Flour

Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts or seeds, used to make a wide range of foods, including baked goods, and to thicken other dishes. Wheat flour, the primary ingredient in most bread, is the most common variety, with corn flour important in Mesoamerican and American cooking and rye flour common in Central and Northern European bread. Cereal flour consists either of the endosperm, germ and bran together, known as whole grain flour, or of the endosperm alone, known as refined flour, and archaeological evidence shows humans producing cereal flour more than 32,000 years ago; the first steam powered flour mill, Albion Mills in London, was completed in 1786. Because refining removes nutrients from white flour, wheat flour fortification is a legal requirement in 86 countries as of 2016.