cereals and derivatives

Flour 0 by R.Borgacci

What's this

What is the 0 flour?

Flour 0 is a powdery substance, with specific granulometry and sifting levels (0), obtained from the milling of "soft wheat" seeds.

As specified by Italian legislation, the generic name "flour", without further details, refers exclusively to derivatives of Triticum aestivum (binomial botanical nomenclature of common wheat). Other synonyms of the aestivum are vulgare or sativum . Note : Those of "durum wheat" or Triticum durum are not flours but semolina or semolina.

The flour 0 is therefore a derivative of cereals. Characterized by a high percentage of complex carbohydrates (starch), average quantities of fiber, predominantly water-soluble vitamins of group B (thiamine, pyridoxine) and some minerals (mainly phosphorus and slightly bioavailable iron), this flour is classified in the III fundamental group of foods. Compared to the raw material used for processing, the flour 0 is however impoverished by water and bran (germ and fibrous components).

Soft wheat flours, as well as durum wheat flours, are fundamental ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine. Containing gluten, a protein complex formed by the peptides glutenin and gliadin (in the presence of water), the doughs based on flour 0 are excellent for recipes that require natural leavening (with brewer's yeast, sourdough, sourdough, chariot) . With the same ingredient it is possible to package products similar to bread but not leavened, cakes leavened with chemical yeast, pasta (fresh or dried, water or egg), fried or cooked in a pan that requires flouring or batter, sauces and cooking juices "tied" (thickened), creamy desserts, etc.

Other widely used cereal flours are: corn (in South America), rye (in Central Europe), rice (in Asia), barley, spelled, etc. They are also widespread:

  • Starchy flours of tubers, tuberous roots and fruits such as: tapioca, potato starch, chestnut flour, breadfruit flour etc.
  • Pulses flour: chickpea flour, pea flour, etc.
  • Pseudo-cereals flour: hemp flour, buckwheat flour, chia flour, etc.
  • Oilseed flour: hazelnut flour, almond flour, etc.
  • Other types: fish meal etc.

deepening

By granulometry we mean the estimation of the size of the grains constituting an aggregate, performed mostly by sieving or sedimentation.

Nutritional Properties

Nutritional properties of flour 0

Flour 0 belongs to the III fundamental group of foods. It has a very significant caloric intake, mainly provided by carbohydrates, followed by proteins and finally by small amounts of lipids. It must however be remembered that it is a dehydrated ingredient; in fact, doughs (only with water) and cooked foods (for example bread and pasta) made from flour 0 have 20 to 50% fewer calories than raw food.

The carbohydrates of flour 0 are basically complex and made up of starch. Proteins have a medium biological value, ie they contain only a part of the essential amino acids that form human proteins. The incomplete biological value of the peptides of the type 0 flour (limited by the lack of lysine and threonine) can be completed by that of some legumes or foods of animal origin, even not necessarily consumed in the same meal. Fatty acids, which tend to be unsaturated, should have a good percentage of polyunsaturated chains. Note : in the type 0 flour the fats are deficient because most of the lipids are contained in the embryo or germ, removed together with the fibrous capsule in the refining process.

Type 0 flour contains a fair amount of fiber. Many think that white flour, as refined, does not contain it at all. This is a wrong consideration; even if they certainly bring less than the integral ones, white flours contain fiber in quantities hypothetically sufficient to structure a balanced diet. This is because the total fibers of the diet are not supplied exclusively from cereals, but also from vegetables and vegetables, from sweet fruit, from oily fruits and from legumes.

Flour 0 contains gluten, which in intolerant individuals is responsible for celiac disease. Lactose and histamine are absent.

The vitamin profile of flour 0 is characterized by the abundant presence of water-soluble molecules of group B. Thiamine or B1 and pyridoxine or B6 are particularly present. Furthermore, even though it is not really abundant, the concentration of niacin or PP also contributes to the daily requirement. The levels of fat-soluble vitamins are negligible.

As for minerals, 0 flour is a good source of phosphorus and potassium. Iron, already not too abundant, is also poorly bioavailable.

Flour 0

Nutritional values ​​per 100 g

Quantity'
Power362.0 kcal

Total carbohydrates

69.88 g

Starch

- g
Simple sugars0.92 g
fibers2.4 g
Grassi1.41 g
Saturated0.272 g
Monounsaturated0.153 g
polyunsaturated0.712 g
Cholesterol0.0 mg
Protein15.33 g
water12.85 g
Vitamins
Vitamin A equivalent0.0 RAE
Beta-Carotene-μg
Lutein Zexanthin-μg
Vitamin A-iu
Thiamine or vit B10.736 mg
Riboflavin or vit B20.445 mg
Niacin or vit PP or vit B35.953 mg
Pantothenic acid or vit B5-mg
Pyridoxine or vit B60.045 mg
folate

268, 0μg

Vitamin B12 or cobalamin

0, 0μg

Choline-mg
C vitamin0.0 mg
Vitamin D

0, 0μg

Vitamin E

0.05 mg

Vitamin K

0, 3μg

Minerals
Football17.0 mg
Iron5.06 mg

Magnesium

38.0 mg
Manganese-mg
Phosphorus128.0 mg
Potassium120.0 mg
Sodium2.0 mg
Zinc1.16 mg
fluoride-μg

Diet

Flour 0 in the diet

In the Mediterranean diet, cereal flours - especially those of wheat - play a decisive role; type 0 is no exception.

