While regular flour can work for most recipes, some recipes will require specific types of flour, such as heat-treated flour.
If you have never heard of heat-treated flour before, you may be curious as to what heat-treated flour is. I looked up the facts, and this is what I found!
What Is Heat-Treated Flour?
Heat-treated flour refers to any type of flour that has been treated with heat to kill any possible pathogens that would be in raw flour. Normally, store-bought flour is raw flour, so many people will need to heat treat their flour. Otherwise, cooking or baking the flour in a recipe could kill some of the bacteria from the raw flour.
Do you want to learn if heat-treated flour is safe, how you make flour heat-treated, and what you can substitute for heat-treated flour? Keep reading!
What Is Heat-Treated Flour Made Of?
Generally, heat-treated flour is made out of any type of flour, but usually, heat-treated flour is made of wheat flour.
What Does Heat-Treated Flour Mean?
Heat-treated flour means the flour has been treated with heat, which kills any bad bacteria that may be in the flour.
Generally, most flour that is freshly milled and not heated is considered raw flour, and raw flour can contain pathogens like E. coli and salmonella.
Typically, most flour that we see is raw flour, and many people do not realize it. Usually, it is fine to purchase raw flour since the flour will get heated, killing most of the bad bacteria that could be present in raw flour.
How Do You Make Flour Heat-Treated?
You can heat treat flour at home by lining parchment paper on a baking sheet and spreading a thin layer of flour over the parchment paper.
Place the baking tray with flour into a preheated oven at 350°F and bake your flour for roughly five minutes.
Check the temperature of your flour to see if the flour is 160°F. If the flour has not reached 160°F, leave the flour in the oven for another minute then check the flour again.
Once the flour has reached 160°F, use a wire whisk to mix the flour until there are no clumps. Let the flour cool for roughly 30 minutes before using the flour.
Is Store-Bought Flour Heat-Treated?
Most store-bought flour is not heat treated because a lot of store-bought flour is raw.
Is All-Purpose Flour Heat-Treated?
Since all-purpose flour is often bought at the store, all-purpose flour is usually not heat treated.
Therefore, you may need to heat treat your all-purpose flour at home, especially if you are making a recipe like raw cookie dough.
What Is Heat-Treated Flour Used For?
Generally, heat-treated flour does not have a specific use because heat-treating flour kills bacteria that are often in raw flour.
Therefore, heat-treated flour is the flour used for any recipe that calls for flour, and heat-treated flour is usually preferred by most people that want to ensure there are no pathogens in their flour.
However, heat-treated flour is best for recipes where you will not cook or undercook the recipe since heat-treating flour makes the flour safer to eat.
For instance, raw cookie dough recipes should use heat-treated flour because you will not bake or cook the dough.
If your recipe does not involve heating the food to over 160°F, it is always best to use heat-treated flour to avoid harmful bacteria.
Can Heat-Treated Flour Be Used In Baking?
Usually, heat-treated flour works very well in baking and most bakers use heat-treated flour to create baked goods, such as muffins, cookies, and cakes.
Some people may not use heat-treated flour in their recipe if the recipe heats the flour for a long period, but most bakers prefer to use heat-treated flour to lower the chances of consuming harmful bacteria.
What Is The Difference Between Heat-Treated Flour And Regular Flour?
Heat-treated flour and regular flour can be made from the same type of wheat, but the main difference is that heat-treated flour is exposed to heat to remove harmful pathogens while regular flour is raw flour.
Therefore, the wheat and texture of the flour can be the same, but heat-treated flour contains little to no bacteria in it.
Is Heat-Treated Flour Safe?
Normally, heat-treated flour is safe and heat-treated flour is usually safer to eat than regular flour because regular flour is raw flour.
Flour is heat-treated because raw flour can carry many harmful pathogens from the wheat kernels that can make people sick.
Therefore, heat-treated flour is one of the safest types of flour you can eat, especially if you use heat-treated flour in a recipe that gets cooked or baked.
What Can I Substitute For Heat-Treated Flour?
Typically, there is no substitute for heat-treated flour because heat-treated flour is any flour that has been exposed to heat to kill bacteria.
Generally, the best way to replace heat-treated flour in a recipe is by heating your flour at home.
Check out our related articles to discover what Hong Kong flour is, what high gluten flour is, and what high protein flour is.
Conclusion
Heat-treated flour is a type of flour that gets exposed to heat to kill any harmful bacteria, and almost any type of flour can be heat-treated.
Generally, most store-bought flour is raw flour, so you would have to heat treat your flour at home if you want to remove pathogens from your raw flour.