Process for producing a milled whole-grain wheat flour and products thereof
A process for producing an ultrafine-milled whole-grain wheat flour which has the full nutritional value of wheat kernels, while retaining the texture of refined wheat flour and an appearance similar to refined wheat flour, and the products which can be made from the ultrafine-milled whole-grain wheat flour. The process can also be used for producing an ultrafine-milled coarse fraction, which can be used as a replacement and to fortify refined wheat flour. The ultrafine-milled coarse fraction can be used in bakery products, snack products and food products.
1. A continuous flow grain milling process for producing a milled coarse fraction, comprising the steps of:
(a) offering a quantity of cleaned and tempered wheat kernels;
(b) milling the wheat kernels into a fine fraction, consisting essentially of endosperm and a coarse fraction comprising bran and germ;
(c) separating the fine fraction from the coarse fraction; and
(d) separately milling the coarse fraction in a gap mill having a conical rotor to form a milled coarse fraction,
wherein the milled coarse fraction of step (d) contains substantially all the bran and germ of an unmilled coarse fraction of step (c), and
wherein the milled coarse fraction has a particle size distribution such that greater than 98% passes through a U.S. 70 wire screen.
2. A process for producing an edible product comprising:
(a) obtaining a quantity of a milled coarse fraction of wheat prepared according to the process of claim 1 ; and
(b) mixing at least a portion of the quantity of the obtained milled coarse fraction with additional ingredients to produce an edible product comprising the milled coarse fraction.
3. The process for producing an edible product of claim 2 , wherein the edible product is selected from the group consisting of: a food product, a snack product, and a bakery product.
4. The process for producing an edible product of claim 3 , wherein the food product is a pasta, ready-to-eat cereal, ready-to-drink beverage, instant beverage, meat extender, meat (vegetarian) substitute, nutritional bar, confectionery, seasoning blend, gravy or sauce mix, soup mix, coating, or breading.
5. The process for producing an edible product of claim 3 , wherein the bakery product is a bread, bagel, brownie, muffin, waffle, pizza crust, cookie, pastry, pie crust, cake, quick bread, sweet roll, donut, bakery mix, fruit and grain bar, tortilla, or par-baked bakery product.
6. The process for producing an edible product of claim 3 , wherein the snack product is a cracker, microwavable snack product, extruded snack product, or snack chip.
7. The process of claim 3 for producing an edible product, wherein the coarse fraction is milled in an air attrition gap mill having and adjustable grinding gap between the conical rotor and a corrugated baffle.
8. The process for producing an edible product of claim 2 , wherein the milled coarse fraction comprises about 1% to about 100%, inclusive, of total grain flour in the edible product by mass.
9. The process for producing an edible product of claim 2 , wherein the portion of the milled coarse fraction comprises about 20% to about 25%, inclusive, of total grain flour in the edible product by mass.
10. The process for producing an edible product of claim 2 , wherein the portion of the milled coarse fraction comprises between about 25% and about 100% of total grain flour in the edible product by mass.
11. A process for producing blended grain flour, the process cornprising: Obtaining an amount of milled coarse fraction prepared according to the process of claim 1 ; and mixing an amount of grain flour with an amount of the milled coarse fraction thereby forming a blended grain flour.
12. The process of claim 11 , wherein the amount of the milled coarse fraction is between 1% and 100% of the total blended grain flour by mass.
13. The process of claim 11 , wherein the amount of the milled coarse fraction is about 20% to about 25%, inclusive, of the total blended grain flour by mass.
14. The process of claim 11 , wherein the amount of the milled coarse fraction is about 25% to about 100% of the total blended grain flour by mass.
15. The process for producing a milled coarse fraction of claim 1 , wherein said bran and germ content is determined by relative ash content.
16. The process for producing a milled coarse fraction of claim 1 , said milled coarse fraction having an ash content that is at least 95% of the ash content of the separated coarse fraction of step (c).
17. The process for producing a milled coarse fraction of claim 1 , said milled coarse fraction having a particle size distribution such that greater than 85% passes through a U.S. 100 wire screen.
18. The process for producing a milled coarse fraction of claim 17 , said milled coarse fraction having a particle size distribution such that greater than 90% passes through a U.S. 100 wire screen.
19. The process for producing milled coarse fraction of claim 17 , said milled coarse fraction having a particle size distribution such that greater than 95% passes through a U.S. 100 wire screen.
20. The process of claim 1 , wherein the coarse fraction is milled in an air attrition gap mill having a conical rotor operating at a tip speed of 115 m/s to 130 m/s.
21. The process of claim 1 , wherein the coarse fraction is milled in an air attrition gap mill having an adjustable grinding gap between the conical shaped rotor and a corrugated baffle conical rotor.
22. The milled coarse fraction of claim 21 , having an ash content that is at least 95% of the ash content of an unmilled coarse fraction of step (c).
23. The milled coarse fraction of claim 21 , having a particle size distribution such that greater than 90% passes through a U.S. 100 wire screen.
24. The milled coarse fraction of claim 23 , having a particle size distribution such that greater than 95% passes through a U.S. 100 wire screen.
25. A process for producing a blended grain flour the process comprising:
(a) obtaining a milled coarse fraction prepared according to the process of claim 21 ; and
(b) mixing an amount of grain flour with an amount of the obtained milled coarse fraction, hereby forming a blended grain flour.
26. The process of claim 25 , wherein said milled coarse fraction is mixed with fine wheat flour.
27. The process of claim 25 , said blended grain flour comprising at least 20% milled coarse fraction.
28. The process of claim 1 , wherein said wheat is a variety of white wheat.
29. The process of claim 1 , wherein said wheat is a variety of red wheat.
30. The process of claim 1 , wherein said wheat is durum wheat.
31. The process of claim 1 , wherein said wheat is hard winter wheat.