From grain to bread

Grain is a staple food for people and animals all over the world. It is rich in valuable nutrients, keeps you full for a long time thanks to its high carbohydrate content, and can be stored easily.

It has been one of our most important basic foods for thousands of years. All types of grain belong to the grass family. Their fruits – the kernels – are annual, meaning they need to be sown anew each year. The whole grain kernel, or wholegrain, is rich in carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and dietary fibre. Wheat, rye and spelt flour are the main types used for baking bread. These grains are also grown in Luxembourg.

After the harvest in mid to late summer, the bread grain is delivered to the mill, where each delivery is weighed, quality-checked, cleaned and then stored in silos.

Before milling, the grain is thoroughly cleaned again. The grains are then moistened with water to make it easier to separate the outer husk from the starchy core. During milling, the grains pass through a roller mill, a machine with several rollers that crush the kernels. After milling, the flour is sieved to separate larger grain particles from finer ones. The milling process is repeated several times. After each stage, part of the milled material is already a finished product:

  • Cracked grain is coarsely crushed cereal. Wholemeal cracked grain contains all parts of the grain kernel.
  • Semolina is the coarsely ground starchy part of the grain.
  • Flour is the finely or very finely ground starchy part.
  • Bran is the broken outer layer of the grain that remains after the milling process.

Flour comes in different types, indicated by a number on the packaging (e.g. 405, 550 or 1050). The lower the number, the more finely the flour has been milled. The higher the number, the coarser the flour and the more mineral-rich bran it contains. Wholemeal flour does not carry a type number, as it includes all parts of the grain kernel – the endosperm, germ and bran.

The miller supplies the flour to wholesalers, supermarkets and bakeries. A baker can make bread with just four basic ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast. The different types of bread are distinguished by their ingredients and how they are made: wheat bread (or white bread), rye bread, mixed-grain bread, wholemeal bread, and so on.