Keeping flour, both at the enterprise and at home is an important point. If stored incorrectly, the flour may lose its qualities. It can grow old, damp, pests can be built in it, etc. Consider ways and conditions of flour storage.
Methods of storing flour and its storage conditions
The classic method of storing flour involves a process that takes place in two stages. During the first stage, the ripening of flour takes place, it is due to ripening that the flour begins to acquire its baking properties. During the second stage, the flour begins to "age", and as a result its quality deteriorates slightly. Flour is considered the best for cooking, when it passed the first stage of storage, and the second stage has not yet begun. It is very important to control all these processes on time.
To a great extent, its culinary properties and taste qualities depend on the primary storage. If the flour is not yet ripe, then for the preparation of dishes such flour is not suitable, since it is necessary to have time for it. The grain components are too active in the freshly ground flour, they do not allow the dough to rise. In places for flour, humidity should not exceed 60%, and the temperature should not be above 20 degrees. As soon as the flour passes through the first stage of storage, the air temperature drops to 0 degrees, so that flour retains its properties for two years.
At home, wheat or rye flour should be stored in paper bags or in tissue bags. Preliminary it is dried, spreading a small layer on a piece of paper. Store the flour in a dry room, where there are no extraneous smells, because the flour can absorb odors. In the room where the flour is stored, there should be no fluctuation in the temperature regime - this causes sweating, as a result of which the product spoils. Also, in a place where flour will be stored, it should not be damp.
The flour should be monitored systematically. It must be checked for taste, in case of self-heating, spread on paper and dried. If the flour is infected with insects, then it must be sieved, dried and poured into another container. High grade flour is stored for several years with proper storage and does not lose its qualities. Low grades of flour at home are kept less because of the fact that it contains a lot of soluble carbohydrates, fats and enzymes.
The quality of flour is determined limply. Lying flour on the tongue leaves a bitter or sour taste. Also, there is an unpleasant, peculiar smell in such a flour. If you touch this flour, it will be cool, then it has a lot of moisture. When the moisture is high, the flour quickly deteriorates. Such flour should be dried and used in the near future for cooking, continue its storage can not.
Some people successfully store flour in sacks, packing them in a wooden box. Pour bags of flour with cardamom, thyme or calendula. This method of storage helps protect the flour from various insects.
Many people store flour in the following way. Before storage, the flour is well heated in the oven to destroy the larvae that may be present in it. The flour is sieved beforehand in order to determine the granary pests in it. The presence of such pests is indicated by the web and lumps in the flour, which must be removed.
Also, bags from the tissue for the storage of flour, some people boil in saline solution, and saturated, for better storage. In each sack with flour put on a pair of heads of garlic, and uncleaned. Do not disturb the lining of the lobules, so that the garlic does not rot. This method helps to deter insects.
If the flour is stored correctly, observing all the conditions, then it can be stored at home even up to 10 years.