Grahams

If you remember I recently wrote about the joys of animal crackers, however lately I’ve got a thing for graham crackers. It made me curious about graham flour and what it is exactly.

The Wikipedia entry on graham flour states that graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour named after the American Presbyterian minister Rev. Sylvester Graham, an early advocate for dietary reform. According to the Larousse Gastronomique, Graham despised processed white flour and believed that bran was the cure-all for the bad eating habits of his compatriots.

Rather than simply grinding the whole grain wheat kernel (bran, germ, and endosperm), in graham flour the components are ground separately. The endosperm is ground finely, initially creating white flour. The bran and germ are ground coarsely. The two parts are then mixed back together, creating a coarse-textured flour that bakes and keeps well. Graham flour is used to make graham crackers and pie crusts, among other things.