The importance of flour colour
Flour, like many essential components of baked goods, can easily be overlooked in areas of quality assurance and control. Whilst the overall quality of the flour being used for various bread and pastry items is important to understand, the colour of flour should not be dismissed.
Knowing the colour of corn flour as opposed to a white or wholemeal wheat flour can help prevent mistakes and identify where your bakes aren’t producing the results you’d expect. What is there to know about flour colour?
Why is flour different colours?
‘Flour’ is technically a catch-all term for powder made from milling edible produce like seeds, grains, and nuts until they’ve been thoroughly ground into very fine particles. However, most flours are typically made from wheat.
This means that there is no inherent colour that flour ‘should’ be, and though we typically mean the white, all-purpose kind kept in kitchen cupboards, flour can come in many different colours.
The processing of wheat kernels before flour is made has an impact on the colour of the flour as well as its taste and nutritional content. Wheat kernels consist of three parts: bran, the outer shell of the kernel that is mostly made of insoluble fibre; the endosperm, the inner tissue that contains the majority of protein; and the germ, the kernel’s centre which is generally removed.
White flours are produced by only milling the endosperm, but whole wheat flours utilise some of the bran and germ of wheat kernels, giving them a darker, browner colour amongst other things. This darker colour has become commonly associated as being healthier particularly in breads and tortillas.
It should be noted that flours in the US are commonly treated with bleaching agents that whiten them quicker than natural prolonged exposure to oxygen. Such practices are banned in the UK and Europe, though different flour types can vary in colour nonetheless.
Types of flour and their colours
There are types of flour in certain parts of the world that have no equivalent in others, e.g. cake flour in the US. This means that the technical variety of flour types may vary from place to place, but UK kitchens will typically make use of some common ‘core’ flour types.
Plain flour
Typically called all-purpose flour in the US, this kind of flour contains no leavening agent (the substances that cause dough to rise). It can be used in almost any bake from biscuits and bread to pancakes and pasta. Plain flour has a long shelf life and a protein content of roughly 10%.
Plain flour is generally white due to its majority endosperm content. Some plain flours may be slightly darker than others depending on their ingredients or the manufacturer’s approach to natural bleaching.
Wholemeal flour
Wholemeal – or whole wheat – flour uses the entire wheat grain in its makeup, including bran and germ content along with that of the milled endosperm. This makes the flour denser and endows it with more fibre.
Whole wheat flours tend to be darker than those that are made from only endosperm, with a browner, more ‘toasted’ colour, though this can range from a creamy brown colour to something more akin to coffee grounds. Whole wheat flours tend to contain around 14% protein content.
Strong flour
Strong flour, or simply ‘bread flour’, is typically used to make bread thanks to its high gluten content. Made from hard wheat varieties, strong flour isn’t suited for cake baking but creates a stretchy dough when kneaded well and given the right time to form during pre-baking.
Strong flours are typically quite brown but can have a lighter, sandier colour dependent on the manufacturer and their specific ingredient mix.
Corn flour
Corn flour is made from starch extracted from the endosperm of corn kernels. It can be used in similar ways to plain flour as an ingredient for baking and thickening liquids like gravy. It’s incredibly fine and chalky, which is what makes it particularly useful as a thickening agent. Corn flour is typically bright white.
A less common form of corn-based flour (at least in the UK, where we differentiate it by the name ‘maize flour’) uses the entire corn kernel which lends it extra protein and fibre. This type of flour can be white or a distinct yeast-like yellow depending on the corn used.
What the different colours of flour mean for your bake
Different colours of flour can affect the appearance of your bakes as well as their physical properties. It’s important to choose the right flour for your bake with both of these factors in mind, as the aesthetics of a product are often just as important – sometimes more important, in the case of consumer psychology and buying habits – than the flavour or texture.
Wholemeal breads are typically associated with healthier benefits over white ones, and buyers expect to see earthier, more ‘organic’ colours to reflect this. Choosing the right flour plays a big role towards this.
How analysing flour colour is used in quality control
Analysing flour colour is an important part of your overall flour testing. Testing the colour and receiving an objective l*a*b* colour space readout can help to ascertain flour purity, levels of additives, and detect the presence of unwelcome microbes.
This is best reinforced with additional stages of quality control, such as testing the finished bakes for any factors that arise during or after baking, and to help evaluate the appearance and colour of the finished product.
How to test baked product colour easily
C-Cell is a simple and easy-to-use machine that has helped the modern bakery sector achieve the best results and assure the highest quality year after year. It instantly analyses baked goods for objective quality markers, allowing quick analysis and fast decision making when it comes to the impact of flour, other ingredients and processes on their final product quality. Whether you need to analyse the cells of a bread slice or determine the influence of using corn flour on the colour of the bread crumb and crust, C-Cell handles it effortlessly.
To learn more about C-Cell, contact us today.