[Avodah] A halachic problem in measuring wholemeal flour

[Joe Slater via Avodah]

I have recently become aware of a practical halachic problem with measuring
wholemeal flour for the shiurim of challah and the kezeitim of matzot
mitzva. I don't think this issue is generally recognised, and I hope
Areivim members will be able to bring it to appropriate authorities'
attention.

Traditional flour mills produced a mixture of white flour and bran by
grinding whole grains between millstones. This mixture was sifted to
produce finer or coarser grades of flour by removing more or less bran,
respectively. Halachically, the bran that is removed has changed its
status: dough produced from bran is not subject to challah. Furthermore,
mixing bran back into its flour does not restore its status: the bran and
flour are not "mitztaref". (See Challah 2:6)

This was not an issue with traditional mills: nobody would sift bran out of
flour and then ruin the white flour by replacing the bran. This is not the
case today, though. Modern flour mills do not grind flour between stones.
They use a series of graduated rollers that crack the grain into
progressively-smaller particles, and the bran is separated off at an early
stage of the process. Millers make wholemeal flour by adding bran back to
the fine flour near the end of the milling process. You can find a
description and video of the process here:
http://www.fabflour.co.uk/fab-flour/how-flour-is-milled/

If modern wholemeal flour is halachically considered a mixture of flour and
bran, as it seems, then to be obliged in challah one would need a greater
shiur of wholemeal than of regular flour, and to fulfil one’s obligation of
eating matza one would need to eat more than a kezayit of wholemeal matza.
(See S.A. Y.D. 324:3 and M.A. & SAHR O.C 454:1,2)

It is not possible to state a definite ratio of bran to white flour, as
this will vary between species of grain and between varieties of each
species. The relevant shiurim are not measured by weight but by volume,
which is affected by the fineness of the bran compared to the fineness of
the white flour. Furthermore, the amount of grain removed as bran will
depend on the operation of the mill. My research indicates that up to a
quarter of each grain of wheat (by weight) consists of bran.  If we take
this as a rule of thumb then a shiur of wholemeal wheat flour would be one
and a third times as large as a shiur of white flour.

As a practical matter, I think people making wholemeal bread should
probably avoid doubt and bake either less than a minimal shiur (for which,
consult your LOR) or bake sufficiently more than one and a third shiurim.
Many people deliberately try to use enough flour to require the taking of
challah: they consequently use just over a  regular shiur and need to be
warned about this.

With respect to wholemeal matzot mitzva, I presume that people would have
noticed and queried any reintroduction of bran to flour ground using modern
methods. None the less, it would be very good to establish this for each
bakery.

Joe Slater
Melbourne, Australia
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