Flour Manufacturing

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Wheat is now farmed on more land than any commercial crop and has become one of the most crucial dietary foundations for humans. Originally, wheat was not used for bread making but rather for course gruel or porridge. It was not until it was discovered that the wheat could be ground down to fine flour that bread making was not prepared. (Curtis)

The Ancient Romans were the first to mass-produce wheat into flour. To make the flour the Ancient Romans, used baskets made with horsehair or papyrus to sift out the wheat particles before it could be ground down. Then, they would use team of slaves to turn two large stone wheels to grind the wheat. It was not until the industrial era that wheat industry was using technology to produce mass quantities of wheat. Even today, the wheat that is milled is ground to flour in the same manner. The only thing that had changed is the process is has become more computerized and run more cleanly. (Trust)

Today, after the wheat has been harvested from the fields it is brought to the wheat manufacturing mills where it is inspected by their quality inspectors. Then the wheat moves to the process of cleaning and purifying. This process begins with separating the wheat stocks from the seeds or kernels. The kernels are now at the first step of cleaning and purifying. The main objective of cleaning and purifying is to remove any foreign particles that were picked up from the harvest. It may take as many as six steps to scour the wheat clean. (Millers'Assocation)

The modern technology to clean wheat is a continuous process from start to finish in one wheat mill factory. Once the wheat enters the mill it is first run through a magnetic separator to insure that all iron and steel particles are removed. Next...

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...Wheat Commission . 15 12 2011 .

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Growers, Kansas Wheat Commission and Kansas Association of Wheat. 2012 Research Projects Funded by the Kansas Wheat Commission . 19 12 2011 .

Millers'Assocation, North American. How Wheat Flour is Milled. 16 10 2011 .

State University, Oregon. Wheat Improvments. 11 2 2009. 19 12 2011 .

Trust, Baking Industry Reseach. Wheat and Milling History. 15 12 2011 .

University, Johnson & Wales. Baking & Pastry Fundamentals . Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009.

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