What is the difference between starch and flour?

Difference Between Starch and Flour:

1. Different raw materials

Starch is a powdered substance of glucose extracted from seeds and tuber plants. Whereas, flour is a powder made from wheat grinding.

2. The ingredients are different

Starch is a high-molecular carbohydrate that is formed by the polymerization of glucose molecules. Whereas, flour is rich in protein, fat, carbohydrates, and dietary fiber.

3. Different uses:

Starch is generally used to make soups or thicken when stir-frying. In addition to making soup and thickening, flour can also be used to make noodles, steamed buns, bread and other pasta.

"Flour" refers to wheat flour, that is, flour made from wheat milling. Many people will mistakenly think that "high gluten flour = high precision flour" when buying flour, in fact, the meaning of "high precision" is simply high-grade refining, it only indicates the processing technology of wheat, and does not explain the gluten of flour, it is recommended that when buying flour, you should pay attention to its protein content, that is, gluten, rather than "high-grade refining".

To make bread, you need to use high-gluten wheat flour to make the bread large in size and good in taste; To make noodles and dumplings, it is necessary to use medium-strong gluten wheat flour to make it "gluten" and smooth; Cakes made with low-gluten wheat flour are fluffy and the biscuits are crispy. It can be seen that with the development of industrial food production, the demand for various special flours is getting higher and higher, and the decisive factor is the "protein content and quality" of flour.

Starch is a polymer carbohydrate, which is polymerized by glucose molecules, which can adsorb many organic compounds and inorganic compounds, heat the starch suspension, and the starch granules begin to absorb water and expand, and after reaching a certain temperature, the starch granules suddenly expand rapidly and continue to heat up, and the volume can reach dozens or even hundreds of times of the original.

No. Starch is one of the commonly used items in daily cooking. Although it is part of flour, it is not flour. Starch is extracted from potatoes, sweet potatoes and other crops, and is mainly used for flour, soup, and thickening; Flour is made from wheat and is mainly used to make steamed buns, buns and other foods.

Starch, also known as starch, contains high-molecular carbohydrates and is polymerized from glucose molecules. It is one of the ways for the body to absorb glucose. Mainly used in mung beans, potatoes, wheat, sweet potatoes and other crops as raw materials, can be used for sizing, thickening, gelatinization, can also be used to make cold skin, baking desserts.

Wrap the meat in starch and then fry it in an oil pan to make the meat crispy and tender; It can also thicken the cooked soup, and the starch can be used to thicken the braised fish and sweet and sour fish.

The role is different: Because flour contains protein, it does not protect the nutrition and taste of food. Starch has a strong gelatinizing effect and hangs on the surface of food during cooking, which can protect the nutrition and taste of the food inside.

Different uses:Flour is more versatile and can be used to make noodles, steamed buns, bread and other foods. Starch is relatively limited.

For example, starch can be used to make cold noodles and crispy meat, while flour cannot be used to make cold noodles and other foods.

A common cooking method for starch

Egg white paste, egg yolk paste, sweet potato flour, etc.), and then evenly wrap on the surface of the food, thus forming a protective layer on the surface of the food. It can make the fried food golden and crispy, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, such as crispy meat.

Sizing – Smoothing and tenderness in stir-frying: Sizing is the process of coating the surface of an ingredient with a thin layer of slurry to lock in moisture and nutrients during cooking. Makes it softer, smoother and more tender. Commonly used sizing materials are: water starch, egg white, baking soda, etc.

The difference between starch and flour is divided into four aspects: raw materials, colors, ingredients, and uses.

Starch generally refers to corn starch or potato starch, which is a powder extracted from corn or potatoes through grinding and precipitation, while flour generally refers to wheat flour, which is a powder purified by grinding wheat flour.

The color of starch is generally pure white, the color is white and flawless, and it looks very clean, while the color of flour is generally dark white or white translucent yellow, and the color is slightly darker.

Starch is a high molecular weight carbohydrate, which is a polysaccharide made of glucose powder polymerization, with a very low protein content, while flour is a high-protein food raw material and a staple food often eaten by northerners.

Starch is generally used for thickening and pickling, while flour is generally used to make staple pastries such as buns, steamed buns, and bread.

From the point of view of the content of the two ingredients, flour will obviously be more nutritious than starch, but because the amount of the two in the daily consumption process itself is very different, so it is not easy to compare and distinguish, if the two are compared from the same amount, then the flour will be better, for the following reasons:

The three elements of flour nutrition were significantly higher. According to the measurement, every 100 grams of starch contains 86 grams of protein, fat and carbohydrates, while every 100 grams of flour contains protein grams, fat grams and carbohydrate grams, so the nutrition of flour is significantly higher.

Flour is much richer in trace elements.

According to the determination, starch contains sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, copper, zinc, a total of eight minerals, no vitamins, and flour contains sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, a total of eight minerals, but also contains dietary fiber, ash, folic acid, vitamin B1, B2, B6 and vitamin E and other trace elements, so starch nutrition can not be compared with flour.

For cooking food, you must know some cooking tips, what to use and what not to use, you can't use sugar as salt, and you can't use vinegar as soy sauce. That's why cooking food is a very technical job. So if you know the difference between starch and flour, let's take a look.

Difference Between Starch and Flour:

1. Ingredients

Starch is a part of flour, and the main component is more than 80% carbohydrate and more than 10% water. Flour is rich in protein, fat, carbohydrates and dietary fiber, and Huqi flour has the effect of nourishing the heart and kidneys, and has a very important role and significance for strengthening the spleen and stomach, which can be distinguished in terms of ingredients.

2. Nature

Starch is a polysaccharide substance obtained from the separation of proteins and other substances from flour, it is insoluble in water, and will absorb water and expand in hot water to become a viscous translucent colloidal solution. But flour is different, it is made of wheat and directly ground into powder, so it can be distinguished in terms of nature.

3. Appearance

The starch is very white, and the color is more pure. Flour is slightly yellow compared to starch. We can look at its appearance when distinguishing, if it is white, it means that it is starch, and the flour is a little yellow.

4. Hand feel

The starch will have an astringent feeling, and the feeling of hand-rubbing starch is very similar to the feeling of rubbing the fingers of lotus root powder. When rubbing, it feels like a somersault. The flour is smooth when rubbed on your fingers, so if you don't know how to tell the difference, you can try it to the touch.

5. Cooking

Starch is generally used to make soups, and soups made of starch, such as seaweed egg drop soup, are clear and sticky, and have a good taste and vision. Flour can generally be used as a staple food, such as flatbread, steamed buns, slender and other foods, and can also be used as an ingredient for deep-frying.

The difference between starch and flour has been introduced to you above, and it can be seen that starch and flour have very different characteristics, and we can generally judge it from the above five methods. I hope housewives will understand these little common senses, which have a great significance for cooking.