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Comment by bluGill | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure what brown flour is - at least where I live in the US that is not something I've ever even heard of before.

I know that our whole wheat flour is sometimes bleached. This doesn't change the color (much?), but it kills a number of nasties and thus makes raw flour safer. (you should still never eat raw flour, but if you do bleached is safer... I know many people do eat raw flour, but there are some things can can hurt/kill you if it isn't cooked). I'm not sure if whole wheat is what you mean by brown flour or not.

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To a first approximation, nobody eats raw flour.

Flour is cooked in a pan with fat to make a roux; a roux plus broth can become gravy.

Flour is cooked in a pan with liquid to make pancakes or crepes.

Flour is cooked in an iron to make waffles.

Flour is cooked in an oven for baked goods.

Who do you know who eats raw flour, other than by accident?

I used to eat the batter that had stuck to the walls of the mixing bowl with a teaspoon as a kid. It had both raw flour and raw egg.

Flour is used to make food not stick to cooking and preparation surfaces, therefore lots of raw flour is eaten intentionally on the outside of baked goods (bread, pizzas etc).

Baked goods don't need flour to not stick, it's added on the outside before baking.

Sure, I do that.

The flour goes on the baked good before it gets baked. That's not raw.

People eat raw cookie dough deliberately unless they know not to (it's delicious).

When a pie or soup is too wet people may add flour at a late stage in the cooking process, when it won't necessarily get fully cooked.

Um, what?

Baking has been a major hobby for 15 years. I know the dangers of raw egg and flour but licking the bowl/beaters/spoons is still a major highlight of many of my recipes. And, of course, there's always raw cookie dough.

Maybe not the smartest choice for longevity and health, but yes, eating raw flour is totally a thing!

I assume they mean Whole Wheat Flour. The hulls contain lots of wild microbes which helps the starter get going. Similarly people recommending Rye.

The key though is finding unbleached flour.

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