Calories in Flour, wheat, all-purpose, enriched, unbleached

What makes flour so powerful?

Freshly milled wheat flour is actually pale yellow, not white. This color comes from carotenoid pigments naturally present in the wheat endosperm. To produce stark white flour quickly, industrial millers expose it to chemical bleaching agents like benzoyl peroxide or chlorine gas, which instantly oxidize the pigments and alter the gluten-forming proteins. Unbleached flour, however, skips this chemical shortcut. Instead, it is simply allowed to age naturally in storage for several weeks. During this resting period, ambient oxygen slowly oxidizes the carotenoids, fading the yellow tint, while simultaneously maturing the gliadin and glutenin proteins. This natural oxidation strengthens the gluten network, making unbleached flour particularly well-suited for yeast breads where structural integrity is key. Because all-purpose flour is milled from a blend of hard and soft wheat, it strikes a balance between protein content and tenderness. The 'enriched' label indicates that after the bran and germ were stripped away during milling, synthetic vitamins and minerals—specifically iron, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and folic acid—were added back to compensate for the nutritional losses, a practice standardized in the United States starting in the 1940s to combat widespread nutrient deficiencies.