9 Types of Flour that Must be Known, Along with Their Uses

Kapanlagi.com - Flour is always synonymous with cooking or baking. Like kitchen spices, flour is also one of the ingredients that is often used. Flour itself is a solid article with a soft granular form made from plant materials. Maybe for beginners, they are unfamiliar with the types of flour that will be used. Even though it is very important to know the types of flour so that in processing food, it can produce a very satisfying dish.

Well, to improve cooking skills or make cakes, you really need to know the characteristics of each flour. This is of course so that you don't get confused anymore in distinguishing types of flour. Therefore, you also need to know the types of flour that will be used and prepared in the kitchen. Instead of being curious, let's just take a look at the following review.

1. Cornstarch

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The first type of flour that is familiar is cornstarch or often called maizena flour. Cornstarch itself has a slightly pale and cloudy color. Cornstarch is a type of flour commonly used as a thickener in soups or sauces. Usually, you can use cornstarch to make pudding or sponge cake to give a soft effect.

2. Tapioca Flour

Next, the type of flour you need to know is tapioca flour. This type of flour is made from cassava. Tapioca flour has the characteristic of being clear, thick, and slightly sticky when heated. Usually, this flour is often used as an additional ingredient in making meatballs, or often used as a thickener in various stir-fries.

3. Wheat Flour

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Almost everyone knows wheat flour. Because, this type of flour is widely used and stocked in the kitchen. This flour comes from pure wheat seeds or wheat meat that is free from bran skin. This type of flour has a fine texture and high elasticity.

This wheat flour is further divided into several groups, namely high protein wheat flour, medium protein wheat flour, and low protein wheat flour. High protein wheat flour is usually used for elastic textured food dough that is not easily damaged, such as noodles, bread, pasta, donuts, and puff pastry. Medium protein flour is used for dough that expands in texture, such as fried foods and traditional cakes. Meanwhile, low protein flour is used for crispy and fluffy dough.

4. Wheat Flour

Although both are made from wheat, wheat flour and wheat flour are actually different. If wheat flour is made from peeled wheat, wheat flour is made from whole wheat seeds that are ground so that the color is darker and duller. This type of flour is usually used to make bread. It is quite expensive, so it is rarely used.

5. Rice Flour

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Rice flour is a flour made from pounded or ground rice. This flour has a slightly finer texture than glutinous rice flour. Rice flour is often used in the making of traditional cakes such as serabi, nagasari, and rempeyek. This rice flour is also used as a raw material for making rice vermicelli.

6. Sticky Rice Flour

Unlike rice flour, sticky rice flour becomes thicker when diluted. This flour is elastic and is used to make onde-onde, klepon, biji salak, opak, kue bugis, and other cakes with a sticky and chewy texture. Sticky rice flour is suitable for consumption by diabetes patients and pregnant women because it contains high levels of vitamin E and B.

7. Bread Flour

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Next, another type of flour you need to know is bread flour. Generally, bread toppings are also called bread crumbs. This flour is made from dried bread that is crushed. It has two colors, white and orange, with a coarse texture. Bread flour is usually used to make coatings for fried foods such as risoles, croquettes, and others. Meanwhile, finer and yellow-colored bread flour is used for gelatin mixtures.

8. Sago Flour

Sago flour is a type of starch made from the middle part of the sago palm or aren palm. The middle part of the palm is scraped, ground, mixed with water, and left to settle. The sediment is then dried until it becomes flour. Sago flour has a slightly rough, sandy texture and a hint of citrus flavor. Typically, this flour is used to make porridge, pempek, or bika ambon.

9. Hunkwe Flour

Lastly, another commonly used type of flour is hunkwe flour. This flour is made from mung bean starch and has a slightly coarser texture than wheat flour. Additionally, hunkwe flour has a pleasant aroma. This flour is usually used to make cendol, pudding, layered cake, or banana cake.

Those are some types of flour that are commonly used so that you won't be confused when cooking or baking. Hope this is helpful.

(kpl/dtm)