Bleached Flour vs. Unbleached

[Chefzhat]

Okay, here's today's goofy questions from me - what is the difference between these two besides the obvious? I've been buying unbleached just because I like to stay as natural as possible (and I can't use whole wheat all the time!) but someone told me there is no difference. Then someone else told me that the bleaching process entails chlorine and formaldahyde ICK!!!!!! So, what gives?? All you smarties on this board will set me straight! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Mamasue]

Found this from google search....

"After the flour has been ground and blended to the desired mix of particles, it is treated chemically to accomplish in a matter of minutes what otherwise takes weeks. Bleaching removes the light yellow color caused by xanthophylls, a variety of carotenoid pigment also found in potatoes and onions. The color has no practical or nutritional significance and is oxidized simply to obtain a uniform whiteness. Bleaching does, however, destroy the small amounts of vitamin E in flour, which probably accounts for its bad reputation in some circles."

"Bleaching is often accomplished with the same gas, chlorine dioxide, that is used to age, or 'improve,' the flour. But even unbleached flour has been aged with potassium bromate or iodate. Aging has important practical results. It has long been known that flour allowed to sit for one to two months develops better baking qualities; hence the practice of letting flour 'age' before use (during this period, it is also naturally bleached by oxygen in the air). But, done in this way, aging is a time- and space-consuming, somewhat unpredictable procedure. Hence the use of chemicals both to accelerate and to control flour improvement. Aging affects the bonding characteristics of the gluten proteins in such a way that they form stronger, more elastic doughs."

[NydiaC]

Great info Mamasue! I knew that it wasn't my imagination when I noticed that my homemade biscuits came out better with unbleached flour than bleached.

[funnybone]

I had heard somewhere that flour was bleached because it was believed that "white flour was better looking". I prefer the unbleached. Once all ingredients are added to a recipe, the finished product is never pure white anyways.