. Furthermore, the utilization of low grade flour is currently not

fully utilized. This is because the colour of the low grade flour is brownish and dark making

it unappetizing for consumer. Moreover it has a bitter taste. Furthermore, low grade flour is
not suitable for product such as bread; this is because it will make the texture of the bread

hard in the presence of high ash content. The low utilization of this flour resulted in selling

them at very low price, which is a loss to a flour milling company.

1.4 Significance of study

At the end of the research, the physical and rhelogical properties of low grade flour will be

known. Moreover, it is economical for a flour company to minimize waste. So this study is

very important as it gives an opportunity and information to find ways in which to utilize this

flour for human consumption and to reduce solid waste stream.

1.5 Objective of the study

The intention of this research is to investigate and evaluate the physical and rhelogical

properties of low quality wheat flour with the possibility of incorporating it into products.

1.6 Statistical analysis

The experiments were conducted in triplicates. Means and standard deviation were

calculated using Microsoft Excel. Duncan Multiple Range test and Analysis of Variances

(ANOVA), at alpha level = 0.05 (p<0.05) was performed using a statistical software, SPSS.