Graham flour is a type of coarse-ground
flour
Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...
of whole wheat named after
Sylvester Graham
Sylvester Graham (July 5, 1794 – September 11, 1851) was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer. He was known for his emphasis on vegetarianism, the temperance movement, and eating whole-grain bread. His preaching inspired th ...
. It is similar to conventional
whole-wheat flour in that both are made from the
whole grain
A whole grain is a grain of any cereal and pseudocereal that contains the endosperm, germ, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm.
As part of a general healthy diet, consumption of whole grains is associated ...
, but graham flour is ground more coarsely. It is not sifted ("bolted") with a
flour dresser after milling.
A report from 1913 claimed that bread made from graham flour had a protein content of 12.1%—only slightly less than white wheat flour and essentially the same as whole wheat flour.
Sources
Graham flour is available at
health food store
A health food store (or health food shop) is a type of grocery store that primarily sells healthful foods, organic foods, local produce, and often nutritional supplements. Health food stores typically offer a wider or more specialized selectio ...
s, some
grocery stores, bakery supply stores, and some specialty and gourmet food shops, or directly from a flour mill that has experience making it.
A substitute for it would be a mix of
unbleached white flour and
wheat middlings; this was a common substitute prior to and after the passage of the
Pure Food and Drug Act
The s:Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as the Wiley Act and Harvey Washington Wiley, Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws enacted by the United States Con ...
in 1906, but the FDA gradually established standards and eliminated imitations from the market.
History
Graham flour is named after Sylvester Graham (1794–1851), an early advocate for
dietary reform.
Graham despised the discarding of
nutrients
A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...
such as germ and bran when making flour for
white bread
White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour.
Nutrition
Wh ...
. He believed that using all of the grain in the
milling
Milling may refer to:
* Milling (minting), forming narrow ridges around the edge of a coin
* Milling (grinding), breaking solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting in a mill
* Milling (machining), a process of using ro ...
of flour and
baking
Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but it can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot Baking stone, stones. Bread is the most commonly baked item, but many other types of food can also be baked. Heat is ...
of bread was a remedy for the poor health of his fellow Americans during changes in diet brought on by the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
.
[.]
See also
*
Flour bleaching agent
*
Graham bread
*
Graham cracker
A graham cracker (pronounced or in America) is a sweet flavored cracker made with graham flour that originated in the United States in the mid-19th century, with commercial development from about 1880. It is eaten as a snack food, usually h ...
*
Graham cracker crust
* Whole-wheat of
wheat berry
A wheat berry, or wheatberry, is a whole wheat kernel, composed of the bran, germ, and endosperm, without the husk. Botanically, it is a type of fruit called a caryopsis. Wheat berries are eaten as a grain, have a tan to reddish-brown color, ...
, sometimes eaten on its own
References
External links
* {{cite web , url = http://homecooking.about.com/cs/specificfood/a/graham.htm/ , title = Information on Graham Flour and recipes , access-date = April 16, 2009 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051101155934/http://homecooking.about.com/cs/specificfood/a/graham.htm , archive-date = November 1, 2005 , url-status = dead
Flour