Flours, Regular Or Gluten Free, Meals

 

At Galloway's, we are proud to provide you with a variety of specialty flours for you to bake till your heart is content.  Firstly we would like to present some information on what wheat is and what Gluten means;

Types of wheat:

Wheat is thought to have originated in the Middle East, in the areas now called Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. In Canada it is grown in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. There are 3 common types of Wheat grown today.

• Hard red spring or Winter (has higher protein content, and is milled for bread flour

• Soft red Winter Wheat - The protein content is approximately 7% to 8%. It is milled into pastry flour for cookies, pie crusts, cakes and biscuits.

• Amber Durum Wheat-The protein content averages from12% to 13% However the gluten structure is a bit different in Durum than the Red Spring Wheat. Its main use is for pasta products, but also for chappatis-a flat round unleavened bread

A look at Wheat Kernel

• Bran - tough outer layer of the kernel that protects the grain (look in ouur grains and cereals price list) Bran comprises about 14.5% of the kernel, and stores most of the fibre, pyridoxine and pantothenic acid
• Wheat germ -embryo of the seed which would cause it to germinate. The germ of wheat comprises about 2.5% of the of the kernel, and is relatively high on protein, oil, thiamin, vitamin E and many trace minerals
• Endoperm - starchy middle part, of what most wheat flour consists. Th endosperm consists about 83% of the kernel and contains most of the protein and carbohydrtae , as well as some B-complex vitamins in wheat.

At Galloway's we have many flours ranging from wheat, rye, oat, kamut spelt, pastry flour, and whole wheat pastry flour.

Gluten Free Flours

Gluten is the protein which remains behind when wheat flour is washed with water to remove starch. Wet gluten is like soft rubber which in bread-making binds the flour and water into tough dough.

Glutenin and gliadin are the two major protein components of wheat gluten. When gluten was fractioned with solvents, it was shown that toxicity resided in the gliadin fraction. The gliadins of wheat are members of a class of cereal proteins called prolamins. The prolamins in rye, barley, oat and other cereals differ in their chemical and toxic properties. However, exact nature of the toxic factor is still unknown. Thus it is only a portion of the gluten which is toxic to those with allergies. Many workers in the medical or nutritional aspects tend to use the term gluten as synonymous with the toxic proteins of all cereals, but actually gluten is not a suitable term for the protein of cereal grains other than wheat.

At Galloway's, we specialize in Gluten free flours - we carry Organic amaranth flour, organic Quinoa flour, chick pea flour, whole bean flour, corn flours, pea flour, potato flour,rice and soya flour.

Look into our recipe section for recipes on Gluten free baking – coming up one at a time.

Meals

Galloways's carries corn meal - blue, yellow or white to make tortillas or any corn bread or corn muffins. We carry flax meal, millet meal, pumpkin seed meal, and sunflower seed meal.