Process for fractioning grain flour into components of food quality

Claim 1

A process for fractioning grain flour into at least three fractions of food quality including starch, protein and sugar fractions comprising: (a) slurrying the grain flour into water; (b) separating the resulting slurry into a heavier fraction containing ordinary grain starch having a particle size of about 15 to 35 mm and a lighter fraction containing about 15 to 40% of the dry substance of the flour containing protein covered small particle starch having a particle size of about 2 to 10 mm and a protein content of about 1.5 to 1.7% of the dry substance of the starch particle, (c) heating said lighter fraction from step (b) to a temperature of at least 120° C. for a period of time sufficient for the protein network on the surface of the particles of the small particle starch to split and the starch to be gelatinized, (d) cooling said lighter fraction from step (c) to a temperature of 90° C. or lower and treating said lighter fraction simultaneously with alpha-amylase and beta-glucanase; (e) separating the resulting protein precipitate from the lighter fraction from step (d) as a precipitate constituting about 20 to 35% of the dry substance of the lighter fraction and containing about 40 to 60% protein based on the dry substance of the precipitate to obtain a clear fraction remaining after separating the precipitate; and (f) saccharifying the clear fraction from step (e) with amyloglucosidase or fungal amylase at a temperature of 55° C. or lower until the dextrose equivalent is at least 20 to 80.