2015-04-01
531
Flour is a finely ground powder prepared from grain or other starchy plant foods and used in baking. Although flour can be made from a wide variety of plants, the vast majority is made from wheat. Dough made from wheat flour is particularly well suited to baking bread because it contains a large amount of gluten, a substance composed of strong, elastic proteins. The gluten forms a network throughout the dough, trapping the gases which are formed by yeast, baking powder, or other leavening agents. This causes the dough to rise, resulting in light, soft bread.
Flour has been made since prehistoric times. The earliest methods used for producing flour all involved grinding grain between stones. The millstone, a later development, consisted of one vertical disk-shaped stone that rolls on grain sitting on a horizontal disk-shaped stone. Millstones were first operated by human or animal power. The ancient Romans used waterwheels to power millstones. Windmills were also used to power millstones in Europe by the twelfth century.
The first mill in the North American colonies appeared in Boston in 1632 and was powered by wind. Most later mills in the region used water. The availability of water power and water transportation made Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the center of milling in the newly independent United States. The first fully automatic mill was built near Philadelphia by Oliver Evans in 1784. During the next century, the center of milling moved as railroads developed, eventually settling in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
During the nineteenth century numerous improvements were made in mill technology. In 1865, Edmund La Croix introduced the first middlings purifier in Hastings, Minnesota. This device consisted of a vibrating screen through which air was blown to remove bran from ground wheat. The resulting product, known as middlings or farina, could be further ground into high-quality flour. In 1878, the first important roller mill was used in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This new type of mill used metal rollers, rather than millstones, to grind wheat. Roller mills were less expensive, more efficient, more uniform, and cleaner than millstones. Modern versions of middlings purifiers and roller mills are still used to make flour today.
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III. Find English equivalents in the text.
Мелко-дробленый порошок; растительные продукты, содержащие крахмал; выпечка; большое разнообразие растений; огромное количество; содержать большое количество клейковины; белок; структура всей густой массы; пекарный порошок; легкий мягкий хлеб; ранние методы производства муки; включать в себя; изобретение (развитие); состоять из; водяное колесо; приводить в движение жерновов; ветряная мельница; возникать (появляться); использовать; многочисленный; вводить (представлять); удалять отруби из дробленой пшеницы; полученный продукт; мука высшего сорта; металлические вращающиеся цилиндры; молоть пшеницу; современные версии.
IV. Complete the chart.
| Year | Invention |
| Prehistoric times | |
| The first mill was powered by the wind. | |
| The first roller mill was used to grind wheat. |
V. Answer the questions.
1. What is flour?
2. Why is dough made from wheat flour used more frequently than others?
3. What causes the dough to rise?
4. What is the earliest method of flour production?
5. Which power was used for mills?
6. What improvements were made in mill technology in the 19th century?
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