It is suitable for any diet, except in the case of celiac disease and allergy to wheat proteins. It has no contraindications for the diet of lactose intolerant and histamine.

In healthy subjects of any sex, age, build and level of physical activity, flour 0 is free of contraindications. On the contrary, in the case of obesity - especially severe - type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertriglyceridemia, it is advisable to moderate the portions of flour-based foods 0. The same is true in pregnancy (especially characterized by overweight), given the risks involved in gestational diabetes for the fetus.

The 0 flour is perfectly suited to the vegan and vegetarian diet but, as we have said, due to the incompleteness of the proteins that characterize it, it requires a certain attention in the choice of the other ingredients.

No religion or philosophy denies the use of flour 0, even if it is not traditionally consumed in the eastern countries where Buddhism and Hinduism are mostly practiced.

Being rich in calories from starch, 0 flour is ideal in the sportsman's diet. However, it must be remembered that the characteristics of digestibility, and therefore of glycemic index, but also of glycemic load, can change significantly according to the recipe.

There are no special warnings for children and the elderly.

Features

General characteristics of the flour 0

Flour 0 has chemical-physical properties interposed between type 00 and type 1, due to the characteristics of granulometry and sifting.

The 00, the most "refined" and thin, is rich in starch, discharge of fibers and lends itself to the dough to be leavened quickly but naturally, chemically leavened cakes and fresh pasta. 1 has a significant amount of bran and is much more suitable for bread making. Consequently, the flour 0 could be defined as intermediate and suitable, in general, above all for bread-making.

As we can see from the table below, the increase in the sifting level reduces the ashes (consisting mainly of minerals) and total proteins; the same goes for fats, while starch increases. This is because ashes, proteins and lipids are more abundant in external integuments and seed germ. On the contrary, what is ground to obtain refined flours (endosperm) consists mainly of complex reserve carbohydrates.

AshesProteinItalian definition
~ 0.40%~ 9%00
~ 0.55%~ 11%0
~ 0.80%~ 14%1
~ 1.10%~ 15%2
~ 1.15%~ 13%Wholemeal wheat flour

Flour 0, total protein and gluten

As for the protein content, it is necessary to make a small clarification. In the context of wheat flour, it is customary to associate the leavening potential with the protein content. This is because gluten, an indispensable factor for the volumetric growth of dough, is peptidic in nature. Well, the concept is not so simple. Gluten is in fact characteristic of the endosperm, not of external integuments. This means that a greater total protein content is associated with a greater concentration of gluten and raising capacity only (and not necessarily) by comparing equally sifted and ground flours of different grains. On the contrary, despite the wholemeal flour contains more total proteins than the 00 flour of the same wheat, it no longer contains gluten and does not rise better.

Flour 0 and water absorption

Also the granulometry, intended as the thickness of the powder, affects the applications of the flour 0. The bigger the granules, the slower and more difficult is the formation of the gluten; thick flours with little sifting need superior mixing and processing times. Moreover, as the grain size and fiber content increase, the absorption capacity also increases; this means that flour 0 absorbs more water than 00 and less than type 1.

Strength of flour 0

Talking about the strength of the 0 flour is actually improper, since this characteristic varies considerably based on the variety of wheat and the respective gluten content.

We have said that gliadin and glutenin are contained in the endosperm. Since these are peptides originally separated, stored in different cellular compartments of the seed, which combine only after grinding and mixing with water, it goes without saying that the combination of gliadin and glutenin is also increased by increasing the comminution process.

In broad terms we can therefore state that among the most more or less sacked flours, obtained from the same grain, those with a better gluten development are the most refined. However, by comparing the 0 flour with the 00, these differences are not very noticeable and the variety of wheat used is of primary importance.

deepening

However, the strength of the flour is not such a simple topic to summarize. We begin by specifying that to scientifically measure this parameter we have coined the "W index", which interprets specific characteristics - P tenacity and L extensibility - detected by Chopin's Alveografo. In practice, as gluten increases, there is an increase in the W index, which is the energy needed to inflate the dough. In practice, the experiment consists of injecting a mixture of water and flour up to the breaking point (swelling index G). The relationship between toughness and extensibility is also a very important factor. If P / L is 0.5 the dough is very stiff and compact. The ideal G for bread-making (the square root of the volume of air blown) is between 20 and 25.