Maida flour
Encyclopedia
Maida is a finely milled and refined flour of wheat
Wheat flour
Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. More wheat flour is produced than any other flour. Wheat varieties are called "clean," "white," or "brown" if they have high gluten content, and they are called "soft" or "weak" flour if gluten content is low...

, closely resembling cake flour, and used extensively in making India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...

 and Indian bakery products such as pastries and bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...

and sometimes in making traditional Indian breads such as paratha
Paratha
A paratha/parantha/parauntha is an Indian flat-bread that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta which literally means layers of cooked dough...

 and naan
Naan
Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. It is typical of and popular in South and Central Asia, in Iran, and in South Asian restaurants abroad. Influenced by the large influx of South Asian labour, naan has also become popular in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.Originally, naan is a...

. It is made from the endosperm
Endosperm
Endosperm is the tissue produced inside the seeds of most flowering plants around the time of fertilization. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, though it can also contain oils and protein. This makes endosperm an important source of nutrition in human diet...

 (the starchy white part) of the grain, while the fibrous bran
Bran
Bran is the hard outer layer of grain and consists of combined aleurone and pericarp. Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, and is often produced as a by-product of milling in the production of refined grains. When bran is removed from grains, the grains lose a portion of their...

 is removed in the mill. Originally yellowish in colour, maida is popular in a white texture bleached with Benzoyl Peroxide
Benzoyl peroxide
Benzoyl peroxide is an organic compound in the peroxide family. It consists of two benzoyl groups bridged by a peroxide link. Its structural formula is [C6H5C]2O2. It is one of the most important organic peroxides in terms of applications and the scale of its production...

 which is banned in the UK, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, and European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

.

Maida contains Alloxan
Alloxan
Alloxan is an oxygenated pyrimidine derivative. It is present as alloxan hydrate in aqueous solution.-History:...

, the source of which may be direct use as softener or the by-product of the bleaching agent Chlorine dioxide. Maida is often softened using Alloxan
Alloxan
Alloxan is an oxygenated pyrimidine derivative. It is present as alloxan hydrate in aqueous solution.-History:...

 which is known to destroy beta cells in the pancreas of rodents and other species, causing Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...

.

The bleaching agent, Chlorine dioxide, used to bleach flour is reported to produce diabetes-causing contaminant alloxan when reacting with the proteins contained in flour.

Studies show that alloxan, the chemical that makes white flour look "clean" and "beautiful," destroys the beta cells of the pancreas.

Maida is also used in Central Asian
Central Asian cuisine
The Central Asian cuisines include:* Afghan cuisine* Iranian cuisine* Mongolian cuisine* Cuisine of Kashmir* Kazakh cuisine* Kashmiri cuisine* Kyrgyz cuisine* Pakistani cuisine * Tajik cuisine* Tibetan cuisine* Turkmen cuisine...

 and Southeast Asian cuisine. Maida is used also as an adhesive for wall posters in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Maida is finely milled flour and is usually refined using a fine mesh of 600 mesh per square inch. In south India where there are no wheat farms - flour from Tapioca is converted it into Maida
Maida
-Places:*Maida, Calabria, a comune in the province of Catanzaro, Italy**Battle of Maida, a Napoleonic battle in Calabria during the War of the Third Coalition*Maida, North Dakota, an unincorporated community in the United States-People:...

, Rava
Rava
Rava may refer to:* Bishnuprasad Rabha* Abba ben Joseph bar Ḥama , a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, always known by the honourific name Raba/Rava* Rava , an island in the Croatian part of the Adriatic sea...

, Vermicelli
Vermicelli
Vermicelli is a traditional type of pasta round in section that is thicker than spaghetti.-Vermicelli thickness comparison:In USA, the National Pasta Association, founded in 1904, lists, together with various spelling mistakes, vermicelli as a thinner type of spaghetti.-History in Italy:In...

, Sabudhana/Javvarisi etc. This is generally cheaper than those made with wheat. Salem, Erode , Dharmapuri region is very famous for this industry called "Sago
Sago
Sago is a starch extracted in the spongy center or pith, of various tropical palm stems, Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak and sagu. A type of flour, called sago flour, is made from sago. The largest supply...

" manufacturing.

Pastry flours available in United States may be used as a substitute for maida.

Flour of whole wheat, which includes part of the brown outer layer known as bran
Bran
Bran is the hard outer layer of grain and consists of combined aleurone and pericarp. Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, and is often produced as a by-product of milling in the production of refined grains. When bran is removed from grains, the grains lose a portion of their...

, is often considered healthier than maida flour as it contains a higher level of dietary fibre (around 2-3g per 100g as opposed to 0.3g in maida flour).
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