Why does whole wheat flour look different than the flour from grinding wheat berries?
I grind my own wheat berries (mostly einkorn) but my flour doesn't look like the whole wheat flour that you buy at the supermarket. Whole wheat flour appears to have more bran in it. Thanks
Supermarket "whole wheat" flour is roller milled, not stone-ground. In the first milling step, the bran and germ are flaked off and removed. Later, after the white flour has been completely milled, the bran and germ are added back - or at least, equivalent amounts are supposed to be added, not necessarily the exact same outer bits of the original wheat berries. I have sifted out the bran from this kind of flour and it was in the form of flat flakes, lots of flakes. It's nothing like stone-ground flour in texture and appearance.
Supermarket branded flour is outsourced so it is whatever they choose to buy in and market.
Something being overlooked is that you will get very different results from domestic stoneground "Mockmill" flour compared to commercial / industrial stoneground milling.
Wholemeal (UK, NZ, AUS) / wholewheat (US) whether stoneground or roller milled are always 100% extraction. Each method gives different results but one isn't necessarily better than the other.
Sainsbury's Elephant Atta 100% wholemeal flour (Common wheat and durum wheat)
Waitrose Canadian wholemeal flour (Roller milled)
A common practice in large scale milling is tempering / conditioning. This softens the endosperm and toughens the bran and inherently gives larger bran flakes.
Supermarket "whole wheat" flour is roller milled, not stone-ground. In the first milling step, the bran and germ are flaked off and removed. Later, after the white flour has been completely milled, the bran and germ are added back - or at least, equivalent amounts are supposed to be added, not necessarily the exact same outer bits of the original wheat berries. I have sifted out the bran from this kind of flour and it was in the form of flat flakes, lots of flakes. It's nothing like stone-ground flour in texture and appearance.
TomP
So I suppose my Mock mill does stone ground and that's why I'm not seeing the bran as in store bought whole wheat. Thanks for your answer.
Well, some home mills mill by impact instead of with stones, but the result will still be very different from roller-milled flour.
Supermarket branded flour is outsourced so it is whatever they choose to buy in and market.
Something being overlooked is that you will get very different results from domestic stoneground "Mockmill" flour compared to commercial / industrial stoneground milling.
Wholemeal (UK, NZ, AUS) / wholewheat (US) whether stoneground or roller milled are always 100% extraction. Each method gives different results but one isn't necessarily better than the other.
3 supermarket wholemeal flours:
Waitrose Dutchy Organic wholemeal flour (Stoneground)
Sainsbury's Elephant Atta 100% wholemeal flour (Common wheat and durum wheat)
Waitrose Canadian wholemeal flour (Roller milled)
A common practice in large scale milling is tempering / conditioning. This softens the endosperm and toughens the bran and inherently gives larger bran flakes.
If you're noticing the differences - you're not grinding fine enough. Enjoy!