The history of making flour?

Different uses in different periods and regions

Although wheat flour was preferred and used in many different cultures in the past 2000 years, this does not mean that there are no exceptions, just as people will not choose wheat flour in some applications now. For example, chickpea powder is often used to make cakes in Asia and the Mediterranean. In some areas of Italy and France today, we can also find baked goods such as cecina and socca (the names of Italian and French cakes respectively), which are examples of the application of chickpea powder.

Centuries ago, corn (instead of wheat) was widely planted in the United States, probably because those people didn't live on wheat at that time. Corn tortillas, steamed corn meat and pure corn bread in the southern United States are contemporary baked goods inherited from the past "wheat-free" diet tradition.

Although we usually don't think about how flour comes from, there are actually many kinds of raw materials for making flour, and the differences between them can be great. For example, unconventional raw materials such as potatoes and beans can be used for milling. Of course, in real life, flour used to make bread refers to flour made from a grain or mixed grain, including wheat, barley, rye and corn. In daily baking, if there is no more explanation, the flour we refer to is a variety that is only ground from wheat.

Definition and development of flour

We can define flour as powder or particles obtained by squeezing or grinding starchy seeds, grains, plant tubers or beans.

In the Stone Age, primitive people smashed grain with stones to get rough and dry flour. In ancient Egypt, the Egyptians made stone milling flour finer by consciously processing stone tools, which became a milling method that has been used for about 6000 years. It was not until the end of the world in 19 that humans invented the metal rolling mill, which further improved the accuracy of making flour and made it closer to what we see now. Subsequently, the invented metal screening machine, combined with metal rolling mill, can greatly reduce the content of impurities (wheat bran, germ) and get the flour products we see now.