Book on the basics of flour milling

Wheat is one of the oldest foods in the world. Its discovery helped transform Homo sapiens from hunter-gatherers into farmers. Civilizations arose where soil was fertile and wheat could be irrigated.

Initially, man would have eaten the grains raw and found them useful as a food source in winter because they could be stored if kept dry. Wild plants provided grains that could be harvested and ground using stones, mixed with water and formed into cakes that were dried in the sun or baked on hot stones. Stone Age farmers in the Middle East 9000 years ago were probably the first to cultivate cereal grains, such as wheat and barley. 

In this chapter you will learn about ancient milling and the process

Wheat is the staple food of north Indian people. After rice, wheat is the most important cereal in India. Wheat grains are grounded into flour (Atta) and consumed in the form of chapatti i.e. 80 85%.Wheat is also used for making bread, cake, biscuits, pastry and other bakery products, and also used for manufacturing rawa, suji and sewaya. In areas where rice is a staple food grain, wheat is eaten in the form of puri and uppumav. It is also used for making flakes and sweet meals like kheer, shira, etc. Wheat grain is used for preparing starch. Wheat straw is used as fodder, padding material.

The Major topics covered under this chapter are:

• Introduction about the wheat
• Physical structure of wheat grain
• Wheat quality parameters

The diverse growing environments are used to produce wheat grain with different quality attributes, so India is able to meet both domestic and international consumer needs.

Wheat is the most important winter cereal grown during the non-monsoon months, and it is less vulnerable to yield fluctuation than other crops. On the contrary: production of the monsoon-season rice crop is dependent on good rainfall distribution. In order to have a reliable and robust food security system it is essential to have an adequate quantity of wheat.

The major topics covered in this chapter are:

• Indian wheat
• India’s wheat growing zones
• Types of Indian wheat
• Grain quality
• Physical purity

Wheat arriving in the mill usually contains foreign matter, such as strings, straw, parts of bags, wood, stones, or metal, that must be removed before processing. The contaminants usually become mixed with the wheat in the field and during its transfer through the various stages of the grain-handling system.

The major topics covered in this chapter are:

• Purpose of wheat cleaning
• Cleaning Section
• Methods of separating wheat impurities
• Conditioning

Milling is simply the reduction of wheat kernels to smaller particles that can be made into more palatable products. In modern times, it involves, more specifically, the separation of the germ and bran from the endosperm and the reduction of the endosperm to flour.

The major topics covered in this chapter are:

• Fundamental principles of milling
• Types of grinding
• Stone milling
• Stone chipping & maintenance
• Automatic milling

In earlier chapter we have learnt about the descriptions of wheat types available, that there are many characteristics of the grain which will determine the quality of the finished products. There is no such thing as one flour being any "better" than another. The priority for the flour miller is to provide the customer with a flour that is "fit for purpose". A clear understanding of the requirements of the customer will enable the miller to select which wheat, or which blend of wheat, will provide that functionality.

In this chapter we will learn about types of flour and quality parameters to judge the quality of flour

This chapter will focus on treatment and fortification of flour with vitamins and minerals

It is important for a miller to understand the quality of the flour that the produced there are various test conducted on flour to judge it quality and determine its quality parameters.

In this chapter we will focus:

• Lab equipment for testing
• Lab testing methods
• Specifications required

An adequate maintenance program can be achieved by the use of three distinct concepts: corrective maintenance, operational maintenance and preventive maintenance. The general description of the three types of maintenance below should be used as a guideline. However, specific plant needs and local conditions should guide management and supervisors in deciding on a maintenance system and adjusting the plant

The major topics cover in this chapter are:

• Preventive measures
• Troubleshooting the plant
• Safety & fire protection

This chapter will majorly focus on:

• Electrical equipment
• Energy Management

It is essential for the miller to understand the process of storing and packaging the four for a period and preserve its freshness in this chapter we will learn about the processes of storing and packaging the flour.

It is very essentials for a flour mill owner to understand the storage and godown management

In this chapter we will focus on;

• Basics of godown management
• Feed storage and losses
• Quality maintenance & control
• Storage techniques
• Storing and packing of mill products