The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and flour fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Flour Fun Facts.

Flour Fun Facts: Flour is a powder made by grinding uncooked cereal grains or other seeds or roots (like cassava).

  • Flour is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history.
  • The earliest archaeological evidence for wheat seeds crushed between simple millstones to make flour dates to 6000 BC.
  • In 1879, at the beginning of the Industrial Era, the first steam mill was erected in London.
  • March is National Flour Month.
  • In the 1930s, some flour began to be enriched with iron, niacin, thiamine and riboflavin.
  • Flour dust suspended in air is explosive—as is any mixture of a finely powdered flammable substance with air.
  • When flour is mixed with equal parts butter and heated, you create a traditional roux.

Flour Variations:

  • All-Purpose Flour. The biggest difference between flours is the protein content. All-purpose flour has an average protein content, making it versatile for everything from cookies to cakes to roux to bread.
  • Cake Flour. Cake flour has the lowest protein content of all the flours and it undergoes a unique bleaching process from all the other white flours. It is very soft and fine, a little like powdered sugar.
  • Pastry Flour. Harder to find than cake flour; as far as protein content goes, it’s somewhere between cake flour and all-purpose flour.
  • Self-Rising Flour. This is an all-purpose-y flour that has been mixed with salt and baking powder.
  • Bread flour. Bread flour has the highest protein of all the flours (which allows for a lot of elasticity and rise without collapsing). Don’t use bread flour for quick breads (like banana bread).

Flour Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we may have missed any flour food fun facts in the comment section below. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about flour.

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