Book of American Baking

The Average of Analysis

Separating the various constituents of flour is called the analyzation of flour. If in a different quantity of flour the amount of each component part is determined it is called quantitative analysis. The total amount of all constituents is always figured at 100, in order to give percentage of each constituent contained. Wheat flour contains 13.37 per cent. of water. It means that 100 oz. of flour contains 13.37 per cent. of water. Therefore 100 lbs. of flour contains 13.37 lbs. of water. The same applies to the starch item, 100 oz. of flour contains 69.30 per cent. of starch.

The total amount of each constituent of several analyses added together, divided by the sum total of the analyses made, will give the average amount of each constituent contained in the flour. These analyses must be made very accurate in order that the results obtained may be reliable.

The following table, according to R. von Wagner, gives averages, subdividing the albuminoids into albumen, gliadin, vegetable casein, cellulose and gluten:

	Percentages
FLOUR.	Water	Albuminoids	Fat	Sugar	Gum & Dextrin	Starch	Fibrin	Ash
Winter wheat	13.37	10.21	0.94	2.35	3.06	69.30	0.29	0.48
Spring wheat	12.81	12.06	1.36	1.86	4.09	65.88	0.89	0.96
Rye	13.71	11.52	2.08	3.89	7.16	58.61	1.59	1.44

	Percentages
FLOUR.	Water	Albumin	Gliadin	Vegetable casein	Cellulose	Gluten	Sugar	Gum	Fat	Starch
Wheat flour	15.54	1.34	1.76	0.37	5.19	3.50	2.33	6.25	1.07	63.64
Rye	14.60	1.56	2.92	0.90	7.36	——	3.46	4.10	1.80	64.28