I now know why I’ve been wanting to make Chicken and Dumplings for the first time in my life besides teaching Charlie to cook and it’s to celebrate National Flour Month which we use in Chicken and Dumplings. Now, I have a question if I can talk Charlie into making Chicken and Dumplings in his Homeschool Cooking Class would you want to join us for dinner?
National Flour Month
Although National Flour Month is not as well-known as St. Patrick’s Day or Women’s History Month, March bears its own significant honor National Flour Month. When it comes to cooking or baking, Flour is a principal ingredient in many recipes all around the world. Flour is necessary for baking Bread, or Cakes. Pasta, Pastries, and breading for Meats. We would find it hard to bake a Cake without flour. What would breakfast be like without Toast or Donuts?
NATIONAL FLOUR MONTH ACTIVITIES
- Over the years, Flour has been broken down into several types based on the different proportion of Starches, Polysaccharides, Proteins, Grains, and other factors. Corn, Legumes, Nuts, and Rice make the majority of Flour options. However, there are Flour alternatives made from Fruits and Vegetables. While there are a wide variety of Flour options, the most commonly used baking Flours include All-Purpose Flour, Bleached Flour, Bread Flour, Cake Flour, Enriched Flour, Gluten Flour, Gluten-Free Flour, Hard Flour, Pastry Flour, Self-Rising Flour, Unbleached Flour, and Wheat Flour.
- No matter what type of Flour you plan to use, Flour all starts out the same which is Whole Grain. Whole Grains used for Flour are broken down into three parts: Bran, Endosperm, and Germ. Once the Grains are selected, they are milled down into Flour. Since Whole Grains still use all three portions of the original Grain, this is where the process stops for Whole Grain Flour. Enriched White Flour and White Grain Flour require additional processing to rid the coarse Bran and Germ from the Flour. Eliminating the Bran and Germ from the Flour also removes many of the Nutrients and Vitamins Vitamin B, Folic Acid, Niacin, Riboflavin, Thiamin, which can be added back in during the enrichment process for Enriched Flour.
- One of the best ways you can celebrate National Flour Month is to bake or cook a new recipe using Flour. Including Whole Grain Sourdough Bread is surprisingly easy. Cookies baked at home are twice as delicious and half the price of store-bought, pre-made cookies. Try your hand at making your own Cookies, adding your favorite Candies and flavorings.
WHY WE LOVE NATIONAL FLOUR MONTH
- Thankfully, unlike our predecessors, the everyday person no longer needs to grind down the Grains into powder we can just run to the Grocery Store to get Flour so we can bake to our heart’s content.
- Can you believe Flour has been around since the beginning of human civilization? It all started when our ancestors figured out if they broke grass seeds up into powder, then they could use the powder to make hard Cakes by baking them over a fire. However, it wasn’t until 3,000 BC that our ancestors figured out how to use Grains and Yeast to create softer loaves by utilizing the heat from the Sun to ferment the dough.
- From Breads to Pastries, Cookies to Pies, and much more, so baking with Flour opens up a world of possibilities! You can make a Pizza for your family or homemade Bagels.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and Charlie and David Cates
