Unifine mill

The need for an ultrafine-milled whole-grain wheat flour and products thereof; For centuries, consumers had accepted the undesirable qualities of products made from whole wheat flour produced by grist or stone mills. The flour produced by these mills was quite coarse as they included the bran and the germ elements of the grain. In simple terms, these particles punctured the bubbles in the dough, causing the baked products to be heavy and dense.

As the nutritional value of vitamins, micro nutrients, antioxidants, phytonutrients, amino acids, and fiber, were completely or relatively unknown in the late 19th century, removing the bran and the germ with the roller mill, invented at that time, was a brilliant idea. With the elimination of the bran and the germ, the resulting “white” flour composed entirely of the endosperm produced an appealing fluffy product that research has since proven to be nutritionally deficient.

History

Development of the “Unifine” impact (one pass) milling system began in England in the late 1930s. The goal was to develop a simple, holistic system that would pulverize all the elements of the raw material into a fine powder by impacting a high speed flywheel. It was hoped that the resulting flour, comprised of smaller particles, would have baking qualities similar to the white, refined flours produced by the roller mills, yet retaining all of the bran, germ and endosperm of the whole grain.

Following World War II, with England focused on rebuilding their shattered infrastructure, the Englishman John Wright eventually made his way to Pullman, Washington, USA. There he succeeded in enlisting engineers at the Division of Industrial Research at Washington State College (now Washington State University) in the project. Following the development of a successful prototype, funding of the first generation of commercial grade mills came from a grant from the Washington State Grange. This grant was made possible by a donation by the then Secretary of the Washington State Grange, Mr. Leonard Fulton who ultimately went on to operate the first Unifine flour mill.

Upon discovering that these mills could not be patented, the college opted to register the name “Unifine” and authorized Mr. Fulton and his “Fairfield Milling Company Inc.” to begin distribution of the first commercial flour milled by the machine under the brand name “Unifine” in 1962. A second Unifine Mill began operation under the label “Flour Girls” in the late 1970s directed and funded by individuals that participated in the research and development of the mills at the college. The flour produced was used by home bakers to make light, whole wheat bread without the dense texture of breads made from traditional whole wheat flours. During that era of simmering consumer interest in the nutritional merits of whole wheat flour, these mills realized modest but ultimately unsustainable success. After these companies ceased operations after roughly twenty years, a new generation of unifine flour mills began producing flour under the Azure Standard brand. These flours are now marketed throughout the greater Pacific Northwestern section of the United States.

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Unifinemill

Popularization of whole wheat flour products

Despite historical consumer preference for refined white flour, whole wheat flour products are ascendant largely due to changing consumer attitudes. The Whole Grains Council industry association reports an approximate doubling of the whole wheat flour production over the course of the years 2003 to 2007. In another visible example, whole wheat bread has reached approximate parity with white bread as measured by slice volume in the United States; as of 2010, whole wheat bread narrowly exceeds white bread as measured by dollar volume. Fortification of white flour whole grains are more nutritious than refined products and wheat is no exception. Whole wheat flour is more nutritious than refined white flour, although through food fortification, some micronutrients are added back to the white flour (required by law in some jurisdictions). Fortified white wheat flour does not, however, contain all of the macronutrients, fiber, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and much of the protein of the wheat's bran and germ. Whole wheat is a good source of calcium, iron, fiber, and other minerals like selenium.

The Roller Milled flour industry responds to the demand for whole wheat flour

Roller mills have adapted to the market demands for whole grain products and most whole wheat flour is produced using this milling system. In this case, the bran and the germ are further processed and then blended back into the endosperm (“white” flour) it was separated from in the first place. While doing so does enable the flour mills to use their existing equipment, it is a complex process. Furthermore, the required ‘tempering’ of the grain before milling, i.e. raising the moisture content, may account for the increased rate of rancidity than whole wheat flour produced by the “dry” Unifine or traditional grist mill systems.

Applications

The Unifine Mill has proven not to be suitable for grinding harder materials like gravel, mineral powder in the mine industry or large scale powder making required of other industries that the roller mill system dominates. However, in the agricultural industry, when all the nutritional elements of a soft raw material are desired to be included in the end product, pulverizing it into powder in one pass by the Unifine Mill has proven to be both cost effective and less invasive. In addition to grains, a variety of consumer products have been efficiently processed by this mill including legumes, grapefruit rinds, and etc.

Fazit

Refinement of the Unifine Milling system continues at now Washington State University with engineering of specific elements of the system being the subject of the Engineering Department grant funded studies as recently as fall semester of 2010.