Grain to flour
The Milling Process
Milling is a grinding process of obtaining flour from cereal kernels.
The Italian milling sector's universally recognized excellence stems from centuries of experience and mastery that have led to the best grain selection. With a skillful mix of tradition and cutting-edge technologies, the Italian milling sector consistently produces high-quality flours to meet the specific needs of all users. The high level of responsibility and dependability of Italian millers ensures product quality and food safety.
Ancient Grinding
The current grinding system is a mechanized version of ancient home grinding. Then, the grains of wheat were crushed manually with a roller on a flat stone. Later this was replaced by the force of the water on a wheel. Until the discovery of electricity, mills were always located next to waterways.
The milling process has evolved from grinding wheat between two large stone wheels, which is still done in a few mills, to the modern roller mill.
The modern roller mill consists of two cast steel rollers set slightly apart from each other. The top roller moves slightly faster than the lower roller and, when wheat passes through, it creates a shearing action, which opens up the wheat grain.
The Reduction Process
The grain fragments are separated by passing them through a complex arrangement of sieves. Then the white endosperm particles are channeled through a series of smooth reduction rolls before being milled into white flour.
The modern milling industry is an extraction and purification industry. In addition to producing flours suitable for making bread, pasta, and other products, the grinding of wheat yields bran, which is used in animal feed.
Today the range of available flours is wider than ever, thanks to the miller's ability to identify, select, mix, and transform the best varieties of wheat to produce flours suitable for different uses.
Traceability
When grain arrives at the mill, it is inspected and weighed to ensure that the minimum quality standards are met.
A computerized traceability system controls and records each stage of reception, consignment, and bulk storage in silos, allowing the entire production chain of a batch of flour to be reconstructed and tracked.
Milling
The grains are cleaned through two processes to remove foreign minerals and vegetable substances, such as grains of other cereals, straws, etc by using cutting-edge new technologies, like optic sorters. After cleaning the grain, the milling begins.
Although the grinding process has remained substantially unchanged over time, technological advances ensure food safety and hygiene standards are guaranteed, along with producing flours with different characteristics, responding to the market demands.
